Capital E and Story Studio Live are back again this year after 2020 cancellations and they are tackling the big double C: Climate Change.  

Over this past year, our main focus has been on people and pandemic. Meanwhile, the changes in our weather systems, the spoiling and disappearance of habitat and extinction of our wildlife marches on relentlessly.  

Most recently here in Porirua, we have had a close encounter with the attempted rescue of Toa the Orca which touched people’s hearts and hopefully put pollution and the state of the world’s ocean environment back into people’s minds.  

These are difficult topics at the best of times, so many of us adults look at the enormity of it and think, how can I make a difference? It’s too big, it’s impossible.  

This is where the Story Studio Live team come in.

Led by director Carrie Green, this production is the culmination of prior work-shopping with school kids from around the Wellington region (including Corinna School where we are watching this performance). Collaboration is at its heart with creative and cultural guidance from Barnaby Olson and Khali – Timo Timo.

Theatre is the perfect avenue for starting conversation, starting the observation, to then find some practical way to make a change. The audience participation is essential to keep the wheel firmly in the children’s hand for steering the next chapter of this story, and participate they do! 

By getting the children on board with the brainstorming, the actors are getting them thinking, playing, laughing, collaborating and dreaming up ideas of how they can individually and collectively make a change for the better. Laughter and seemingly far-fetched ideas allow for the imagination to be stretched and this is where the magic can grow from. It helps kids understand that no idea should be underestimated and it may just lead to the break-through that’s needed.  

By combining physical theatre, science, improv, comedy, radio and game show-styled play interlaced with a specially crafted story of Maui trying to find who is to blame out of Tangaroa, Rā, Tane Mahuta or Papatūānuku for his favourite rock by the sea disappearing under water, we are taken on a journey of climate change discovery and the reality of who is really to blame.

The soundscape, both electronic and Foley-styled sound effects with the minimal props and costuming are used to great effect, especially the stunning wings which garner an audible gasp of awe as the audience is transported with Maui to the Sun. 

The touring team (Jthan Morgan, Tess Sullivan and Trubie-Dylan Smith with technician Oliver Devlin and stage manager Ruth Love) don’t pull any punches about the seriousness of the whole situation, but by keeping the playful energy and discussion moving through these moments we don’t descend into hopelessness. They have created characters who are recognisable and can be identified with so that the message can travel deeper.

Real life imitations of discord and conflict are ironed out with conversation, acknowledgement and empathy. All these aspects of learning through theatrical play are essential for growing our kids in a positive way so they have the capacity and facility to make a difference in their lifetime.

We leave with more knowledge, more determination and awareness, but before we get overwhelmed again, the trick, as they say, is to remember that, “We have made a start. Things start and then they grow.”

[See tour schedule here] 

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