THE BALLAD OF PONDLIFE MCGURK
St James Theatre Hospitality Suite, Wellington
16/03/2015 - 21/03/2015
Wesley Church Old Hall, 75 Taranaki St, Wellington
16/03/2015 - 20/03/2015
Capital E National Arts Festival
Production Details
Pondlife McGurk features for the first time in Wellington
Pondlife McGurk was a troublesome child,
some called him stupid, some called him wild.
“The very model of audience-capturing storytelling.”- Theatre Guide London
In the battlefield of the school playground and class lies a touching story about how difficult it can be to stay true to your friends. The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk comes to Wellington St James Hospitality Suite as part of the Capital E National Arts Festival 2015 on Saturday 21 March at 11.30am.
Solo performer Marko Jovanovic plays a series of characters including Martin; a young boy bullied by a classmate after moving to a new school. When he meets Simon McGurk, not only does a budding friendship blossom, but along the way a series of betrayals and cruelties test their friendship.
Written by Andy Manley and Rob Evans, directed by Gill Robertson and originally produced in 2008 by the remarkable Scottish Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, Barking Gecko presents a coming-of-age tale set in the late 1970s.
Festival Producer Melanie Hamilton says, “The stunning show has been performed over 250 times in Australia, Scotland, USA and New Zealand. This will be its first time performed in Wellington, and we’re thrilled that it is part of the Capital E National Arts Festival 2015.”
The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk
will feature in one public performance only on
Saturday 21 March
at 11.30am
at the St James Hospitality Suite.
To book tickets and view the full Festival programme visit www.capitale.org.nz
Theatre , Solo , Children’s ,
Resonating truths of schoolyard survival
Review by Lena Fransham 17th Mar 2015
The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk, written by Andy Manley and Rob Evans, was first produced by the Scottish company Catherine Wheels for UK audiences and performed in the Auckland Arts Festival 2013. With director Gill Robertson, Australian company Barking Gecko have adapted the script – Martin becoming a boy from Cairns, rather than Birmingham – and it’s been doing some serious miles in Australia.
Simon and Martin, the new kids at school, form a staunch friendship in the face of bullying by top-dog Sharon and her hangers-on. United against ‘The Neanderthals’, as they term the bullies, Simon and Martin are inseparable through their last two years of primary school, until one day at the Botanic Gardens when a confrontation with Sharon has devastating consequences for Simon, and deep down Martin knows that it’s all his fault.
The relationship between outsider Martin and gawky Simon is charmingly filled out with Star Wars games, summer adventures in the graveyard and the joint creation of a comic book about their mutual enemy. The satisfyingly bitchy Sharon and her cronies weigh Darwinian ruthlessness against the bond of true friendship shared by the two boys. Courage and loyalty falter; Martin’s fateful decisions prove cruel, but poignantly human, and his tale is framed with remorse and redemption.
The sole performer, Marko Jovanovic, sustains an audience of 150 children with the help of Robertson’s subtle direction, some well-integrated sound design (Danny Krass), and a set consisting of four large boxes. His costume is pale and nondescript, vaguely evoking a school uniform; lighting comes from the fluoro squares in the hall ceiling.
It’s hard to believe he’s going to enthral a huge bunch of restless kids on his own for nearly an hour. Especially when this tale is narrated as much as it is performed – gotta be tricky to maintain the requisite pace and immediacy for an audience accustomed to digital 3D, HD, short-attention-span entertainment.
But Jovanovic has got his ways of connecting with the kids. As soon as they’re seated on the floor, he’s sitting right there with them, smiling, childlike, curious, getting to know the faces before the story begins. Two aisles intersect the four seated groups, so that the action takes place around and among the viewers.
He’s all dynamism, galloping between moods and characters. The eleven-year-olds he impersonates are larger-than-life (he must be six feet tall) but distinct and vivid, their social realities all too familiar to anyone who’s been that age, facing those awful schoolyard survival choices that can have life-shaping consequences.
Jovanovic channels some real, ebullient boyish energy that keeps us bounding along with him. The gawky and vulnerable little truths emerging out of this schoolboy’s story must resonate with many in the young audience.
[There will be one public performance on Saturday at the St James Theatre Hospitality Suite, 11.30 am – see: http://capitale.org.nz/portfolio-posts/national-arts-festival-the-ballad-of-pondlife-mcgurk/ ]
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