We were in Blackball Sunday evening at the Community Centre Hall for another Kiwi/Possum Productions classic theatre encounter, this one with a famous NZ Play written by Bruce Mason in 1962. The End of the Golden Weather depicts a Christmas in 1932 on Takapuna Beach (renamed in the play, Te Parenga ) as seen through the eyes of a twelve year old. The play has become a widely-loved portrayal of a Pākeha childhood during the Great Depression. From a copy of the play I’d found at Wendy’s Red Books I learnt that the play is in two parts that span a time where Bruce moves from the idealism of childhood to the realism of the larger world. Mason who died in 1982 performed his play as a solo performer almost 1000 times, touring it around Aotearoa from grand-ish theatres to halls and even a woolshed! In the foreword Mason recounted talking, after a performance in Christchurch to a government deer culler from Hokitika who had learned during the time he spent in huts up on the tops, the whole play, word by word.
Walking into the hall I take in the wooden floors, rough cut rafters, the feeling of history, of all the good times had after the days dirt had been washed off. The windows are open on this warm night, net curtains fluttering. Plastic chairs loaned by the Regent Theatre, circle a marvellous-looking set. Caroline Selwood’s collecting the koha and handing out the programmes. Two familiar faced actors – then three as I recognize Frank Wells without his beard, jolly us to our seats. All three are wearing identical outfits of long, grey, high-waisted shorts held up with braces, off-white calico shirts and cream cotton sun hats. Elisa Wells as always has created the perfect costumes, the simplicity of the grey and cream palette creating a nostalgic 1930’s feeling. As I sit down I catch the smell of insect repellent. Looking around I see a decent sized audience and think, Great – words out that these performances of classic plays are something special.
The backdrop for the set is an image of Te Parenga beach beautifully painted by designer, Pam McKelvey. The image on large heavy cloths hangs from ceiling to floor along the back wall .The style of the painting looks like the watercolour illustrations of NZ naturalist Sheila Natusch. The scene shows flowering Pohutakawa in the foreground, the King and Queen rocks out to sea and in the distance the distinctively shaped Rangitoto. Driftwood, cabbage tree leaves and claddy sticks are piled in the foreground under the mural to represent the foreshore. Off to the right is another large painting, this one of a small batch with its water tank. On the ground in front of the batch is a wooden pallet giving the impression of a deck. These large murals very cleverly situate the audience in a 1930’s North Island coastal summer. There is another pallet with poles holding a rail that two curtains hang from that looks like a stage for a children’s performance. A child’s school desk and chair sits in the middle toward the back. Pam McKelvey’s set is simple, effective and beautiful. The imported savage Te Parenga sand-flies add further realism!
Since Bruce Mason’s death, different theatre groups have made some adaptations to the play including omitting some of the scenes. Paul Maunder came up with a unique way to present his version played by 3 seasoned community theatre actors: himself, Frank Wells and Francis Darwen. The play begins with Pam McKelvey introducing herself as head nurse of the Rata View Retirement Home and just like that, we the audience become the inhabitants, the play a diversion and therapy for the actors and fellow residents. We are reminded by McKelvey that some of the elderly actors have overcome difficulties in being able to perform. We sip our orange juice and swat at sand-flies swarming around our feet. The air is humid and I’m quite pleased slapping at my ankles that the venue due to a dodgy weather forecast has been changed from the usual outdoors historic Bath-house up the road.
Frank Wells begins the play with the famous opening sentence, “I invite you to join me in a voyage to the past, to that territory of the heart we call childhood.” Doesn’t it sound familiar even if you’ve never heard it – maybe the play’s been performed so many times it is in our psyche? I begin to settle in and imagine rock pools with starfish and sea anemone, Pohutakawa and the unlovely bungalows of wood and tin, shops, banks, Anglican Church, Council Chambers and the cinema.
Next we shift scenes, with Wells transforming himself into the young Mason spending Sunday morning at the beach. We meet the Anglican Minister and the large-in-physique as she is loud-of-voice Miss Effie. We also meet Sergeant Robinson patrolling the beach, encouraging bathers to “cover yaselves up”.
Next the scene moves to the Mason residence where charades are played in the evening. All the actors join in as the father pretends a kitchen table operation and imaginary organs are strewn around the kitchen theatre. Frank Wells did a most convincing job of inviting us into the idyll of a Te Parenga childhood. Throughout the play the soundscape and music, the work of Karen Grant, tied in perfectly with the era and the play’s changing scenes.
Next Francis Darwen becomes the young Bruce on Christmas Eve, sneaking icing, chocolate – lemon -vanilla “feeling their cool sharp flavours on his tongue”. We follow him as the day progresses until church and the going to bed to wake at 5am on Christmas morning to the pillowcases with presents – so much nostalgia here. This member of the audience could feel the “Laughter , crackling and spouting. Love …love”. Francis led us through the day portraying with skill the preparation his character had put into the annual Christmas concert at their home and the great seriousness of the piano playing. Darwen convincingly conveys the disappointment he feels as his younger brother fails to deliver his lines and acts the goat –there’s a fight and then a making up as they walk on the beach. “Why did you do it? Why did you have to go and spoil it?” he rasps at his brother. “Listen,” the brother replies, “I was …scared.” The two brothers hand in hand disappear along the beach – a seagull cry – the rain starts on the iron roof – and a break is announced.
The Head nurse encourages us to stand and do “a few gentle stretches, reach up on your tiptoes, swing your arms and finish with a good shake”. Right, we are ready for the second half.
Paul Maunder arises from the porch pallet of Firpo’s simple hut and plays both Firpo and the young Bruce. Firpo’s been released from an institution to stay at Te Parenga with family, who finding him difficult to cope with have relocated him into the batch at the bottom of their garden. The volatile Firpo tells the young Bruce he wants to be an athlete and we become drawn into a story of a boy wanting to help and encourage his disabled friend. We sense Bruce’s dread when a letter arrives that threatens to make a laughing stock of Firpo by challenging him to a race the following Sunday down on the beach. Firpo agrees and aspires to win the respect of the normal world, to become “a made man”. The boy tries to help, enjoying the dependency he is creating. Race day arrives and the audience feel Firpo’s shame when he falls and is soundly beaten by the gloating challenger who assures us, “Look, ah, it was only a joke, you know. Meant no harm. Just a bit of fun.”
We see the dejected Bruce work through his failure to heal Firpo and Firpo’s rejection of him as he returns home to sit next to his comforting brother.
The play ends with Maunder as Bruce revisiting Firpo’s hut to find it pulled down and that Firpo has been re-committed to “the nuthouse”. Standing on the remaining porch Maunder reflects that the golden weather has ended and he has entered the much harsher adult world.
I am pleased to have seen this play so wonderfully performed. As the play concluded, thoughts from childhood of the person in our community who was considered “a bit slow” came flooding in. He lived up the road in a cottage much like Firpo’s hut, half falling down, blackberries almost taking over – a pile of empty baked beans and spaghetti tins outside the doorstep. Later in life I heard that he’d passed away in Seaview the institution for the mentally unwell. I reflected on times when the community had helped him and wondered if he’d ever been ridiculed – I’m sure there would have been instances. The play made me reflect on my childhood where it always seemed to be fine, even on the Coast and the times that mark for each of us, The End of the Golden Weather.
We run from the hall through the heavy rain to our cars and drive back home, thoughtful, and with appreciation for another special evening, produced and performed by this talented community theatre group. See you next Summer.
Each year for the last three years we have been producing a classic in the Blackball Bathhouse: Beckett’s Endgame, Anouilh’s Antigone and last year, Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This year we chose Bruce Mason’s The End of the Golden Weather, ‘the journey into the territory of the heart called childhood’ which saw in some ways the beginning of professional theatre in New Zealand. We have shared the story telling between three actors and faced with a week of volatile weather thanks to El Nino we are playing in the Blackball Community Centre Hall, with performances on January 27 & 28. We have framed the performance as talking place in a rest home, with some of the residents helping with the set painting and some of the braver men telling the three stories.
Pam McKelvey, designer.
Frank Wells, Francis Darwin and Paul Maunder, the three story tellers.
Our third ‘classic in the bathhouse’ saw a diverse cast mount a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a week. The model was that of the family troupe wandering from village to village. Kiwi/Possum and Golden Bay’s DramaLab pooled resources to present a play that has some resonance in this tempestuous age.
Helen and Alun Bollinger wrote in the local paper: ‘Enhanced by the dramatic landscape, evening skies and swooping kereru, the outdoor setting and staging was astounding and innovative, the costumes wonderfully detailed and stylish, and the performances were top notch and gripping throughout.’
Catherine Woollett reflected in her review: ‘As the natural lighting of day dims, I begin to think of the perpetual tempest that is either around us or we are inside of. In Shakespeare’s day it included the people’s revolution against the excesses of Royal Houses and the Plague. Today it’s our destruction of the Earth and the subsequent climate change induced weather events. It includes the wars that we wager innocent lives on, so we can carve territory from Gaia as if she were a carcass and we wolves or vultures depending on where we are in the non-sustainable hegemonic structure that has commodified life and living. The Tempest is always happening to ourselves or someone just like us…this is the importance of enjoying performance, especially of a play written four hundred years ago by the great Shakespeare who chooses humour to billow as a stage curtain over the ever-present tempest of life. It’s the reason we need to celebrate, to come together to wonder gape, guffaw and to applaud. This performance magically directed by Heather Fletcher gave us reason to celebrate life despite its omnipresent tragedies.’
Such was the reception, we hope to remount the production next year at much the same time in Golden Bay. For the Blackball occasion we are looking at a performance of a NZ classic, Bruce Mason’s End of the Golden Weather.
Thanks to Creative Communities for a subsidy which made the event possible.
For the past two years we have produced in partnership with other companies and with some actors coming from outside the Coast, a theatre classic in the iconic venue of the old bathhouse. Beckett’s Endgame was produced in 2021 and Anouilh’s Antigone in 2022,
2023 sees three companies combining their resources to tackle The Tempest: Kiwi/possum, Free Theatre from Christchurch and Dramalab from Golden Bay. Costume and design work are well underway. The production will be co-directed by Peter Falkenberg and Heather Fletcher (who is also composing the songs), Paul Maunder plays Prospero, Jason Johnson, Caliban, Finn Gestro-Best (ex NASDA) Ariel, Diva Baanvinger Singh, Miranda, Hari d’Hondt, Ferdinand, Jeff Rowe (coming from Auckland), Alonso, Frank Wells, Gonzalo, Cary Lancaster and Francis Darwen, the two villains, Antonio and Sebastian, with Martine Baanvinger and Caroline Selwood, the clowns. Costuming by Elisa Wells and design by Pam McKelvey with sound by Karen Grant.
As usual the actors arrive off script and an intense week of rehearsals follows leading to performances on Saturday and Sunday, 28th and 29th January at 7.30pm.
Audience numbers will be limited so bookings can be made by texting 0211063669.
This promises to be an amazing event.
Once again it’s been an amazing week, a ritual week, breaking the bonds of the ordinary and entering a new space, visiting a strange land, as we rehearsed and performed Antigone in the space of 7 days.
I will retain the image of people purposefully wandering down the road from the village to enter the ritual space. In a world without presence, where presence is frowned upon as a danger, where the screen is, instead, ‘safe’, this was a great relief, to suckle at the breast of theatre; and the play was written two and a half thousand years ago.
Antigone was the play that enticed me into theatre when I saw a girls’ high school production as a sixteen year old. Here was intense political debate, commitment, emotion and tragedy, taking place on the stage of a school hall in the middle of 1950s Palmerston North’s inarticulate puritanism, where people talked mainly of the weather and complained about potholes in the footpath, the cowboy film at the Regent on a Saturday night the space of ‘dreaming’.
It was in an instant conversion. Performance could change the world.
It was great to work with three young people from Christchurch, who blended with us local oldies. Staying at the Brian Wood cottage means that we live and work together for a week. Brooke Walford gave a stunning performance as Antigone and Freya Johnson and Declan McLister were skilled and willing. It was also great to welcome a designer, Pam McKelvey on board – Pam has recently moved to Blackball. We had two good audiences and the weather was kindly. We’re looking at The Tempest for next year.
Some years back I introduced the idea of a local carol service in the Working Men’s Club. The Greymouth minister was keen. We sit around the bar with a guitar or two and there are books of carols available. For a while there were snatches of service in between the songs but the minister’s dropped that and substituted a quiz halfway through. People enjoy the event, especially some of the oldies. As I strum and sing I wonder whether I’m being a hypocrite, but then it always seems useful to revisit the Christ story, a rather amazing myth which has some historical context. It’s no more fanciful than Maui fishing up the north island or slowing the sun and hypocrisy is not an accusation in that regard and Christianity has been at the heart of European culture. Few of those gathered are practising Christians, but we sing with gusto. In…
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After the success of the Beckett play in the Blackball Bathhouse last summer we are mounting a further classic in the venue this summer. This time the play is the Greek Tragedy of Antigone, adapted from Sophocles by French playwright, Jean Anouilh. Anouilh wrote this adaption during the WW11 German Occupation of France and we have placed our production in that context. The regional cast will assemble for a week of intensive rehearsal before performances on January 22 and 23 at 7.30pm of this intense story of someone who rejects the pragmatism of the politician.
The project, while stressful, was very rewarding; firstly the encounter with one another, three from the Coast and three from Christchurch was stimulating. And then the encounter with the classic, the encounter with two sites, firstly the bathhouse and then Seven Oaks in Waltham and of course the encounter with the audience, 100 on the Coast and fifty in Christchurch. Finally, we had a week of rather extraordinary weather in Blackball as well. Surprisingly a Beckett play has the quality of a myth, with the natural world playing a part. We certainly hope to make this an annual event.
Theatre in the Bathhouse
No better venue than the Blackball Bathhouse for the Kiwi/Possum, Free Theatre Christchurch production of Endgame, directed by Peter Falkenberg. It starred Emily Maunder (recent NASDA graduate), Paul Maunder, Frank Wells and Elisa Wells. The Bathhouse, the concrete remnant, resembling a World War II structure (only a kilometre east of town) set the scene. The rain and mist added to the intrigue of this historical gem, bleak though engaging, Blackball’s own amphitheatre.Here are two reactions:
We were greeted by a member of the cast playing a zither, smaller than a harp though similar sound and offering an umbrella. We sat and settled in for what was an unforgettable evening.
Each line a gem too. ‘Dialogue, that’s what keeps us together’ says Hamm, the main character, to his adopted child, Clov, as they battle the absurdity of the day, and the next… Blind, aged and unable to walk, Hamm’s delight of the day is to receive his painkillers until Clove informs him they’ve all gone. He asks to be wheeled around the room to the wall and even that’s hollow. Around they go only to return to the same place again, not an inch too far forward or back. He asks Clov to look outside, only outside is the same as inside. Nothing on the horizon and the sea has gone. Clov must get back to the kitchen. She always wants to get back to the kitchen. She has her own aliments. ‘How are your eyes, do you see?’ asks Hamm.
All is compounded by the exasperation of not being able to do anything about his predicament. Yet conversations continue. Hamm talks to his parents who are living in rubbish bins behind him. His father reminds Hamm that, ‘It was me you called out for when you were a child, me.’ His mother reminisces: she can’t believe she once went canoeing on the lake with her husband. Her fingers shake against the bin. His parents try to kiss, but they’re not able to reach over to each other. Hamm asks for the dog to hold. It’s a wooden step Clov has dressed up. And they’re all trying to relate and trying not to relate, questioning how to leave, threatening to leave, only to return to the same place. There’s playfulness too in the predictable, and it’s all in the conversation, the dialogue. We exist. How to end is the question.
End Game is considered a Beckett masterpiece. Kiwi/Possum Productions and Free Theatre Christchurch have done an incredible job of bringing this classic to the stage, and what a venue it was! This is a first-class production, and the cast’s performances were exceptional. Even the wekas cried out. What a night.
Jane Gallagher, Wellington-based writer in the Grey Star
It often feels these days like the world makes less and less sense. Between the high dramatics of international politics, the lockdowns still happening across the globe, and the ever-present threat of climate change, it seems like an excellent time for a resurgence of absurdist theatre. This is certainly the view of local theatre company Free Theatre Christchurch and their West Coast counterparts Kiwi/Possum Productions, visiting from Blackball. The two groups have collaborated for the first time on a production of the play Endgame, written by Samuel Beckett, one of absurdism’s most well-known playwrights.
Endgame was written in the wake of WWII, while the world was holding its breath in hopes of avoiding nuclear war. In his play, Beckett followed this anxiety to its natural conclusion, setting it in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In this barren place, nothing ever happens; there is no change to tell one day from the next. It is not a play that is in a hurry. What is left to hurry to? Rather, it thoughtfully explores our innate desire for connection, our need to be heard and understood by somebody else.
The main focus is the tension between the characters Hamm and Clov (played by Paul and Emily Maunder respectively), who are presumably two of the last humans living. Hamm was once powerful, but the loss of his sight and mobility has made him dependent upon Clov, who yearns to leave but is compelled to stay. Although they both need each other, Hamm and Clov continuously push each other away. Paul Maunder convincingly emphasised Hamm’s selfish, demanding traits, almost holding court in this last abject outpost of humanity. Despite all of Clov’s frustrations, presented explosively by Emily Maunder, it is easy to see why he still doesn’t dare to go. As irritating as Hamm can be, his company is still better than being alone—Clov’s conundrum was made crystal clear in every little hesitation. “What’s keeping me here?” cried Clov at one point. Hamm’s reply: “The Dialogue.”
The only other people we see are Hamm’s parents (played by Frank and Elisa Wells), who each live in a corrugated iron box at the back of the stage. I was especially entranced by them, ghostly and trembling in their cells. Stuck dreaming of the past, reverting to a second childhood, they were admirable representations of nostalgia. The Wellses brought a lot of humour to the show, and were thoroughly absorbing despite only being visible from the shoulders up.
The venue for the Christchurch performance of Endgame was nothing if not evocative. Seven Oaks is tucked away in an unexpectedly quiet nook of the city, and has a touch of wilderness about it. The stage itself was set up inside an out-of-commission greenhouse that had only a few holes in it, and was framed with brittle, dried-out foliage. Walls of scaffolding inset with a doorway and a pair of angled window frames were all that was needed to convey an enclosed space, like an attic. Overall, the combined effects of the staging and the surrounding area proved to be suitably fitting to the piece.
Beckett’s writing is brimming with poignant philosophy and grim humour jostling each other throughout. The Free Theatre and Kiwi/Possum collaboration of his work showed great sensitivity to both these aspects, finding a moving balance. I commend the cast, as well as director Peter Falkenberg and assistant director Marian McCurdy, for all the effort they’ve put into staging this very timely performance.
Jordon Jones, for Backstage
Theatre: Classic Encounter on the Coast
With the production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame West Coast we enter a partnership with Christchurch based company, Free Theatre.
We have had on the agenda to produce a classic and the European notion of encounter has always attracted. We have also had the idea to rehearse something intensely for a week so that actors from off the coast can come and participate. 0n this occasion we welcome Emily Maunder, freshly graduated from NASDA. We also feel it is important for audiences to have the opportunity to encounter a classic, which become increasingly rarely staged in New Zealand.
Recently we had a dialogue with Free Theatre when they came to the Coast for their Erewhon project and the resultant video is worth a view, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfM5rQEaBcI&t=3s. But as well Free Theatre artistic director, Peter Falkenberg was the supervisor for Paul’s PhD thesis on community-based theatre in New Zealand. These impulses have come together for this production of Samuel Beckett’s play, Endgame.which will be directed by Peter.
Endgame is now considered a Beckett masterpiece and was one of his two favourite works. Beckett was of course writing after WW11 when the knowledge of the death camps overwhelmed conscience, when nuclear threat hovered, and when Western civilisation was experiencing a crisis of faith. Commonly known as theatre of the absurd, certain plays began to refuse the simplistic ethics of the past and pursued instead the resulting despair and absurdity. This is what we encounter; and we bring our own knowledge of despair and absurdity emanating from the climate crisis, species loss, populist politics and the inability of late capitalism.
We can empathise with these characters in a room, with an apocalyptic world outside, simultaneously attempting and denying relationship, locked in a game of life which resembles chess. Stalemate? Checkmate? Humour? Rancour? One seems to be blind, the other crippled; the parents of one of them live in rubbish bins on stage. The end game of life is played out.
Kiwi/Possum have eyed the old bathhouse in Blackball as a performance venue for some time. The bathhouse used to be the place where miners washed up at the end of the day, but it was also the place of dialogue and playfulness. What better venue then to stage this classic. This will be a unique night at the theatre. Book by texting 0211063669.
For those coming from afar, The Blackball Inn and Café can offer a $100 bed, meal, breakfast and play deal in a variety of single or double formats: blackballinn@gmail.com; 021361397 or 037324888. Alternatively, Blackball Salami has fully self contained Tiny Homes at $60 a head with either a double bed or two singles in each: 0272564951. Or those on a budget camp at the museum for free.
Writer in residency
Thanks to a Creative NZ grant the Blackball Writers Residency in the Brian Wood Cottage has taken place. The resident writer, Stevan Eldred-Grigg wrote in his report:
I lived for the month at the Brian Wood Cottage in Blackball. The cottage is a charming, indeed magical, haven of quiet and peace. The front veranda and the back porch – lovely places to sit and think whether the sun is shining or the rain is teeming – the bush on Mount Kinsella, the sound of Ford Creek, the birdlife in the garden, have all been a big part of that magic. The quiet and privacy of the cottage meant that I succeeded in my plan of writing the final draft of my new memoir, Green Grey Rain.
I gave a talk about my book to audiences in Greymouth and Hokitika. At both talks the audience was interested, interactive and lively. I also conducted a three-hour workshop with seventeen school students, aged ten to thirteen, from primary schools in the Grey district. A big bonus of living and working in Blackball is that the village is not only quiet and peaceful but also convivial and friendly. A writer in Blackball feels supported by a kindly community, yet at the same time can choose to be solitary.
Apart from the residency An Evening of Story Telling was rehearsed and two previews given with good feedback. Diane Burns wrote: ‘ What a treat to find ourselves connected to the land and to our history in this powerful way. Through voice and heart and with a clear sense of purpose, we learnt important aspects of our histories and herstories.‘ A tour of these stories to small towns on the Coast has now been scheduled for next year. To sample a story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laQLIe0xB6s
We have in mind for midyear, a play on the housing crisis and will be inviting new members into the group for the project. We will be exploring the style of theatre created by the Geheimagentur Group in Germany.
Finally, two hui have been held to discuss arts development on the coast and from the discussion Te Tai Poutini Arts Development Network formed. Each year the network will call for projects and a participatory democracy process will take place to create a strategic programme for which to seek funding. The above programme is an interim programme with the process kicking in in 2021. Network members and their area of interest are:
Alun Bollinger: Blacks Point. Film, Heritage, Youth; Becky Manawatu: Westport, Writers; Cassandra Struve: Greymouth, Galleries, Children; Heather Fletcher: Greymouth. Choir, Music and Well Being; Jason Johnson: Greymouth, Advocacy, Data base; Karamea Arts Council; Katie Hanson: Greymouth; Art in schools, Dance; Paul Maunder- Blackball, Writers and Theatre; Roger Ewer: Coast Road, Gigs and Celebration; Rosamund Heney: Moana, Advocacy, Youth; Tessa Hunter: Reefton, Professional artists, Well being; Tony Manuel: Reefton, Maori arts; Westland Arts Inc Exec.: Hokitika– art, community, craft, arts on tour. (It should be noted that WAI do not wish to participate in the participatory democracy process.)
The Network are beginning an advocacy process in order to create local stakeholders.
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