One-woman ‘White Ribbon Ride’ superb
is relentlessly compelling.
Kali Kopae, who won the 2015 Wellington Theatre Awards best actress for her performance, shows exactly why that was merited in a play that also picked up the outstanding new New Zealand play award.
Kopae plays five women connected to Te Whariki Manawahine o Hauraki in Thames. Three have suffered domestic violence, one is a support worker, and the fifth is a documentary-maker recording their stories.
While the filming device provides an ‘‘in’’, it is the least convincing aspect of Not In Our Neighbourhood.
For instance, permission to set up a shoot in a government agency while the impulsive, agitated Sasha mouths off at staff, would not happen.
Still, the ‘‘camera’’ angle doesn’t get in the way of the stories or the way they are portrayed.
The split-second transition Kopae makes from bolshie 23-yearold mum of five with paint-peeling vocabulary, to well-spoken middleclass, 57-year-old Teresa is astonishing. It’s not all bleak. Playwright and director Jamie Mccaskill wrote the play after working at the refuge as a performance advocate, and the authentic dialogue is peppered with irony and appropriate humour.
Simply and effectively set on a traverse stage lined with clusters of table lamps, this is a terrific performance in a vital play that deserves to be seen.