BOARDS STOMPED IN 2017
A look back on a year in theatre
It’s a struggle to get bums on seats to live theatre and it can be a real headscratcher for those involved.
They are the ones who know the hours spent. They are the doers who work hard to reach a creative height and they are the ones who need people to sit, watch, think, laugh, cry and be entertained.
Because when you go to see theatre, you aren’t just a number in an audience, you are the breath of life, the final touch and a necessary part of the artistic process.
And there has been plenty of choice – an unbelievable amount of shows were staged in 2017, featuring some familiar faces and some new ones, too.
Manawatu¯ Theatre Inc branched out this year, with Scott Andrew finding new depths in George Orwell’s 1984.
The cog-in-the-wheel state he presented hung between times and felt unnervingly relevant. Samuel Gordon played Winston and he proved himself to be one of Palmerston North’s strongest actors.
On the outskirts, Abbey Musical Theatre put on Blood Brothers, Forbidden Broadway, the Full Monty and Rock of Ages, which meant the lights at The Auditorium were not turned off much at all. It’s a dedicated group that stomps the boards and they all freely admit being totally addicted.
Riley Booth is someone I have written about before and I was pleased to see her taking the next step with her first big role in the power ballad belter Rock of Ages.
She held her own and will no doubt go on to grasp more roles with both hands.
Pahiatua Repertory Society defied the label community theatre and put on an ambitiously huge show, Jekyll and Hyde. Andrew also took this one on and directed it with his off-centre and bigthinking style. Andrew showed this year that he does demons – inner and outer – well.
At the other end of town, Centrepoint Theatre had a year of change. Dan Pengelly walked in the door as creative director and Jeff-kingsford Brown waltzed out in low-bow style. If Kingsford brown’s was the end of an era, Pengelly’s beginning has been one of possibilities.
The little provincial theatre needed a shake-up to get people through the door and this year’s lineup is trying new things, offering plenty of scope to bring in a new wave of theatregoers.
Pengelly said at the start of the year that he wanted to know who Palmerston North was and that’s just what he has done, with an emphasis on youth theatre and workshops. He was also given a bit more room to breathe, with the creation of a new role that saw Kate Louise Elliott becoming the theatre’s first general manager. Elliott is there to take some of the load off Pengelly so he is free to do that first word of his title more – be creative. A Centrepoint highlight in 2017 was Lord of the Flies , with a young cast, a crunch of sand under your feet and blood-curdling screams that would have given the old theatre ghosts a run for their money.
Ian Harman’s Boom Boom Room’s back-to-back shows to celebrate its 10th birthday were also a good end to a strong year in theatre. Harman’s stagecraft, storytelling and tongue-in-cheek humour are pure class. The world he creates has you stepping into something familiar, yet at the same time it’s a much more beautiful familiar. His Wellington Theatre Award for set design was well deserved. Hats off as well to Harvey Taylor, Centrepoint’s set builder extraordinaire, who ended the year with no less than a set with a revolving door and splitlevel stairs.
The Regent Theatre and The Globe continued to be Palmerston North’s mainstays for local and national shows, with young dancers and performers descending on them for the National Young Performer Awards 2017. Organiser Nikki Cunningham keeps bringing the awards back to Palmerston North, because she says it has the best facilities in New Zealand for such a big event. The Globe finally got its much-needed cafe and its punters get a good old Trumpet at half-time.
Spontaneous, Palmerston North’s improvised comedy group, got a fair old pat on the back in 2017. Ryan Knighton, Leona Revell and Alan Dingley travelled to Christchurch to compete in the National Theatresports Champs and proved they are funnier than most when Revell triumphantly swung the grand champion trophy above her head.
As well as the much-loved, there was new, which in theatre means that there is life. The Rare went from its previous life as a gloomy store room to a bejous and bespoke theatre space, made up of one coveted sofa and a motley crew of vintage chairs. Gael Haining Ede gave a brave solo performance of Wit, while Damian Thorne carved out yet another corner for himself.
Skin Theatre stayed true to its promise of new theatre formed from the firmly grounded roots of Shakespeare, and its collaboratively written play The
Experiment was its 2017 offering. They took on Romeo and Juliet through a new lens, while also tackling suicide, bullying and depression. It always seems like this brave young company is just on the cusp of something and this show put that feeling on the edge. Maybe that something will become a realised thing in 2018.
Theatre is an art form that takes so much collective energy that there is nothing quite like it. It thrives on human response and to keep the whirlpool moving and the plates spinning, people to need to join in, turn off Netflix and they need to find their seat.
When you go to see theatre, you aren’t just a number in an audience, you are the breath of life, the final touch and a necessary part of the artistic process.