Play to debut on earthquake anniversary
Kathleen Gallagher kept a diary through the aftermath of Christchurch’s earthquakes, to process the loss and devastation.
Poems, plays and a novel came from Gallagher’s interpretation of the events that changed Canterbury’s psyche and landscape.
On February 22, 2011, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck the region, killing 185 people and causing widespread damage to buildings, homes and infrastructure.
Seven year’s later, Gallagher’s novel Earthquakes and Butterflies has been turned into a play, showing at the Transitional Cathedral from February 22 to 25.
‘‘Hopefully it’s a transformative experience, to take people through the experience . . . not to deny it, not to pull away from it, but just to be with it,’’ Gallagher said.
‘‘[The play] opens with the February 22 quake. The first scenes are different people [around] the city and it moves from there to show how these people are interconnected.’’
It started as a Court Theatre play in 2013, Gallagher said. Director Elizabeth O’Connor died before it could be completed and Gallagher ‘‘pulled back’’.
‘‘I thought I might make it into a film, or continue it as a play, but I felt like I couldn’t say everything in a play, it needed to be said in a novel,’’ she said.
Cantabrians quickly shared their earthquake stories while reminiscing, Gallagher said. There was the story of a dairy owner who opened their doors to those in need. There was the love story that played out through the shaking. And there was Gallagher’s cousin, who ran home along streets strewn with shoes from those escaping the city centre.
‘‘It’s blending everybody’s experience, they all run together, but more importantly, it takes us through to where we are now and what we have got out of it.’’
Gallagher said the drive of her Cashmere property ‘‘opened up’’ on February 22.
‘‘We had to jump over these huge cracks that went right across the valley floor,’’ she said.
Writing her thoughts down became ‘‘a way for me to be present in it’’. Gallagher has authored 16 plays, three collections of poetry and six feature films.
‘‘We lost a lot of people in the quake and this is dedicated to them.’’
Enough time had now passed to allow people to ‘‘process’’ the impacts of the earthquake, and she said the play is about ‘‘getting together with people and talking about it’’.
‘‘It’s the thing that holds us all together really.’’
"Hopefully it's a transformative experience, to take people through the experience . . . not to deny it, not to pull away from it, but just to be with it."
Kathleen Gallagher, playwright