Brave young women in focus
A play calling itself a ‘‘ high-action, pulpy punk noir’’ will be staged in Northland.
Red Leap Theatre say Dakota of the White Flats is a coming-of-age story adapted from a novel by UK author Philip Ridley.
It celebrates brave, rebellious and unapologetic young women.
Dakota Pink is 13 years old and afraid of nothing. She lives in a bleak housing complex on the edge of a polluted canal.
Abandoned supermarket trolleys litter the streets and the oil slick water is filled with monstrous mutant eels.
Dakota and her best friend Treacle discover a secret that propels them across the water to the Broken Glass Fortress on Dog Island.
Delivered in electronica-inflected neon and grime, Dakota of the White Flats is shot through with comedy, horror, immersive soundscape and live music.
It stars Batanai Mashingaidze in the role of Dakota, alongside Ariā na Osborne, Lutz Hamm, Logan Cole and Amelia Rose Reynolds.
Ella Becroft directs the play.
‘‘Dakota of the White Flats takes the classic high-action adventure story – so
often the dominion of a group of boys on bikes in the 1980s – and places it firmly in the capable hands of Dakota and Treacle, who hurl their way through life,’’ Becroft says.
‘‘They are ambitious, mean, loud little punks. While the story references the breakdown of community and the environment, it places hope in the courageous adventuring of young people.’’
She says Red Leap Theatre are committed to creating high quality, original visual theatre that pushes creative boundaries, transforms how the audience relates to theatre and celebrates and supports women’s stories and talents. Their work has toured to great acclaim both domestically and internationally.
Set design is by John Verryt, lighting by Rachel Marlow and sound composition by Eden Mulholland.