Hokianga creative awarded ‘Best New Work'
What music does, and
what this piece has created, is a safe way to
process the pain, to acknowledge it, and to
process this intergenerational wound.
When one Far North artist began uncovering the harrowing history of the “baby scoop” era, she could never have imagined the personal connection - and lost older sister - she would find.
Sarah Marcombee’s new musical, Put up and Shut Up, shines a light on the relatively recent time when countless unwed women were coerced to give up their babies for adoption or were simply told they had died.
On an organic farm near the end of a 15-kilometre-long gravel road in the Hokianga, Marcombee has spent the last four years creating, although she’s been making music for much longer.
She and her husband had long dreamed of a rural life; a truly simple life where they could grow their food and make their art.
It was among the fertile lands near Waimamaku that a heartbreakingly common story of loss for unwed mothers came to her.
Marcombee’s last album featured a song called Limbo, which tells the story of a young girl who falls pregnant and is told her baby has died.
“Because she’s Catholic and the baby wasn’t baptised, she believes it’s in limbo. As I dug deeper into the story, I learned it was actually a part of my own family history,” Marcombee shared.
“My mother had been forced to give up a baby before I was born.”
During one writing session, as Marcombee worked to find the right tone of voice for that lost sister, she logged on to Facebook for a break. Serendipitously, a message from her was waiting. Turns out they’d both been seeking.
Marcombee said she’d wanted to write a musical since she was 10.
Her dream was realised with Put Up and Shut Up!
In it, she and three other women - Poppy Pritchard, Rachel Derham and Julie Edwards - sing a series of songs that tell the story of a woman recalling the experience of being forced to give up her baby at 16.
In April, they began performing the show in people’s living rooms, as long as they were big enough to hold 20 people.
Despite still being in development, Put Up and Shut Up! recently won Best New Work at Whangārei Fringe 2022.
Judges deemed the show “incredibly polished” considering it was still in development and called the harmonies and storytelling “powerful”.
“Sarah Marcombee’s very personal family story was bravely shared and beautifully told, and the motifs woven through the story came together beautifully at the end to leave the audience feeling like they’d witnessed something quite special,” they wrote.
The festival featured more than 120 arts events from Northland and around the country. Of those, half were staged by Te Tai Tokerau creatives.
As part of her win, Marcombee will also receive development support for the work from Oneonesix, an arts and events venue in Whangārei.
In her research to develop the musical, Marcombee said she had learned that here in New Zealand alone, from 1955-1975, more than 100,000 women had their babies taken.
“So many women begged to keep their babies,” she said.
“This story has been told before, but for me, music is the missing link.
“What music does, and what this piece has created, is a safe way to
process the pain, to acknowledge it, and to process this intergenerational wound.
“The kaupapa is just to take it to the people, to circumvent theatres and money.”
According to Maggie Wilkinson who has spent decades lobbying for reparations and only this year finally received an apology from the Bishop of Auckland for the Anglican Church - once-common mother and child homes were essentially baby factories for affluent childless couples.
“If you were pregnant and unwed, or even divorced, this happened,” Marcombee said.
“It was basically state-sanctioned kidnapping. Our government and the UK’s are the only two who haven’t apologised.”
Marcombee said audiences have been moved and astonished, and often compelled to share their own stories - or those of their mum, aunt or grandma.
“So the show kind of continues past the end of the show, and we just hold space for each other.
“There’s comedy in it, black comedy; it would be too awful otherwise. Then it moves into what’s essentially a love story.”
The next scheduled performance is in Kaiwaka in January.
Anyone touched by the story with space to host a performance is encouraged to get in touch.
“We’ll go where people want us.”
To find out more information, search ‘Sarah Marcombee Music’ on Facebook, or contact: sirhowy@gmail.com.