Barbarian innovation takes out wild card
which was on at Bats Theatre in March as part of the Fringe Festival.
The Best New Zealand Play award went to Rob Mokaraka for Shot Bro – Confessions of a Depressed Bullet, which was on at Bats in June as part of the Kia Mau Festival. just called myself that,’’ she says.
The name was based on a piece she had written, Banging Cymbal, Clanging Gong and the ethos of that play has influenced the culture of the company.
‘‘It was the story of a barbarian, someone who felt at odds with the world and was carving out values that she held really true. These were about accepting difference and really valuing ‘the other’, the person seen by society as not really valuable.
‘‘She wasn’t on the side of the successful American Dream or the winner, she was on the side of the loser, the undervalued and the under-privileged and she sees real value as being on that side.
‘‘So it was the founding piece for the company and it remains our core ethos that we champion other perspectives and making sure that plenty of humour, and quite a large cast, which can include 60-70 people.
‘‘It’s quite a large scale piece which is an inter-generational confrontation done through song where all the lyrics are written by New Zealanders around the questions of what are the different age groups like.
‘‘We asked people to stereotype what they thought other age brackets were like and we’ve turned it into a great big sung piece that we do with different communities around New Zealand. We’re taking it to Wanaka in April and we just performed it in Nelson.’’
Randerson loves what is happening in Wellington, such as now having the shared space Te Hau Kainga being home to a number of great production companies such as Tawata, Taki Rua and The Conch.
‘‘Right now I just feel quite excited about what’s happening in Wellington and in New Zealand.
‘‘And it’s interesting that my first show was about a character who felt alone, because I don’t feel alone any more.’’