Young actor on the up with Circa season
Lily Harper’s dream of a fulltime acting career is set to take an important step when Up Down Girl begins its Wellington season at Circa Theatre on Tuesday.
Harper was named ‘‘Best emerging actor’’ at the 2020 Central Regional Theatre awards for her role as Mattie a 19-year-old with Down syndrome preparing to move out of home. ‘‘There aren’t many movies or plays that have people with Down syndrome in them and in the ones that do they are usually small roles. I want to be the star of the show,’’ Harper said.
Producer and co-director Nathan Mudge helped the Palmerston North teenager find the role and adapted it from Sue Shields’ play Up Down Boy.
Mudge met Harper when he ran a performance company for people with intellectual disabilities out of the Globe theatre in Palmerston North.
‘‘I was instantly caught by her unique perspective of the world and natural talent for performing. She brings an openness and huge desire,’’ Mudge said.
Harper projects her own life experience to the story augmenting the original play with dance, song, skits and shadow play.
‘‘That process was led by Lily so what you see onstage is an extension of how she sees the world,’’ Mudge said.
Harper’s commitment to her role rivalled any actor that Mudge had worked with.
‘‘No-one works harder. Because she has fewer opportunities than other actors, when she gets them, she works 110 per cent to do it well,’’ he said.
The production was an opportunity to showcase Harper’s talents but also to shift the narrative of what it means to live with a disability.
‘‘There is a tendency to put the limits and restrictions that people face onto the disability itself instead of paying attention to the barriers that society puts up,’’ Mudge said.
The upcoming Circa season for the production was set to run from April 20 to May 1 and would include an audio described performance, a sign interpreted performance and a relaxed performance with limited audience numbers and a less stimulating light and sound design.
Mudge said he was excited about broadening the accessibility of the show.
‘‘When we centre people with disabilities in our work we’re actually servicing everyone. ‘‘But if we stick to traditional practices which only cater to able-bodied people then an entire community misses out,’’ Mudge said.