STUART McKENZIE

Aglobal pandemic proved to be fertile ground for verbatim playwright Stuart McKenzie. Seeing an opportunity to document history as it unfolded he and his wife Miranda Harcourt began interviewing then prime minister Jacinda Ardern, former finance minister Grant Robertson and leading epidemiologist Michael Baker as the government grappled with locking down the country in March 2020.

Transmission, the emotional and sometimes humorous piece of theatre codirected by Harcourt, ended on a high note: It seemed the team of five million had conquered the virus.

But then came Delta and Omicron. McKenzie and Harcourt went back to work, the interviews continued and the net was cast wider. Transmission: Beta is what happened next.

McKenzie tells Bess Manson what it was like to be at the parliament protests and why people’s words matter.

Where does this sequel to Transmission take us?

Transmission was about the behind-the-scenes stories and the pressure involved in making the decision to lock a country down – what kind of impact that has on a person, leadership and the psychological mettle that is required to do that.

It ended on a high note. There was a sense of, bloody hell, that team of five million came together! We made some drastic decisions that had an impact on the country and the economy but what we did was save lives by closing the country down. It was a heroic story.

Transmission: Beta is what happens next – the shit hits the fan. That sense of unity we had, that social fabric is frayed in lots of different directions, emblematically at that protest at parliament.

Transmission was centred around three main characters – Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Michael Baker. What does this lineup look like?

We are still following Jacinda and Grant and Michael as key protagonists but this time we have 14 characters. I have thrown the net wider to include others, including protesters – people who are anti-mandate, anti-vaxers – not showing them in a clichéd way that people are often depicted but really getting to grips with who they are as people.

Other people like vaccine scientist Kjesten Wiig, philanthropist Sam Morgan, CEO of

“That sense of unity we had, that social fabric is frayed in lots of different directions, emblematically at that protest at parliament.”

the Waipareira Trust John Tamihere, and MIQ residents help tell the story.

Did you go down to parliament to interview

protesters? I did. I was interested to see who was there and what was happening. I was trying to get a sense of it as a writer without making too many assumptions and prejudices.

I was there on the day of the final showdown between the police and protesters. I happened to be on the protesters’ side of parliament when tiles were being ripped up and smoke bombs were going off. At one point I thought, holy shit, I think I’m in a very vulnerable position here. I might have to get out of harm’s way. It was very scary.

Verbatim theatre is an interesting concept.

Tell us more. Miranda and I have spent our lives developing verbatim theatre. It’s a practice that deals with specificity. It requires good will and trust and courage from the people who are involved in the project.

Verbatim is true to its meaning – they said it. But it can’t just be monologue after monologue. It’s got to have a rhythm and a shape and have themes that speak to an audience. It’s got to be surprising. It’s got to have those core dramatic essentials to keep people engaged and entertained.

What kind of reaction have you had from the main protagonists? They have been so open. Grant read some scenes recently and said it was a tough read but he respected my process. I think that’s f…ing amazing.

I know, in the heat of the moment, Grant found it very rewarding having someone to talk to about what was going on in his head. The exasperations and the challenges and the joys. Michael found that too. He said it was like going through psychoanalysis.

How do you feel now that it’s about

to hit the stage? I am nervous because you always feel vulnerable about how people are going to take your work and how they are going to feel about the way they’ve been characterised and presented on stage. I hope they feel this has been a project that has shown trust to the words they spoke to me. Even if it’s hard at times to watch it and listen to what people say, that they can see it was a project made in good faith to give a perspective on what was happening in the country at the time. That is what I hope because that has been my intention all along, to show integrity.

You can’t have known how it was going to end, that must have been strange as

a playwright? That was a huge frustration. I thought this could go on and on and on. When Jacinda resigned, I thought thank god, you’ve given me an end to this project.

But I really felt for her as a person. She had been under all this stress and pressure and it kind of twisted out of shape what her project was when she entered parliament. There was a lot of abuse and bile directed her way, a lot of misogyny. It really brought out the worst in a lot of people in their response to female leaders. I was very moved when she resigned. It was a profoundly moving occasion to listen to her talking.

There’s something remarkable about her, and Grant too, that they remain very human. A lot of people identify with that.

What was it like as a writer, making a show about something so important in real time?

It really was interesting. But it does drive you nuts as well. I was thinking where does it end? Often times I was thinking, I’ve had enough. I don’t know if I can carry on with this.

I thought I’d finished the project with Transmission. I thought we’d eliminated the virus. We were going to the Auckland Festival with the play but the next round of Covid hit and the festival closed. So I thought OK, let’s write the next one.

But I don’t think I’m going to write Transmission: Omega.