On The Upside-Down of the World

Thu Jun 09 2011 | BY ATC
Suppressed for 150 years, ATC's latest work uncovers the words of a woman who dared to challenge colonial injustice.

Laurel Devenie stars in ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD. Her surname probably sounds familiar to you - she is indeed the daughter of actor Stuart Devenie and her pursuit of a career in show biz is inspired by her father. Laurel's debut performance with ATC was in last year's production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST as Cecile. She also directed THINNING, the runaway smash hit of the 2010 Auckland season of the Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre for the Company.

It was a trip to the Matakana Markets last year by playwright Arthur Meek that inspired the work. He came across a book which he thought might make a good summer read. Hardly a blockbuster, it was called 'Our Maoris' - a provocative title in itself - and featured a cover picture of a woman that Meek describes as "the most depressed-looking kuia ever". Far from depressing Meek found the story inspiring and quite unlike anything he had read before. He knew immediately the memoir would provide brilliant material for a play.

Published in 1884, 'Our Maoris' is the memoir of Lady Ann Martin, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand in 1842 as the wife of New Zealand's first chief justice, Sir William Martin. Unhampered by her physical disability, she was determined to bring Christianity to Britain's most distant colony.

ATC commissioned Meek to write the play and it was workshopped last year as part of the NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK. Our Artistic Director Colin McColl describes ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD as an "unashamedly Pakeha view of early colonial history - surprisingly liberal, heart felt and funny"

Meek is interested in how our history, people and events, impact upon the present day.

"It's not a history play. It's a play about who we are and how we've come to be like we are. 'Our Maoris' is an arresting account of colonial New Zealand, from the exact time of the birth of the Pakeha. In ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD I'm looking at how our contemporary cultural values and Pakeha identity were born out of the transformative experiences of the English settlers coming to a new country and encountering Maori. Lady Martin is more than an individual for me; she's an archetype of a pioneer woman. She was gutsy. She came to New Zealand where she had nowhere to live and nothing much to eat but she didn't complain. She just got on with it. She quickly established herself as a teacher and community leader, setting up a hospital and dispensary for Maori patients at Judges Bay (Taurarua) near what later became Parnell. Witnessing events like the Feast of Remuera and the impact of the Waikato land wars - which she opposed - Lady Martin became remarkably progressive in her views."

The production design by Tony Rabbit, whose recent work with McColl includes THE POHUTUKAWA TREE and WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED, is inspired by a chance viewing of Hakari towers in a New Zealand History book. Hakari towers were enormous temporary structures built by Maori for storing and displaying food before a feast.

Rabbit says he started with a very refined and polished design but that it wasn't quite right.

"The Hakari towers were built with whatever Maori had access too, trees and parts of trees, wood in a raw state. I looked at this from a contemporary point of view and I thought about what we have easy access to. I also considered how the building material might reflect England's industrial might at the time when Ann Martin came to New Zealand and I started playing around with creating a forest and Hakari tower out of aluminum ladders. When Ann Martin came here, she really had no idea what to expect. She had no idea what she was walking into. London and Auckland, at the time, were completely different; the people had different sensibilities and vastly different cultures. I want the audience to feel something equivalent to that sense of dislocation and confusion when they walk into the Concert Chamber and experience the set for the first time. Here is an enormous structure confronting them and they are forced to think, what is that? How is that an appropriate setting for this play?"

Colin says Lady Martin's observations of life for Maori and Pakeha settlers alike have uncanny resonances for us today

"We hope this play will invigorate people's interest in NZ history, early Pakeha settlers and politics."

ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD runs from June 30 to July 16 at the Concert Chamber in the Auckland Town Hall and from August 24 - September 10 at Wellington's Downstage Theatre.