Mystical Manawatu play about to take flight

Manawatu’s rich mystical history is powerfully mined in a new play written by Dr Angie Farrow, a senior lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey University.

Before the Birds is to be performed as part of Student Arts Week from September 17, contrasting the ancient history of Manawatu with a topical plot about branding Palmerston North as the biggest little city in the world.

Locals, including a 70-year-old Maori woman new to acting, migrants to the Manawatu, numerous sets of siblings, and at least one entire family unit, all feature in a highly-choreographed production that involves multiple settings including Terrace End Cemetery and The Square.

Backed by a musical ensemble, the cast of 30 are on stage the entire time, making a play that is epic in scale but counter-balanced by its obvious connection to the local community.

“It is a play that asks questions about community – about our sense of belonging and the need for congregation,” Dr Farrow says. “The play anticipates a kind of corporate world and explores the way the corporate universe and the machine universe – computers – are eroding our sense of community.”

In American Amanda McRaven, the cast has found someone Dr Farrow calls the ideal director. For the past 18 months Ms McRaven, has been working at Massey as part of a Fulbright grant specifically to study community theatre. She says the satisfaction of community theatre is like no other.

“You’re providing a transformative atmosphere for participants as well as the audience.”

Ms McRaven, from Charlottesville, Virginia, says she did not know Manawatu’s history nor how multicultural New Zealand had become and the play had been an education for her.

“I grew up with this sense of history and a sense of the past being a part of the present, which is what this play is about as well.”

Dr Farrow says the process of getting the play from the page to the stage had its own interesting history. Originally conceived as part of millennium celebrations, Before the Birds underwent extensive rewrites, with storylines adjusted and songs replaced by a new musical score.

Before the Birds is on in the Massey University Drama Lab at Hokowhitu September 17-20, 22 and 26.