Inside Awatea: Stumbling through the play

Thu Jul 12 2012 | BY James Wenley
On Tuesday, AWATEA had its first ‘stumble run’ - the first time all the scenes are played together in sequence without stopping. Director Colin McColl has to save his notes to the actors for a debrief afterwards.

On Tuesday, AWATEA had its first 'stumble run' - the first time all the scenes are played together in sequence without stopping. Director Colin McColl has to save his notes to the actors for a debrief afterwards.

Stumble could be accurate in more than ways than one; for the last week, the actors have been rehearsing on a mock up of the rake stage that will be built onto the Maidment stage. The rake is a favourite of ATC, an angled rise sloping up from the audience to the back. In the rehearsal room, black rostra are placed together on legs of various sizes, strategically placed blocks of wood holding it all together.   The infamous rake was most recently seen in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM - an extreme slope making for a challenging acting space for the actors. Andrew Grainger, who played Bottom in that show, says he never quite got used to it; the more leisurely slope of AWATEA'S rake is a lot easier to work with. Having a rake in the rehearsal room, before they get into the theatre, allows the actors time to get used to it.

From my outside eye, the rake instantly creates a new interest on the stage, with new levels and blocking possibilities to play with. It especially makes prominent the raised platform at the top representing the porch of Werihe's house, where he has his chair, and mementos of his son Matt including a photograph and letters.

Audiences might also recognise the rake from THE POHUTAKAWA TREE, which had a beautiful open set of wooden panels, designed by Tony Rabbit, who is back for AWATEA. Bruce Mason reckoned both plays could effectively play on the same set "on successive nights without a stick of furniture changed, not a leaf or flower disturbed, not a battered weather-board removed". Mason saw the plays in terms of a 'nineteenth century panoramic painting' - the curtain would rise and the image would be instantly recognisable for the audience. But Rabbit took this kernel of an idea, briefly joking they should just put up their POHUTAKAWA TREE set again, by using the same design philosophy  - eschewing naturalism - gone is Werihe's old and rundown house in amongst bush as specified in the script ("the windows on either side are hung with incongruously feminine curtains, remnants picked out by the local woman…") -instead, the stage is a largely open space so nothing can get in the way of the actors and audience.

There's another special feature of the set, inspired by a famous New Zealand painter, but we'll keep that surprise to the theatre.

The day's stumble run, though rough around the edges, was a truly engrossing watch.   Having been absent from the rehearsal room for a week, the changes in the actor's characterisations was incredible. George Henare, who I thought was pretty amazing right from the first read through, has gone deeply within into his character. I wasn't watching the actors anymore; I was watching the characters, walking on their mock-up rake stage.

The actors were back at lunchtime, crowding around the scones Geraldine Brophy had bought to rehearsal. "This is why I do this", Andrew Grainger confided, "for the food".