Summer read inspires colonial play

Arthur Meek in his workspace. Photo / The Aucklander.

When actor/playwright Arthur Meek stopped at the Matakana Markets this year, 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 Meek describes as "the most depressed-looking kuia ever".

But far from depressing, he found the story inspiring and quite unlike anything he had read.

Published in 1884, Our Maoris is the memoir of Lady Ann Martin, who arrived in New Zealand in 1842 as the wife of New Zealand's first justice, Sir William Martin. A semi-invalid, she was determined to bring Christianity to Britain's most distant colony.

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.

"She was gutsy," says Meek. "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.

Inspired by her memoir, he wrote Our Maoris about a crippled Englishwoman who arrives in a savage land to "civilise the natives" but discovers her own liberation.

Just as Lady Martin needed someone to revisit her story to bring her once again to public attention, Meek needed someone willing to take a chance on his script. Auckland Theatre Company's Literary Unit has done just that.

Our Maoris is one of three new plays in the ATC Literary Unit's annual festival of new works called The Next Stage. Victor Rodger's Village People and Stephen Sinclair's What to Do About Dad are the other two plays on this year's Next Stage programme.

Each year unit manager Philippa Campbell works her way through a sizeable pile of submitted scripts to find three suitable for The Next Stage. Selected playwrights have their scripts workshopped for a week followed by a "big reveal" as the works-in-progress are read to audiences for feedback so writers can develop the stories.

Campbell says ATC has a strong relationship with Rodger and there is always keen interest in his work.

"He takes big emotional risks in writing from a particular point of view as he investigates his relationship with the Pacific. There is a very particular tone to his work. I think he wants to stir people up but entertain them at the same time."

Village People is set in Samoa immediately before last year's tsunami. Four estranged half-Samoan siblings return to Samoa to celebrate the youngest becoming a matai. The family reunion means they must confront their feelings about each other and their homeland.

Campbell says What to Do About Dad packs an emotional punch. Geoff comes home from hospital after a stroke convinced life will return to normal but all around him, family and friends sharpen up the knives.

Performance

What: The Next Stage

Where: Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, October 12-16by Dionne Christian