Mark Wright has been hitting small theatres with one-man-show The Gallipoli Monologues. Photos / Hauraki District Council
Mark Wright has been hitting small theatres with one-man-show The Gallipoli Monologues. Photos / Hauraki District Council
Mark Wright thought he was clever having a buffer to his acting career, until overnight his Plan B stopped working.
The iconic Waihi Beach-based New Zealand actor was flying around the world presenting at corporate conferences when Covid-19 temporarily ended his career options.
"Both disappeared overnight."
The top New Zealand performer thought it over and adapted once more, as the industry he chose to diversify into became another of the biggest economic victims of Covid.
"I ended up washing cars, painting buildings and grinding concrete floors because I had mates that knew I was unemployed. They had these jobs and said 'I'm paying a couple of strangers to do this, I might as well pay you'."
The additional time on his hands also provided Wright with the opportunity to "finally" write a one-man play, which he has since taken on tour to small towns around New Zealand, including Paeroa and Whangamata.
Wright's due to hit Katikati's Arts Junction next month which he says is a wonderful place to perform and the "perfect space" for his one-man show.
The feedback so far from The Gallipoli Monologues has left him heartened by the challenge of putting on a solo show.
The Gallipoli Monologues. Photo / Hauraki District Council
The pandemic, he said, has been like working in a vacuum.
"Before I performed this the first time, I didn't know if I was on the right track so I invited people and said I would perform excerpts from my upcoming play and wanted a discussion afterwards," Wright said.
Mark Wright back in the limelight.
"I found it very helpful because when you're working solo you have no idea."
Wright's performances in small theatres around rural New Zealand have brought audiences to tears.
"One woman said 'you made me laugh, you made me cry you b**tard'. Women are put off by the subject matter and a lot I spoke to said they had gotten dragged along, but were going home to book tickets for their mum and sister.
"In this country it's women who book the tickets to theatre. One woman said I put the humanity back into the history book."
Wright believes live theatre - rooms full of life, generally - is desperately needed again after years of two-dimensional Zoom gloom.
Corporate events are starting to get back but it's nothing like pre-pandemic because companies are hurting and need to see the urgency of getting their people together, he says.
Actors in live theatre know about the energy and enthusiasm that comes from live audiences.
"Business needs to inspire and align their people, you have to get them all in the same room. In any business, people are key. And where people are key, communication is key. To me, you've got to get your people together and have their CE [chief executive] in front of them because we're human animals and we need that contact, and to engage them through the power of live performance."
There was a moment in a production of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, when Wright pulls a live puppy from a cardboard box on stage. Without fail, there'd be an audible "ahhh" from the audience.
In Wright's solo play, in which he plays multiple characters, he's aware some of the audience starts crying when one character cries.
"It's the energy, and that energy doesn't pass through a screen. You don't get that kind of emotion off a Zoom call."
The details What: The Gallipoli Monologues Where: Katikati's The Arts Junction When: November 18-19 at 7pm, matinee November 19 at 2pm
