Oh, come all ye faithful

Fallen Angels; with Lisa Chappell and Claire Dougan.

Faith is the theme of Auckland Theatre Company's line-up for next year, while Silo's Shane Bosher plans an angelic farewell, reports Dionne Christian

"It's like there's a civil war in my head between the artistic director of a theatre company and the director who thinks, 'I want to stage that play, but realistically how many people would want to see it?"' says Auckland Theatre Company's artistic director Colin McColl.

Now, after considering dozens of scripts, weighing up his desire to stage certain plays against what an Auckland audience may enjoy, and looking at the availability of venues, McColl has made his choices for next year, themed as Acts of Faith.

He says faith - blind faith, leaps of faith, faithlessness, keeping or losing faith - is the thread that ties together the seven plays on ATC's main bill: Noel Coward's Fallen Angels, Paniora by Briar Grace-Smith, the Broadway hit Other Desert Cities, Maurice Shadbolt's Once on Chunuk Bair, to be directed by Ian Mune, The Good Soul of Szechuan, starring Robyn Malcolm, Arthur Meek's thriller Trees Beneath the Lake, and the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Oliver Driver.

The programme includes two additional shows. Geraldine Brophy stars in an adaptation of Margaret Mahy's The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate at the Bruce Mason Theatre in the July school holidays. In October, a new production of Victor Rodger's Sons will play at the Mangere Arts Centre as part of Southside Festival.

McColl sought work which reflects contemporary concerns as well as Auckland's multi-cultural communities and agrees that some of the plays are "undeniably big and theatrical".

"Those are the sorts of pieces I like; plays that could not work anywhere else other than the theatre - or at least not with the same impact. In programming, I aim for variety: a number of New Zealand works; something contemporary that perhaps people are talking about because friends or family have seen it overseas; a mix of comedy and drama.

"In 2014 we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and we wanted to have something that pays homage to the contribution made by New Zealanders.

Acts of Faith also has greater resonance for the company, which faced tough times this year after a fire at the Maidment Theatre in April. It was testing to find venues for two of its plays, Midnight In Moscow and The Glass Menagerie, highlighting the need for its own theatre. But the year has ended on a high note with the Michael Hurst-directed musical Chicago being extended three times. McColl says Acts of Faith acknowledges the many supporters who have donated money towards the $35 million Waterfront Theatre.

ATC's line-up includes Fallen Angels, with Lisa Chappell and Claire Dougan (left); and Trees Beneath the Lake, with Michael Hurst and Theresa Healey (above left); Silo's artistic director Shane Bosher (above right) at the 2014 launch. Nathan Mudge will appear in Once on Chunuk Bair.

Building should start later next year.

"It's always tough getting the right mix and I have to work a long way out, particularly in order to secure venues, but I look for things that get my juices going and whether there will be an audience for them."

He acknowledges having its own purpose-built 600-seat theatre, as well as a smaller studio space, will make his job easier. He is excited about the prospects of being able to schedule work which doesn't work as well in bigger spaces and the chances of complementary programming.

"There are four large-cast pieces on the 2014 programme because I'm moving toward productions with bigger themes and bigger ideas that will fill the new theatre. Through our literary unit we will encourage local writers to write with that in mind."

SILO'S OUTGOING artistic director, Shane Bosher, launched next year's season at an occasionally sentimental function at the Aotea Centre where company stalwarts shared stories.

Agreeing wholeheartedly with McColl's civil war analogy, Bosher says he wanted his final Silo season to be a "playground to explore the full breadth of the Silo story".

"It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be," he says, "but, as usual, it was challenging to whittle down the many different options. In the end, I opted to programme in a way that looks like a journey of the company."

Silo started small in the shabby-chic surroundings of what is now The Basement, with rebellious, defiant and sometimes unruly productions staged by casts and crews still learning their trade. Many of those performers, now seasoned veterans, are back to appear in plays which reflect varying aspects of Silo's development.

Next year's lineup includes Sunday Roast, Tom Sainsbury's anarchic comedy starring Adam Gardiner and Toni Potter; a single performance of Brel at Auckland Town Hall; Morgana O'Reilly's living room show The Height of the Eiffel Tower, which will be performed in the homes of audience members as an exclusive add-on for season ticket holders; the psychological thriller Belleville, starring Sophie Henderson, and The Blind Date Project, a collaboration with Australia's Ride On Theatre which will return Silo to The Basement.

Directed by Ride On's Tanya Goldberg, The Blind Date Project stars a lone actor who sits on stage waiting for her date to arrive; that date is a different performer each night and the actor has no idea whom she is about to meet. Her "date" arrives, then they are directed by text message and phone calls, with random songs, too. Bosher says while performers are handed a character description, there is no script and it is up to them to interpret the direction as they see fit.

However, his own Silo swansong comes earlier in the year when, in March and April, he directs both parts of Tony Kushner's epic Angels of America. Acknowledging there are plays he would have liked to have programmed or directed during his tenure at Silo, Bosher says he is being reflective rather than regretful but Angels in America is one he couldn't leave behind.

Describing it as a lollapalooza of a play he has wanted to direct forever, he has tried to programme it previously but, as a large musical, it is expensive to stage and needs nine weeks of rehearsals. "I'm hugely excited and I'm under no illusions as to how challenging it will be. I'm certainly not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses."

While he figures out how to make angels crash through the ceiling at Q Theatre and Colin McColl works on staging a bullfight as the climax to Paniora, other Auckland companies are finalising their programmes which involve similar challenges.

Tim Bray, doyen of children's theatre, will spend summer pondering how to represent a pod of whales on stage at the Pumphouse in Takapuna. His company's first production for the year is a version for children of Witi Ihimaera's picture book The Whale Rider. "And then later in the year, we're producing The Little Yellow Digger so I'll be thinking about how to get diggers on stage, too."