Kiwi dark comedy Spinal Destination is set in a spinal unit and stars Oscar Phillips, Bree Peters, John Landreth, and Tom Sainsbury.
Kiwi dark comedy Spinal Destination is set in a spinal unit and stars Oscar Phillips, Bree Peters, John Landreth, and Tom Sainsbury.
A sudden accident left him a tetraplegic, now he’s the star of a new local dramedy. Karl Puschmann talks to John Landreth.
Warning: This article deals with suicide and depression
On a rainy Wellington night in 2018, actor John Landreth’s life changed forever.
He and his partner wereat a friend’s barbecue and the hour was getting late. His partner turned to him and said they should leave to put her two daughters to bed.
Landreth had been on tour with the stage play Movers and had only returned to Wellington the day before. He was keen to catch up with his mates. He told his partner he’d stay for one more drink and be home shortly.
But Landreth had a pre-existing condition called DISH, or diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, which means that several of his vertebrae had fused, limiting mobility.
His neck couldn’t flex with the impact leaving his spine to bear the full brunt of his fall.
John Landreth had a pre-existing condition, DISH, which contributed to his paralysis post-accident.
“If I didn’t have the DISH, I wouldn’t be in a wheelchair. If I’d gone home with my partner, I wouldn’t be in a wheelchair. Maybe if I hadn’t had that other drink, I wouldn’t be in a wheelchair.”
Then he smiles and says: “But you know, you can’t dwell on these things for too long otherwise they can put you in very dark places”.
We’re talking today because Landreth is starring in a new dark comedy called Spinal Destination. The show follows Tessa, a new patient at the fictional Goldfield’s Spinal Unit.
It explores the emotional drama found in those dark places while also finding room for grim humour.
Landreth, an award-nominated actor who has starred in everything from Shortland Street to The Hobbit, plays John, a fellow patient whose grumpy exterior hides his affability and suicidal intentions.
The series was created by director Paula Whetu Jones who based the story on her personal experience adapting to life in a wheelchair.
When Landreth came aboard she enlisted his help in the writer’s room to add his experiences to her own.
His character is arguably in a pitch-black place when we meet him. Landreth says that while things did get dark, he was not suicidal like his character.
Spinal Destination is John Landreth’s first acting role since becoming a tetraplegic in 2018.
“The first three weeks out of ICU, I was very depressed. But I was lucky to have a very good friend help me who’s been in a chair for about 38 years. He knows those dark places and that desperation,” he says.
“For me as a writer on the show, it wasn’t a lived experience, but I was able to give a very authentic living or lived experience to situations that happened to me or I’ve heard from other wheelies. So it was more the experience of knowing those thoughts and hearing those thoughts from other inmates.”
He laughs at his joke before correcting himself and continuing.
“... from other patients. Or people unfortunate enough to have diseases or situations that lead them to a lot of pain throughout their life. I’ve lost friends who put up with a lot all through their lives.
“I think they just went: ‘This is enough’. I fully understand that. I totally respect a decision if it’s based on that kind of torture that you face every day. Not many people are.
“Those who are faced with it, I accept and support any decision they might make in that respect. It can be very painful being a tetraplegic like I am. A friend of mine had a disease and was wracked with pain on any given day. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us.”
The conversation is getting heavy, but given the show’s subject matter, perhaps that was inevitable.
But to not give the wrong impression, it has to be restated that Spinal Destination is a darkly funny show and Landreth himself is very open and easygoing.
“It’s also quite insightful, with its humour,” Landreth says.
“Which is the only way to do it properly, I think. Otherwise, it becomes quite a hard sell.”
John Landreth believes new TV show Spinal Destination can help improve societal attitudes towards disability.
It’s Landreth’s first acting job since his accident. He says that even while he was receiving care in Burwood he knew he’d somehow return to acting.
“I thought; ‘there’s always a path for an old guy,’” he laughs, before getting more serious and saying: “It helped me a lot”.
Filming took about a month and, he says, was not as simple as it looked.
“Physically, it was very challenging. It probably looks quite comfortable being in the chair but that’s a misconception. It was a challenging month but muscle memory is incredible.
“The acting just came straight back. I felt I was where I wanted to be.”
Of the series’ four core leads, Landreth is the only actual disabled actor, although other non-able-bodied actors were cast in supporting roles.
He feels it was extremely important that these casting decisions were made. Not only does it lend believability and credibility to the show and its occasional extreme situations but it also promotes primetime visibility for these actors.
“If they had cast another able-bodied actor as John, I think it would be a different show entirely.
“I don’t know how it would have been received by a disabled community. It’s very important and inclusive to have us there. I hope that this isn’t the last show for the next 10 years to have a disabled person or paraplegic.
“Inclusivity is part of our culture - or should be. It’s increasingly becoming that way so it’s very important to include all disabled people in as much as possible.”
Along with its entertainment value, this inclusivity and visibility are the best things about Spinal Destination.
Due to its writers’ lived experience, the show brings an awareness to situations and lives many people never think about, let alone empathise with. In that regard, it feels like an important show.
“I get a large number of people that don’t know how to react around myself or tetraplegics or people with a mental disability. You know, they’ll look away, or they’ll cross the street,” he says.
“But without a doubt, society is getting better. I’ll get just as many people saying ‘hi’, or stopping for a chat. Shows like this will open people’s eyes to the reality of what we go through, and allow them to empathise more with the situation that we find ourselves in.”
Spinal Destination is currently screening on Sky Open on Wednesdays at 8:30pm and streaming on Neon and Sky Go.
