Three plays flush out voice of youth

(From left) Robyn Paterson, Aimee Simpson, Harriet Urlich, Geraldine Jaynes and Sophia Scragg in Sit on It. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A new home-grown play looks set to flush out a puzzling modern mystery: why do women spend so much time in the bathroom?

Sit on It, by Wellington playwright Georgina Titheridge and starring 11 female actors, opens the door of the ladies' loo at a trashy nightclub to reveal a visit to the bathroom is less about bodily functions and more about female bonding.

Titheridge, 24, wanted to write a play for a big cast of women actors, with humour she describes as authentically female. She thought a nightclub toilet would provide an appropriate sanctuary in which to set the play because it is a place where women "hang out" and are upfront about their feelings and experiences.

Research meant spending more time than usual in public restrooms and Titheridge spent quite some time in the toilets at parties and nightclubs discreetly listening to conversations. "The most interesting places were the toilets at 21st birthdays where everybody knew each other and thought the toilet was a safe place to talk openly. Of course, it's not private at all."

Sit on It is one of three plays in the Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre which, for the first time in its 15-year history, runs simultaneously in Auckland and Wellington. The festival matches top industry professionals with cast and crew aged from 15-25 years old. Working in teams, the more seasoned experts mentor the younger people who effectively receive free training and work experience.

Young and Hungry helped launch the careers of performers such as Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie, film director Taika Waititi and actor Michelle Ang.

A Wellington institution, the festival comes north thanks to a new partnership between the Young and Hungry Arts Trust and the Auckland Theatre Company. ATC creative development manager Lynne Cardy visited Wellington last year to research another youth theatre initiative but ended up at Young and Hungry.

"I saw all these kids dressed up and queuing to buy tickets and there was a real buzz in the air. It took me back to my days as a 'drama geek' when you are getting ready to make that transition from school to the real world of theatre.

"I loved it and I thought, 'If we're going to do something specifically with young people in mind, this is it'. Anything else would have been re-inventing the wheel and after 15 years, the Young and Hungry Trust has ironed out a lot of the logistical issues involved with a project of this nature."

Three plays are commissioned for the festival with the brief that the work must reflect local youth culture. As well as Sit on It, the event includes work by award-winning writer Vivienne Plumb and emerging Pasifika playwright and poet Miria George.

Plumb's work, Oyster, is described as a quirky and moving story about a group of young people trying to find their place in the world while George's Urban Hymns is a story of survival and greed, art and music, drugs and crime.

Julie Nolan directs the Auckland season of Oyster, Michelle Johansson directs Urban Hymns and Ben Crowder takes charge of Sit on It. Crowder admits to being bemused about being asked to direct a comedy set in the world of women's toilets.

"I did ask, 'Why me?' because of all the directors, I have probably spent the least amount of time in women's toilets but Lynne Cardy assured me I was absolutely perfect and I decided I didn't really want to explore further why that might be.

"I suggested to the girls that they may want to spend some time in the bathrooms of K Rd nightclubs in the name of research but I have not followed up my own suggestion. I suspect that if someone of my age was caught with a notebook or video camera in a women's toilet, I would be arrested immediately and the excuse I was doing research would not wash.

"I have to take the girls' word that the conversations in the script are authentic."

The three plays in Young and Hungry are each 50 minutes long and tickets are available for individual plays or at discounted rates for all three. The shows are not suitable for children as they contain drug and sexual references, and offensive language.

PERFORMANCE

What: Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre: Oyster, 6.30pm; Sit on It, 8pm; Urban Hymns, 9.30pm

Where and when: The Basement, July 10-25