KEY POINTS:
Imagine that when New Zealand was colonised it unfolded in a different fashion, with the North Island claimed by the British and the South Island by the French.
Now leap to today when the French-speaking South (Le Sud) is booming, thanks to cheap hydro-power and generous farming subsidies but English North Zealand, mired in free market economics and civil war with the Tuhoe nation, is a third-world backwater.
So desperate are the northerners that they head south to Le Sud to ask for aid and cheap power. What follows is a tense round of negotiations combined with elements of French farce, romance and leadership challenges.
It could be coming to a theatre near you.
In keeping with the spirit of collaboration explored in the play Le Sud, the Wanaka Festival of Colour and the Auckland Theatre Company played essential roles in the development of the script.
The festival commissioned Wellington-based playwright Dave Armstrong to write it; ATC's Literary Unit helped to shape it.
For seven years, the Literary Unit has held development workshops and staged readings and mentoring schemes to help playwrights take their words from the page to the stage.
In seven years, the unit has developed 70 plays by 55 playwrights to production stage. This month, it holds its annual Next Stage Festival of new New Zealand Plays.
Le Sud is one of three works selected for staged readings aimed to provide playwrights with valuable audience feedback. Silent Night and The Truth Game are the others.
Armstrong, who has worked with ATC on four previous projects, says the unit has given him opportunities he might not have had otherwise. "I'm not one of those writers who like to work alone in my room," he says.
"I like the rehearsal process, I like talking to the actors and I like hearing what people have to say about my work."
Similarly, first-time playwright Yvette Parsons says having Silent Night as part of Next Stage has been an invaluable learning experience. She has worked closely with director Margaret-Mary Hollins, who saw an earlier version of the production and suggested Parsons send the script to the unit.
Described as a tragi-comedy, Silent Night is set somewhere in Sunnynook on Christmas Eve when pensioner Irene McMunn decides to throw a festive bash.
"To have this opportunity is like a dream come true, it really is," says Parsons. "I am determined to get a full production of my show up and running next year and I would like it to tour Auckland's suburban theatres."
While Parsons based her story on real-life characters she remembers from childhood, Simon Cunliffe's comedy The Truth Game is inspired by his 25 years as a journalist here and in Britain.
Cunliffe, from Dunedin, says it's a light-hearted and slightly nostalgic look at the serious issues facing today's media industry.
"I'm intrigued by the rapid changes taking place in the newspaper world, like media ownership and the advent of online media, and what it means for some of the old characters ... in a newsroom as well as for us as a supposedly participatory democracy where people rely on the media for information."
The Truth Game is about old-school newspaper man Frank Stone, played by Geoff Snell, who returns from holiday to find a sassy new marketing executive ripping up the rule book and demanding change. Can Frank prove he's still got what it takes?
Mark Amery, director of the playwriting agency and script advisory organisation Playmarket, says writers need support and encouragement to tell our stories.
"The more work theatre companies do in terms of developing our playwrights, the better, so we welcome the huge step ATC has taken in recent years in being part of this.
"When you make theatre, you bring a community together. It's about discussing ideas that are vital in and to that community. Our playwrights explore complex ideas about us ... and we need to hear these voices."
Silent Night is on October 7 and October 10 at 8pm and October 11 at 2pm; Le Sud is on October 8 at 8pm, October 10 at 10pm and October 11 at 5pm; The Truth Game is on October 9 at 8pm and October 11 at 8pm.
Theatre
What: The Next Stage
Where and when: Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, Oct 7-11
