High priest lords it up in revamped play

By NIGEL GEARING

There aren't too many plays where the audience is just 5cm from an actor, especially when that actor is "God" - a God that Wild Cabbage director Ben Crowder describes as "like a bureaucrat who has lost his marbles and, if he isn't already on medication, should be".

The play that stunned audiences when it premiered almost 19 years ago in Wellington has been adapted by its writer, James Beaumont, for a new generation.

"I saw it when I was 17 and studying drama at Otago. It has an element of the anarchical in it, something that appeals to young people," says Crowder.

The changes are minimal. Crowder remembers early productions where the seating meant the stage action took place in front of and behind the audience, something he has adapted for his SiLo audience. Two rows of seating 12m long mean the audience will have to select which piece of the action it observes.

"It'll be a bit like being at a tennis match. Then God arrives in the midst of a multimedia event. That didn't happen in the 80s. Did multimedia exist then?

"The angels who help God to deal with a New Zealand family of cabbage farmers who, in 1945, find they have given birth to a freak, have been updated. They are now guardians, no longer hedonist clubbers of Wellington - more like the K Rd clubbers of today. The philosophy of the 80s is no longer in fashion, replaced by the gutter."

Wild Cabbage has been a stayer. It has been performed n more than 80 productions by some of the country's best performers, including Geraldine Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Alison Wall and Harry Sinclair.

With so many aspiring and emerging playwrights looking for ways to get their work established, why has Theatre Stampede returned to the past to take Auckland out of its comfort zone?

"If I'm sent plays I always read them. Theatre Stampede normally devises, and the relationship with writers can be fraught. But in this case it's different. This is one of the most important pieces of New Zealand theatre. It's unique. After this we'll probably do a Shakespeare, or something that involves putting on surgical gloves."

Crowder and business partner Michelle Lafferty are the names behind Theatre Stampede, which was formed in the late 90s. The company's work to date has been big-budget, devised work, where the artists start with an idea and develop it. Past efforts have included Blossom, The Young Baron and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Typically, a production schedule would take 18 months.

Not so with Wild Cabbage, rehearsed in the scout den at the base of Mt Eden. Four weeks is all the eight actors, who play up to 50 characters, have to perfect their lines.

The cast includes Auckland theatre stalwart Warwick Broadhead, Peta Rutter, Michael Keir-Morrissey, Josephine Lange and Jeremy Randerson.

Broadhead emerges as Mr G, strumming his guitar, muttering obscenities, before being intercepted by the guardians, seeking advice about the cabbage.

"My schedule is tight. I'm in a meeting," Broadhead booms, while the angels grovel at his feet, pleading for another audience with the almighty. Mr G reveals he has blown off course and wants to know which way he is heading. Seizing the opportunity, the guardians tell him he is on course, that the last advice they received from his clerk was that he recommended a transfer.

"That can't be right. All decisions reside in me. I'll have to have words with the clerk. I can't comment."

Crowder describes Broadhead as "slightly iconic, almost a high priest in Auckland. He's not scared of the unknown and it's my job to discipline him."

Broadhead is relaxed and chatty as rehearsals draw to a close on another day of camping it up as the Lord.

"I saw the original play. I remember it for its strangeness. It was like something totally new was taking place in the theatre, but I don't remember God, which makes it fresh for me. Actually, I've never played him officially before."

The actor, who has worked on stage for 35 years, welcomed the opportunity to audition last year. His two solo shows, The Selfish Giant and The Hunting of the Snark, are to tour "down south" after 450 performances over eight years in the Auckland region.

"It's great to be working in a team again. The play is pretty explorative. It's marvellous and the actors are great."

Performance

* What: Wild Cabbage

* Where and when: SiLo Theatre, February 25-March 13