Soap star enjoys our Weather

Stephen Lovatt is best known for his Neighbours role, but has a wealth of stage experience

Stormy weather is on the horizon as Stephen Lovatt makes his way to lunch in Grey Lynn. He has been back in Auckland for only a few days after spending four years in Melbourne, where he plays all-round good guy Max Hoyland on the Australian super-soap Neighbours.

He's forgotten how cold the weather can get in Auckland, and shivers deeper into his jacket. In his pocket, he finds a stone that his 4-year-old daughter picked up at the zoo. She told him it was actually a car. "Some imagination, eh?"

Childhood imaginings are much on Lovatt's mind. He has returned for six weeks to star in the classic New Zealand play The End of the Golden Weather.

Written by Bruce Mason in 1951 and originally performed by Mason as a one-man show, it follows 12-year-old Geoff Crome as he prepares to spend another summer by the sea.

Geoff befriends a man called Firpo, who reveals that he wants to win an Olympic medal. Ignoring his father's rebukes and community ridicule, Geoff tries to help Firpo make his dream a reality. As Geoff comes to discern the gulf between fantasy and reality, he leaves the golden weather of childhood behind.

The End of the Golden Weather is a play much studied by secondary school students, and in 1991 it was made into an award-winning feature film directed by Ian Mune and starring Stephen Papps, who won an award for his portrayal of Firpo.

Two years ago, Papps, with Mark Clare and Graeme Bennett, began adapting Mason's script into a more concise 70 minutes.

They formed 88 in the Shade Theatre Company, dedicated to reviving classic New Zealand and international scripts that might otherwise get sidelined by contemporary works. They hope a new generation of theatregoers will emerge.

"If plays like The End of the Golden Weather are not put on and celebrated they get forgotten about, when in fact they say a great deal about our country's history," Clare says.

"The End of the Golden Weather was written at a time when there was a very linear and mono-social culture in New Zealand. It was rugby and racing and anything outside that seemed to be regarded as a bit strange.

"It's still a feeling that many of us can relate to. It's also oddly contradictory because New Zealand has always been a country full of great characters who don't like to toe the line."

Work commitments meant Papps was unable to perform in the latest version, leaving director Clare and producer Bennett short of a leading man.

Then friends of Clare suggested Lovatt might be able to get time off from Neighbours.

Lovatt, an experienced stage actor, jumped at chance to come home and try - for the first time - a one-man show.

"I've never done a solo but I have a tremendous amount of respect - growing by the day - for those who do it," he said. "It's daunting but it's a daunting pleasure. Coming from shooting two or three-minute scenes to 70 minutes with no pick-ups and no other cast members means it's a challenge."

Like like Clare and Bennett, he's enthusiastic about keeping alive the legacy of great New Zealand writing.

Who: Stephen Lovatt
What: The End of the Golden Weather
Where and when: Herald Theatre, tomorrow to July 30