<i>Coaltown Blues</i> is centred on the polarities of tragedy and comedy of everyday life. Photo / Supplied
<i>Coaltown Blues</i> is centred on the polarities of tragedy and comedy of everyday life. Photo / Supplied
Audiences have given a warm welcome in their droves to the Meteor Theatre's Black Box auditorium after a five-month closure.
The Meteor has been refurbished and earthquake-strengthened during that time, punctuated by a last-minute search for funding to cover unexpected costs.
The One Victoria Trust will hold the official re-launch of the Meteor in July, but a burgeoning 2017 theatre programme meant it opened its doors on May 19 for a season of One Hill of a Fight about Hamilton's Garden Place. The play by Hamiltonian Michael Switzer was a sellout.
Currently, renovation work on the Victoria Street access ramp to the theatre is awaiting completion, hence the delay on the ceremonial re-opening until July 21.
"We want to ensure all Hamiltonians can enter the new theatre through the same, new front door before we officially re-open to the public," Meteor manager Deborah Nudds said.
The theatre will still host its busy June line-up.
Coaltown Blues - June 7 to 10, 7.30pm
Telling the moving and entertaining story of a boy's early years in a West Coast mining town, Mervyn Thompson's play will be staged by Chris Green in a 'Meteor at Large' Waikato season of the production.
Although the playwright behind Coaltown Blues is often associated with controversy, Green argues that the one-man musical drama is an important New Zealand play which needs to be seen.
Wellington audiences agreed when it ran for a season in Wellington in 2013. Crowds in the provinces and rural areas also responded well. Green brought the story to Picton in 2014, and Mervyn Thompson's own sister Mary validated the portrayal of her family life.
The play's reputation has reached overseas too, with Green invited to take it to the Edinburgh Festival.
Coaltown Blues is centred on the polarities of tragedy and comedy of everyday life and the struggles of Thompson's childhood in the West Coast town acting as both a celebration of and lament for the family's working-class roots.
Child poverty and the resilience required of life in mining towns are particularly relevant themes in the play for audiences today as much as they were in the past.
Bodies Entwined - June 16 and 17, 7.30pm
<i>Bodies Entwined</i> is a dance show choreographed and directed by Maddie Hughes and Mike Sorensen. Photo / Supplied
Bodies Entwined, a dance show choreographed and directed by Maddie Hughes and Mike Sorensen, along with guest choreographer Miriana Arihia, is at the Meteor on June 16 and 17.
Intending it "to capture, entertain and inspire," the two local dancers will lead a cast of more Hamiltonian talent in a double bill, with pieces produced by both choreographers.
Bond Divided by Sorenson takes audiences on a journey through the minds and emotions of a young couple as they make their way through the natural highs and lows of a relationship while facing their inner demons.
Reborn by Hughes focuses on body image and how the views of others affect a person's perception ofthemselves, involving insecurities and raw emotions expressed by each dancer.
Overall, the production Bodies Entwined contains a mixture of dancing styles focusing on contemporary, to inspire a young generation of Hamilton performers, while also containing themes relatable to a mature audience.
thursdays.child - June 21 to 25, 7.30pm
Next in the June theatre season at the Meteor will be thursdays.child by Benny Marama.
Running from June 21 to 25, the play was originally written in 2015 as part of Remote Fiction Theatre's showcase Remains for the Hamilton Fringe Festival in 2016.
Marama said he realised the relatively short production he was asked to make was becoming something greater.
"When I finished writing the piece, I already knew that there was more of a journey for the central character to go on than could be explored in 20 or so minutes," he said.
Marama spent the next year writing, between sessions on other projects like the Meteor fundraiser kids' show, The Prince and the Pea.
thursdays.child, set in the year 2019 and telling the story of Jessica van Kampen, a recently-single lawyer whose apartment AI system detects she is pregnant.
This leads her to download a new type of AI called FLORENCE, dedicated to people expecting and raising children.
"Not only is it about Jess struggling with an unexpected pregnancy, it repurposes the meaning of the 'Monday's Child' poem," said Marama.
"Recent technological advances may have improved our conditions, but I feel as if we're becoming more and more detached and socially inept because of it.
"In a sense, we're all Thursday's children: we all have far to go."
Local actress and musician Emma Koretz leads in the role of Jessica van Kampen, with Caroline Waugh and Antony Aiono taking on multiple voice-only roles varying from AI systems to workmates to ex-partners.
Lighting design by Jonathan Wilce and video work by local film production company LG Videos also punctuates the play.
• All tickets available at themeteor.co.nz/events, or on the door from two hours before a show, subject to availability).
