Local creatives needed for new Theatre and Suns initiative

Rohan Mouldey returned to Whanganui four years ago. Photo / Bevan Conley

A new theatre company is taking shape in Whanganui, and the man behind it is hoping the local community will get involved.

Rohan Mouldey said Theatre and Suns will have a kooky, offbeat and free-form approach towards performance and theatre, and people of all abilities and experience are welcome to get involved.

"If you've always thought in the back of your mind that you'd like to step on stage and give it a go, now is the chance," Mouldey said.

"I promise you won't regret it. In fact, it could be a seminal moment in your life that you'll be thankful for later on."

Mouldey plans on delivering it by using his decades of experience on stage and screen to facilitate workshops, put on plays and create a local hub of artistic collaboration.

"In terms of workshops, Initially I will do a more generalised, free-form theatre approach.

"What is free-form practice? It's going with, saying yes, responding, and listening.

"It's very involving, and some people might say 'I don't get it', but when it's done well you can really be taken by it."

Mouldey, who returned to Whanganui from Auckland four years ago, said his passion for performing began on his sixth birthday, and it hadn't dimmed since.

"My mum took me to see a play at the Four Seasons Theatre called The Nobodies from Nowhere, which was just a couple of pantomimes.

"I thought it was real, and afterwards I leapt on the stage and climbed up a ladder into a hole in the ceiling to retrieve a ball they had been too 'scared' to get themselves.

"I didn't know they had been pretending, so I just thought 'I'd better help these fellas out'."

"That moment told me that I was bound for the stage."

Mouldey hasn't really left the stage since, performing through his school years at the Four Seasons, Amdram, Repertory, and Opera House, before leaving teachers' college to try and make a living as a full-time actor.

Shortland Street, fringe festivals and performing Shakespeare in Singapore followed, with Mouldey also writing plays such as "Blunt" and "Man Bits", both of which earned rave reviews from critics.

While his career had hit a lot of high points, Mouldey said there had also been a few lows along the way, including a battle with addiction.

Following treatment at Odyssey House in Auckland, he stayed on as a Youth Practitioner, supporting young people in their own addiction recoveries.

"The only thing that saved me was my passion for theatre.

"Every single person I've met in my own adult treatment and in my role as a youth mentor, they've all been great, wonderful people.

"A lot of addicts are actually artists, they just don't know it yet."

Mouldey said that while he had enjoyed his time in social work, theatre - and Theatre and Suns in particular - remained his main passion.

He currently has three full plays read to perform, along with 25 others in first draft.

"Theatre and Suns will be a supportive environment of kindred spirits, united in bettering their being.

"This whole thing is just beginning, so I'm putting the call out for everyone and anyone to get involved."