'Grimm's Bedtime Stories'
Dir. Lori Leigh
Remounted Season at Circa Theatre
Devised by selected company members of PlayShop, 2016
Role: Production and Costume Design
When you can’t get to sleep late in the night, listen to a story fueled by fright! There will be mermaids, ghouls and perhaps a hag, with sights and smells sure to make you gag. But fear not, we promise you will laugh, cause our stories are silly and really quite daft.
Grimm Bedtime Stories is a hilarious and magical tale of brothers who are determined to stay up late by thrilling each other with stories. Some stories are scary, some are sweet, others are pretty disgusting. Children will be invited into this secret world, where bed sheets become landscapes, torches become monsters eyes, and where pyjamas become mystical puppets.
"What a splendid amalgam of pre-determined story structure and improv this PlayShop show is! ...Directed by Lori Leigh with Ryan Knighton assisting, this cast's exemplary improvisation expertise and strong performance skills see them pitch their Grimm Bedtime Stories just right, well-attuned to the audience's wavelength without playing down to them in the least. It is as intelligent in its sensibilities as it is entertaining in its delivery." - John Smythe, Theatreview
'After The Dance'
Dir. John Marwick
Written by Terrance Rattigan
Stagecraft at The Gryphon, 2015
Role: Production and Costume Design
David and Joan Scott-Fowler were 'bright young things' of the 1920s, whose ambition is to treat everything as trivia and to live lives of pure sensation. They always maintained that they married for amusement and not for love. However, Helen Banner, a serious young woman, has fallen in love with David and is determined to change his lifestyle, free him from Joan, stop him from drinking and re-awaken the serious historian in him.
Unfortunately, Joan does indeed love David very deeply and is trapped by her posture of carelessness. The play’s climax comes at the end of the second act and the third act shows with an extraordinary lightness of touch how difficult it is for people to escape their destiny.
'A Christmas Karel Capek'
Dir. David Lawrence
The Bacchanals, 2015
Role: Production Design
Full of hatred for Christmas, David and Brianne decide to counter their shared misanthropy by building a robot to do all their human interaction for them so they won’t have to face another festive season.
Songs! Comedy! Existential angst! A Festivus extravaganza from the producers of Richard III andLysistrata!
"The stage design by Harriet Denby is a delight, bedecked in posters and kitsch bric-a-brac. The bedroom set for the dream sequences is a particular highlight." Theatreview
'Grimm's Bedtime Stories'
Dir. Lori Leigh
Written by James Cain
Devised by selected company members of PlayShop, 2015
Role: Production and Costume Design
When you can’t get to sleep late in the night, listen to a story fueled by fright! There will be mermaids, ghouls and perhaps a hag, with sights and smells sure to make you gag. But fear not, we promise you will laugh, cause our stories are silly and really quite daft.
Grimm Bedtime Stories is a hilarious and magical tale of brothers who are determined to stay up late by thrilling each other with stories. Some stories are scary, some are sweet, others are pretty disgusting. Children will be invited into this secret world, where bed sheets become landscapes, torches become monsters eyes, and where pyjamas become mystical puppets.
"I thought that the set was very creative... It was a great performance and it was about the best play I have ever seen (not that I've seen many). Note to self: watch more plays. But it was really great. Five [stars]" - Child reviewer for the Wellingtonista, age 10.
''Where There's A Will'
Dir. David Lawrence
Written by John Smythe
Nothing But Co-Operative, 2015
Role: Production and Costume Design
Where There’s A Will there’s a ploy, a play, a way to go. But who plays away, who plays home?
“Life’s not a rehearsal, it’s an audition.” Did Will write that?
David Lawrence directs Neenah Dekkers-Reihana, John Marwick and writer/actor John Smythe in this quirky ‘play before a play’.
"The basic rehearsal room set by Harriet Denby is truly lovely – both familiar and stylised at the same time." - Charlotte Simmonds, Theatreview.
'Twelfth Night'
Dir. Samuel Phillips
Dramaturg. Lori Leigh
for Bright Orange Walls and
re.SPACE Victoria Street 2015
Role: Costume and Character Design, Spatial Curation
“... we will draw the curtain, and show you the picture.”
What is Illyria? Viola is shipwrecked, separated from her twin brother, and washed ashore in a strange land. The Duke is love-sick. He pines for the mourning Duchess, who won’t show her face. The Steward cannot smile. The Uncle cannot walk straight and the Knight cannot think straight. (And someone said the Pirate’s back again.) They send secret messages to each other through the murmuring crowds. Everyone is all dressed up, but you get the feeling they just want to go home. If only they could. Illyria is stuck on repeat. It’s opening night of a new exhibition, anyone who matters is right here, and there’s nowhere to hide unless you have a really, really good disguise.
Twelfth Night is Shakespeare’s raucous, drunken comedy of mistaken identity, in an art exhibition. Drinks and nibbles provided. Please be on your best behaviour. Don’t touch the artworks.
'Riddiford Street: Season 3'
Dir. Jonathan Price
for PlayShop Theatre Company
BATS Theatre 2014
Role: Costume and Set Design
The show that first brought PlayShop’s unmatchable grace to BATS returns with a brand new season of unscripted lust and intrigue. And medicine.
Is Lucian Carlson really dead? What did Crystal Fox the urologist bring back from Foxton? Where in the world is Dr Swanson? And who will replace the actors that left to work onShortland Street? Critics are calling Season 3 the best Riddiford Street yet. See one show or see many, but whatever you do, don’t stream it from home.
'TUT'
Created by Alice May Connolly
Dir. Brigid Costello
BATS Theatre, 2014
Role: Set Mentor
"The people in the city grew angry with the possums in the forest. Even though they never went there, they were very possessive of their forest and wanted to protect it at all costs".
Tut, originally created for the 2014 NZ Fringe through EAT (Emerging Artist Trust), returns to Wellington, funnier than ever!
After tragedy strikes her home, 'Poss', finds herself in the tomb of temperamental ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. Tut is an enchanting comedy about friendship! death! and not having any guts but finding them in the unlikeliest of places.
"...a fine creative mind is at work" Theatreview
"Unassuming poetic comedy...lo-fi, lots of fun" The Lumière Reader
'The Mercy Clause'
Dir. Jeff Kingsford-Brown
Set Design: Matt Fannin
Centrepoint Theatre, 2014
Role: Costume Design and Construction
Excerpts from Tina White's review for The Manawatu Standard:
"Nothing is exactly as it seems or what you expect in The Mercy Clause, Philip Braithwaite's world-premiere psychological drama... [in which] three edgy characters come and go, playing out a puzzling story.
"There's Tom (Jamie McCaskill) a lawyer defending his client Brian (Jared Kirkwood), a youth who admits giving his sick father a medicinal overdose in a "mercy" killing, and Rachel (Liz Kirkman) Tom's attractive but neglected wife. Tom, close to career burnout, is desperate to win this case, but is frustrated with freshfaced Brian, whose manipulative gameplaying stems from a dysfunctional childhood. Then there's Rachel, enduring a job below her abilities, feeling brushed aside by her husband and longing for a baby.
"Costuming is clever - especially for Rachel, whose brilliant red coat at the top of the show pales into more muted shades as the play proceeds and the problem between the couple grows.
"This is a play as well constructed and interlocking as a challenging jigsaw, plenty good enough for a second viewing."
'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Dir. Samuel Phillips
for Bright Orange Walls
FRINGE 2014
Role: Costume Design
A production rooted in the mundane that grows into the surreal, hilarious, epic, and romantic world of the woods. This is Midsummer minus green tights. An event tailored to an urban space, hidden deep in the undergrowth of the city.
"...fresh, funny and a shot in the arm for people like me who think Shakepseare needs a rest for while..."
"...no longer does Puck have to be a will-o-the-wisp type faerie racing around the world in 40 minutes. He's just as effective as an amusing lackadaisical, cynical servant who condescends to do his foppish master's bidding."
Nominated for: Best in Theatre // Best Newcomer - Samuel Phillips // Pick of the Fringe.
Awarded: Runner-up to Pick of the Fringe.
'This Fair Verona'
Dir. Lori Leigh
BATS Theatre 2013
Set Design: Emma Nichols
Role: Costume Design and Construction
It’s Shakespeare. As you’ve seen it before. Lots of times. Again.
"The classic story of forbidden love replayed in an improvised adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Experience tales of love that occur only once in a lifetime based on stories provided by you, Shakespeare and our improvisers. Discover the joys of falling in love for the first time and being stabbed for the last time. Be enthralled by the brutality of violence and the sincerity of a first kiss. Prepare yourself for sex puns, sonnets, severity and perhaps a saucy nurse. After all, puberty is poisonous."
'AKI'
Dir. Heather Timms and
Penny Fitt
Toi Whakaari Site Specific 2012
Co-Designer: Matt Fannin
Role: Design
Through the lens of the medical metaphor of ‘triage’ gifted to us by conservator Mark Strange, we explore the delicate internal world of Photographic Conservation. The alchemy and technical artistry involved in the process of caring for these physical artefacts allows for us as New Zealanders to have direct connection to the people of our past.
“We have been working consciously with figuring out what it means to be the lens by which the world is seen. How can we as artists mediate what needs to be understood in order to truthfully reveal the constant strive to find balance between relevance, conservation, care and public interest, and the struggle to maintain this balance while the collections are in a state of transition?
