the book of everything
Transcription
the book of everything
THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING ADAPTED BY RICHARD TULLOCH FROM THE NOVEL BY GUUS KUIJER A SILO THEATRE & AUCKLAND ARTS FESTIVAL CO-PRODUCTION CORE FUNDERS 4 - 22 MARCH 2015 GOLD SPONSOR EVENT PARTNER His Excellency Lt Gen The Right Honorable Sir Jerry Mateparae, GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand BOARD OF TRUSTEES Victoria Carter Chair Rick Carlyon Beatrice Faumuina ONZM John Judge Tarun Kanji Margaret Kawharu MNZM Roger MacDonnell Jim Moser Fred Ward BRONZE SPONSORS Digital + Brand MAJOR GRANTS EXECUTIVE STAFF Carla van Zon ONZM Artistic Director David Inns Chief Executive Shona Roberts Business & Finance Director Arne Herrmann Marketing & Development Director Jo Kilgour Technical Director FUNDING PARTNERS PLATINUM PATRONS BRONZE PATRONS Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham Peter and Sue Cooper Sir Roderick & Gillian, Lady Deane Friedlander Foundation Andrew and Jenny Smith The Wallace Foundation John Barnett John Billington QC Rick and Jenny Carlyon John and Victoria Carter Rosslyn Caughey Cimino Family Janet Clarke and John Judge Angela and Mark Clatworthy Graham and Louise Cleary Stephen and Virginia Fisher Kent and Gaye Gardner John and Jo Gow Harmos Family Sally Hotchin Robert and Jenny Loosley Chris and Dayle Mace SILVER PATRONS Jeremy Collins and Lindsay Thompson Dame Jenny Gibbs Joséphine and Ross Green David Levene Foundation Geoff and Fran Ricketts Sonbol and Farzbod Taefi Derek and Christine Nolan Kate Plaw Georgina and Jolyon Ralston The Sandelin Family Heather Simpson Stuart Smith Family Trust Martin and Catherine Spencer Lady Philippa Tait Walker & Hall Trust Louise and Scott Wallace Fred and Nicky Ward FROM THE AUCKLAND ARTS FESTIVAL & SILO THEATRE SILVER SPONSORS PATRON The Auckland Arts Festival is delighted to be partnering with Silo Theatre to co-produce THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING. When we met with Artistic Director Sophie Roberts and Jessica Smith Executive Director, just over a year ago, David and I asked about plays they really wanted to do. Sophie talked about THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING, which we both knew. It was almost an immediate yes, let’s do it together. A few days later budgets had been roughed out, dates settled in the schedule and we were on this journey together. It is great to have such a solid partnership with a local producing theatre company and THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is a perfect festival work, one that could only be achieved by joining forces. We know that it is going to be a wonderful production – the play is a beautiful one and director Sophie Roberts has done such a great job with her absolutely fabulous cast and creative team. The play is relevant, moving, disturbing, funny and ultimately uplifting as a community comes together to ensure positive change for one family. Carla van Zon Artistic Director David Inns Chief Executive Officer Festivals are an extraordinary moment in time for people to gather, collaborate and share. We are reminded of something bigger than ourselves, a sense of community on a massive scale. Festivals also provide artists and companies like Silo the opportunity to stretch and the ability to create in a different way. Part of this is to do with the incredible support and infrastructure that exists within a major festival framework, but even more importantly, there is something special that happens with audiences – festivals inspire us all to break out of our comfort zone and try something new. We are super stoked to be presenting this new co-production of THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING as part of Carla’s 2015 programme. Silo’s partnership with the Auckland Arts Festival is an integral one, and it is a real privilege to be working amongst such an amazing group of artists and technicians from near and far. Community sits at the heart of THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING and it is a work that Sophie has long wanted to direct. This show wouldn’t have been possible without the backing of Carla, David and their team or the gifted performers, designers and crew who have made this work come to life. Enjoy. Jessica Smith Executive Director/Producer Auckland Arts Festival FESTIVAL LOVERS The St John Family Jim Moser Sophie Roberts Artistic Director Silo Theatre Production Management Kate Burton Eliza with the Leather Leg Michelle Blundell Stage Management Gabrielle Vincent Jesus Tim Carlsen Rehearsal Stage Management Anna Nuria Watcino Thomas Klopper Patrick Carroll Violin Jess Hindin Father / Bumbiter Sam Snedden Props Master Natasha Pearl Mrs. van Amersfoort Rima Te Wiata Technical Operation Mitchell Leslie Margot Klopper Olivia Tennet Set Construction 2 Construct Auntie Pie Jennifer Ward-Lealand Direction Sophie Roberts Set Design John Verryt Costume Design Kirsty Cameron Composition & Sound Design Thomas Press Lighting Design Sean Lynch Silo gratefully acknowledges the support of Alt Group Auckland Live Auckland Theatre Company Friedlander Foundation Rory Garbett Abigail Greenwood Jeff Henderson Rachel House Il Buco Newton Central School Q Theatre Ripe Dean Roberts Sons & Co. James Wilson MEET THE WRITERS THE BO OK OF EVERY THING ADAPTED BY RICHARD TULLOCH FROM THE NOVEL BY GUUS KUIJER Mother Mia Blake RICHARD TULLOCH is one of Australia’s leading writers of books, plays and television for young audiences. He has been the principal writer of the phenomenally successful TV series BANANAS IN PYJAMAS and wrote the screenplay for the animated feature film, FERN GULLY II: THE MAGICAL RESCUE. He has written over fifty plays, which have been performed throughout Australia and overseas. He has been nominated for Australian Writers’ Guild awards eight times and has five times won the award for the Best Play for Children. His adaptation of Guus Kuijer’s THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING premiered at Belvoir Street Theatre in 2010, directed by Neil Armfield. The play won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production for Children and was nominated for a 2010 Helpmann Award for Best Play. Richard has published over thirty-five children’s books. GUUS KUIJER (1942) debuted in the mid-seventies, when children’s books were rediscovered as a weapon in the struggle for a better world. As a disciple of Annie Schmidt, he does not make the children any better behaved or the adults any more sensible than they actually are. His style is precise, graceful and his ability to describe major issues with a modicum of words is unsurpassed. After an initial period when he was awarded every prize possible and after a number of animal stories and socially committed novels for young readers, nothing was heard from him, until the Polleke series debuted in 1999. Both the Polleke and his earlier Madelief series have been adapted for Dutch film and TV. His book THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING (2005) has become a modern classic in children’s literature, with more than a dozen translations, an international theatre-adaptation and movie-rights recently sold. Perhaps the most wondrous thing about THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is how it reveals the special in the ordinary and how it captures the voice of a curious nine-year-old without condescension. Sam Brooks ON THE BOOK OF EVERY THING Early last year, Silo Theatre and the Auckland Arts Festival met up to discuss a collaboration for 2015. They’d already produced HUI at the Festival the year before and wanted to create something special for the next one, and when THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING was suggested, they knew they had their play. For the Festival’s Artistic Director Carla van Zon, it was an exciting opportunity to bring the show to Auckland, and for director Sophie Roberts, it was a chance to breathe life into a script that had made her laugh and cry within the first five pages. It’s not hard to see why. As a piece of writing, it is marvellously complex and devastatingly simple, summing up some of life’s most difficult issues in a handful of words. It is brutal. It is kind. It’s “the beautiful, magical, surprising, touching, terrifying, joyous, inspiring, funny, and ultimately uplifting story of timid nine-year-old Thomas Klopper, finding strength to overcome fear and achieve happiness, despite the cruel, grey oppression in his family.” That’s how author and playwright Richard Tulloch succinctly sums up his play, an adaptation of the children’s book by Dutch author Guus Kuijer. Kuijer’s books have been famous for years in the Netherlands, and in 2012 he won the Astrid Lindgren Award, a prize that Tulloch describes as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for children’s literature. “I’ve been lucky to live in Amsterdam, my wife’s hometown, off and on for over thirty years,” Tulloch explains, and it was while he was there that he discovered the book. “I knew Guus Kuijer’s other work – his children’s books were some of the first I read when I was learning Dutch, though I hadn’t heard of him for some years.” He read THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING and loved it immediately. “Apart from the power of the story,” he tells us, “Kuijer writes beautiful, clear, economical Dutch.” The story also had incredible staging opportunities: tropical fish in the canals, a plague of frogs and, most memorably, Jesus dropping in and chatting to Thomas. Perhaps the most wondrous thing about THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is how it reveals the special in the ordinary and how it captures the voice of a curious nine-year-old without condescension. We get to see his world with journalistic honesty and innocent conviction. Thomas’ mother is “very kind to everybody”. His sister is “stupid.” His neighbour Mrs van Amersfoort is teased by the other children because she is, sadly, “a witch” and the titular book is a nondescript brown papercovered diary in which Thomas writes the mundane details of his day and all his hopes and dreams for the future. Despite being set in post-World War II Amsterdam – with names and references that are very much specific to that time and place – THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING feels immediately universal. Most modern-day Christian upbringings will reflect Thomas’ upbringing in very few ways, but the specificity of the story draws you in rather than excludes. When Thomas threatens to drown himself in the canal upon receiving a letter from the girl next door, it’s a sharp reminder that being a child is full of dramas, both outside and selfcreated, regardless of where you live or when you were you born, and Tulloch captures how simple and yet deeply felt these reasons can be. The undercurrent of World War II runs throughout THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING. It isn’t explicitly mentioned, but it’s something the characters, especially the adults, are very aware of and the spectre of this world-shifting event ripples underneath the play. “Most of us know something of the grim story of Amsterdam in World War II through films and books like The Diary of Anne Frank,” says Tulloch. “The lovely thing about THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is that we see its characters recovering hope and moving on from those dark days.” It’s a stark contrast to a certain genre of post-war writing where people are wracked by guilt, haunted by loss, and who now find themselves in a world irrevocably damaged. Though these truths are undeniably present here, it’s shadowed by deep, stubborn resilience. “The scars are still raw, but neighbourhood ‘witch’ Mrs van Amersfoort, a former resistance fighter, refuses to dwell on the past because ‘it only gets you down.’ By forgiving without forgetting, she frees herself to listen with joy to Beethoven and read funny German children’s books.” For Tulloch, the malaise in 1951 Amsterdam echoes into the current day. “In modern times in which we may despair of ever overcoming deep-seated religious prejudice and sectarian hatred, it’s encouraging to see how Amsterdam emerged from wartime occupation and terrible oppression to become the vibrant, peaceful, relatively tolerant multicultural city it is today. Wouldn’t we love such changes to happen in Iraq, Palestine, Ukraine and Syria?” It’s in its treatment of religion where THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING announces itself as a special piece of literature. Within left-leaning – if not entirely left-pandering – theatre, it’s not difficult to critique religion, or to outright slam it and the people who have faith in it, to reduce them to doctrine-following zombies and send them on their way. What once may have been a taboo topic is now an easy target for comedians as mainstream as Ricky Gervais or novels as door-stop worthy as the Da Vinci Code, and slamming it is about as interesting as dishwater. But what THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING does is embrace the role of religion in people’s lives. It explores with generosity and an open mind why people might devote their lives to it and the ramifications of that devotion. Thomas’ father, for instance, is an incredibly devout man who punishes any deviation from his faith-based routine with violence, both physically and emotionally. In many other stories, Father, as he is named in the play, would be a clear villain, but here he’s allowed the complexities of being human. He’s a man who genuinely loves his family and his children, and he goes about it in the best way he can. The play never lets him off the hook – it can’t – but the compassion it shows towards Father belies a breadth of understanding of religion and its devotees that much modern art never tries to aspire to. Even more impressive is how the play handles a child’s understanding of religion. Thomas understands his faith like most children who are brought up in a religious household do; a core part of his life, but without the understanding of its nuances and complexities. His existential angst as he grapples with this – and the events in his life - provides some of the most primal and powerful bursts of language in the play, like when he asks, simply: “Dear God, will you please exist?” This balanced approach is a part of the original text, according to Tulloch. “The story is fiercely critical of the severe ‘thou-shaltnot’ bible bashing that I believe was part of Guus Kuijer’s own CONNECTING THE CAST AND CREW THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is an achievement in many ways, but its most significant achievement is that it treats everybody as equals. Sam Brooks upbringing. But he’s balanced this brilliantly by introducing Jesus as a cool, attractive, down-to-earth onstage character. Whether he’s an imaginary friend or the Son of the Creator of the Universe doesn’t matter – he’s the sort of gently humorous confidante any of us would love to hang out with.” The character of Jesus also has the most devastating stage direction in the play: “Jesus would like to stay, but he has run out of things to say.” If anything sums up the New Testament better than that simple sentence, I’ve yet to see it. THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is an achievement in many ways, but its most significant achievement is that it treats everybody as equals. Whether you’re the girl next door with a leather leg, or the woman who’s ridden a bike for forty-eight years or the terrifyingly devout father who is struggling to make ends meet, you’re worthy of compassion and respect. It gives children the respect that is often denied to them, and it gives adults the gift of wonder that is often denied to them. Tulloch speaks emphatically of the importance of this. “Guus Kuijer takes children very seriously, knowing that, just like adults, they enjoy thinking about life’s greatest questions.” His friend and fellow writer Jonathan Shaw agrees with the sentiment. “It’s a play about a child that adults can enjoy without condescension… We adults are allowed to enjoy it as if we are children. And the children in the audience are allowed to engage with big themes: how do you deal with abuse of power? Is there a God?” Children are rarely challenged to engage with big themes in our theatre, or afforded the opportunity to discuss these themes afterwards. Theatre is there for their delight, their education, their wonder. THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is not this theatre, and has no interest in being this theatre. It invites us – adults and children alike – to engage with big themes, and embraces us when we do, whether we’re at the start of our life, stumbling through it or towards the end. This quality is special. It is significant. It is needed. It is everything. In a new partnership for 2015 with Silo Theatre, The Pantograph Punch will be exploring the ideas core to each play, both on the stage and on the page. They’ll be covering the dangerous, the difficult, the magical, and the terrifying. They’ll be talking to the playwrights, and going behind the scenes to reveal the beating heart of each production. pantograph-punch.com Sophie Roberts’ FIRST GIG FOR SILO WAS DIRECTING Tim Carlsen IN 2011’S ‘I LOVE YOU BRO’. TIM CARLSEN’S FIRST AUDITION OUTSIDE OF DRAMA SCHOOL WAS WITH Jennifer Ward-Lealand FOR SILO’S ‘THAT FACE’. HE DIDN’T GET THE PART BUT JENNIFER SAID HE WAS REALLY GOOD. JENNIFER WARD-LEALAND AND Mia Blake HAVE PERFORMED TOGETHER IN AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTIONS OF ‘THE GRADUATE’ AND ‘THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY’. MIA BLAKE AND Michelle Blundell BOTH PLAYED BJÖRK IN THE BASEMENT’S 2012 CHRISTMAS SHOW, ‘MEGA CHRISTMAS’. Sam Snedden WERE BOTH TAUGHT SINGING SOLOS WITH JENNIFER IN 2006. SAM SNEDDEN AND Patrick Carroll BOTH WENT TO TOI MICHELLE BLUNDELL AND WHAKAARI: NEW ZEALAND DRAMA SCHOOL, BUT 10 YEARS APART. PATRICK CARROLL AND Rima Te Wiata HAVE PLAYED QUINCE IN DIFFERENT PRODUCTIONS OF ‘A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM’. RIMA TE WIATA AND Olivia Tennet HAVE BOTH PERFORMED AS SALLY BOWLES IN DIFFERENT PRODUCTIONS OF ‘CABARET’. Gabrielle Vincent ARE BOTH EPSOM GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL OLD GIRLS. GABRIELLE VINCENT AND Natasha Pearl WORKED OLIVIA TENNET AND TOGETHER ON ‘360: A THEATRE OF RECOLLECTIONS’. NATASHA PEARL WORKED ALONGSIDE Sam Brooks The Pantograph Punch Sean Lynch ON SILO’S 2014 PRODUCTION OF ‘ANGELS IN AMERICA’. SEAN LYNCH AND John Verryt’s FIRST SILO PRODUCTION TOGETHER WAS 2005’S ‘PLENTY’. JOHN VERRYT LIVES NEXT DOOR TO CHOREOGRAPHER DOUGLAS WRIGHT WHOSE NEW PRODUCTION WILL FEATURE COSTUMES BY Kirsty Cameron. KIRSTY CAMERON DESIGNED THE COSTUMES FOR THE NZ FILM ‘THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS’ WHICH Sophie Roberts HAD A SUPPORTING ROLE IN. #SILOFAMILY Patrick Carroll Rima Te Wiata Michelle Blundell Mia Blake Sam Snedden Tim Carlsen Olivia Tennet Jennifer Ward-Lealand “Touching but brilliantly funny” 4 - 22 March Bravo Figaro! The Times, London “leading light of Britain’s alternative comedy scene” Mark Thomas United Kingdom The Guardian, UK Stand-up comedian Mark Thomas shifts gear for this close-up, personal and hilariously honest story about dads, love, death and opera 16 – 22 March Rangatira, Q Theatre 4 - 22 March FELA! The Concert Hikoi Broadway stars Written and Directed by Nancy Brunning Aotearoa/New Zealand hit The Civic to celebrate the 4 – 7 March rhythms of Africa andRangitira, the life of Q Theatre musician and activist Fela Kuti USA 19 – 22 March The Civic “If I had superpowers it would be the power to talk Ma- ori” May aaf.co.nz CORE FUNDER ticketmaster.co.nz qtheatre.co.nz 09 309 0800 1119771 999 FOLLOW US ON aaf.co.nz CORE FUNDER ticketmaster.co.nz 0800 111 999 FOLLOW US ON Soak up the atmosphere and entertainment in the TimeOut Festival Garden, packed with action, visual arts, free music, food, bars and more 4 - 22 March TimeOut Festival Garden 4 – 22 March, Aotea Square Open daily 10.30am – late Family Day Wha-nau Wha-nui qtheatre.co.nz 09 309 9771 Sunday 22 March, 10.30am to 3.30pm TimeOut Festival Garden, Aotea Square Family Day is back! Our day dedicated to whanau fun times has heaps of free and ticketed arts events for parents, kids, cuzzies and just about everyone to get into. There are so many ways to play up! 25 - 28 march 2015 rangatira q theatre aaf.co.nz CORE FUNDER major funders capital e is a wellington museums trust facility ticketmaster.co.nz 0800 111 999 FOLLOW US ON DON’ T MISS OUT ON A Silo Patrons are awesome individuals who thrill at our work, are part of our community and feel strongly about establishing a visionary creative culture in Auckland. They are our extended family – they listen, advise, congratulate, share in our mission and cheer us on. They are the triumphant heroes of Silo. 2015 SEASON TICKET OUR KIND OF PEOPLE Silo Generator Patrons Delmaine Friedlander Foundation John Ormiston & Diana Lennon Spark New Zealand Wallace Arts Trust William Buck Christmas Gouwland Silo Patron Plus Simon & Robin Barclay Betsy & Michael Benjamin Mary Brook Adrian Burr Rick & Jenny Carlyon Jeremy Collins & Lindsay Thompson Richard & Elizabeth Ebbett Dame Jenny Gibbs Ross & Josephine Green Tracey Haszard & Phil Sargent Chris & Dayle Mace Anna Nathan Jenny & Andrew Smith Mike Smith & Dale D’Rose Gilli Sutton Silo Foundation Patrons David Appleby Felicity Barnes The Family of Judith Barnes Kathryn Beck John Billington QC Brian Carter & Clare Bradley Christina Chan & Nigel Ellis Michelle Deery Christine & Richard Didsbury Suzanne Dowling Cameron Fleming Stefan Goldwater & Bronwen Klippel John & Jo Gow Michael & Stephanie Gowan John & Trish Gribben FROM BEWITCHING STORYTELLING TO SUBLIME CHORAL SINGING TO RUM-FUELLED SHOWDOWNS VISIT SILOTHEATRE.CO.NZ/SEASON-TICKETS FOR MORE INFO AND BOOKINGS Sue Haigh Guy Hallwright Anne Hinton Michael Hurst & Jennifer Ward-Lealand David Inns & Sally Woodfield Johnson & Laird Management Robert Johnston & Stella McDonald Sacha Judd Philip & Michelle Kean Margaret Lake Hilary Lewis Alison & Murray McMillan Earl & Jo Meek Morgan Coakle Ben & Anna Nathan Rob & Jacquie Nicoll Chris & Derek Nolan Julianne Nolan Rachel & Jason Paris Phillip Rice Geoff & Fran Ricketts Juliet Robieson Bruce & Margot Robinson Murray Smallfield Alan & Carole Sorrell Thane & Susy Smith South Pacific Pictures Michael & Margaret Stanley Lady Tait Simon Vannini & Anita Killeen Graham Wall & Rosie Brown Paul Wicks Peter Winder Silo Best Friends 2014 Lisa Bates & Douglas Hawkins Mike Clark & Heather Anderson Lesley Dennis Arend Merrie & Fiona Turner If you’d like to make a donation to Silo go to silotheatre.co.nz/support. Silo Theatre is a registered NZ charity: CC24374 All donations are tax deductible and appreciated more than you know : ) Principal Partner Sustaining Partners IN GOOD COMPANY McCOLLAMS PRINT. PRINTING SILO PROGRAMMES SINCE 2010. Charitable Partner Venue Partners Media Partners Industry Partners 027 477 4026 Use them. They’re great. Silo Theatre Trust Rick Carlyon [Chair] Jeremy Collins Greg Fahey Philip Kean Rachel Paris Melanie Smith Jennifer Ward-Lealand Peter Winder Executive Director / Producer Jessica Smith Artistic Director Sophie Roberts Programme & Ticketing Co-ordinator Helen Sheehan Design Alt Group Accounts Administrator Michelle Hall Photography Toaki Okano Jinki Cambronero Finance Manager Martine Holloway Communications & Digital Content Manager Tim Blake Season Ticket Bookings 09 361 1551 Administration 09 361 1554 admin@silotheatre.co.nz silotheatre.co.nz 16A Ponsonby Road PO Box 7752, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141 Website Sons & Co. aaf.co.nz silotheatre.co.nz