Miss Jean Batten flies in
Jean Batten reminisces and reflects on her life before her historic flight to NZ in 1936.
Hot Topic
Hawke’s Bay
Miss Jean Batten by Phil Ormsby
Basement Theatre, Auckland
Until April 9
Set in a hotel room in Sydney before her final flight to New Zealand on her record setting flight from the UK to New Zealand, Jean Batten reminisces and reflects on her life, on the verge of a new adventure in an engaging and spirited monologue.
The stage is dominated by an A-shaped structure designed by John Parker which serves as an aeroplane as well as the hotel room furniture. Jean Batten, played by Alex Ellis is dressed in a cream silk flowing gown over which she wears a fleece-lined pilot's jacket. The clothes designed by Elizabeth Whiting encapsulate the two aspects of the heroine, the aviatrix and the socialite.
With moments of high drama, comedy and spirited dance routines she tells of her life, recording some of her failed flights as well as her great achievements and reminisces about meeting Bleriot, the first pilot to fly the English Channel.
She displays all the anxieties, fears and joys that come with the adventurer, showing off the various elements of her very public life but she also reveals an ordinary human being under it all.
She speaks to the audience and herself, has conversations with sponsors, media and bureaucrats, building a picture of her life full of events and adventures but as she notes “flying is the easy part”. She has to deal with a male-dominated world and to constantly camouflage her suffragist credentials.
For the few action sequences in the play sound designer, Thomas Press and lighting designer Ruby Reihena-Wilson create a dramatic environment helping to make the whole work an elegantly constructed and presented work.
Alex Ellis conjures up a woman who seems totally in control despite her setbacks, with a brilliant one-hour cameo performance.
Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.
John Daly-Peoples
Fri, 01 Apr 2016
Fri, 01 Apr 2016
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Miss Jean Batten flies in
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