Last week I thought I had seen one of the best solo performances of the year with Jacob Rajan in his new play “The Guru of Chai”. I was wrong, that honour should go to Laurel Devenie for her astonishing performance in “On the Upside &
On the Upside–Down of the World
By Arthur Meek, based on “Our Maoris”, the memoirs of Lady Mary Ann Martin
Auckland Theatre Company
Auckland Concert Chamber
Until July 16th
Last week I thought I had seen one of the best solo performances of the year with Jacob Rajan in his new play “The Guru of Chai”. I was wrong, that honour should go to Laurel Devenie for her astonishing performance in “On the Upside –Down of the World”.
The play is based on the book ‘Our Maoris' the memoirs of Lady Mary Ann Martin, who was the wife of the first Chief Justice, Sir William Martin. She arrived in Auckland in 1842 and established their home in Judges Bay, marooned by the three hills between Parnell and the town.
She had liberal Christian ideas and attempted to bring religion and education to the local population. She also established one of the first Native Hospitals as well as doing many good works. However after fifteen years her husband resigned, possibly because his liberal ideas on land sales were in conflict with those of the government. Her memoirs were published after her death in 1884,
Arthur Meek has adapted the memoirs for the stage and they become a mixture of diary, dialogue and drama.
What we discover and what Mary Martin realised is that her experiences as an intrepid, inquiring woman made her into a very different type of Victorian person. She was one of the socially liberal people who did attempt to understand Maori language and culture and sought to establish and maintain a bicultural vision, where Maori and Pakeha concepts of education, justice and land ownership were intertwined.,
The play is full of the stories we know about the early years of the colony; the lack of European staples – fresh bread and dairy products, John Heke the revolutionary from the North, and the threat of war. There is also a trip to the Pink and White Terraces - her account has a dreamlike quality to it as the terraces were destroyed after her death and the publication of the book.
Rather than an historic account these events are seen through the eyes of a woman on the sidelines of history.
She paints a vivid picture of her life and we are presented with her first interactions with Maori, her feeble attempts at the language and then her admission that the language has a poetic quality comparing favourably it with Italian.
She also grows to understand and appreciate the Maori approach to life and the diffrenet social norms of that society.
There are some perceptive and wry comments such as her definition of a “Maori ambush’ as one where there is “the shock of endless talking”.
Meek has included the occasional passage which gives it a contemporary connection such as noting that Remuera was a “Maori stronghold”.
While, the play is full of rich dialogue historical and personal events as well as reflections on the new nation the success of the production lies with Laurel Devenie. On stage for close to an hour and a half show is faultless (apart from the odd fault) in conveying the changing life of the central character. She creates a character who is naïve, shrewd, sensible, perceptive and even occasionally sensual, wrapping the dialogue in a luxuriant tone.
She can be hectoring, exhilarating, sorrowful and informative with all these qualities combining to place the character historically and personally.
She becomes an illuminating guide to our understanding as to how New Zealand has evolved into the distinctive society it is today
The set is very simple and stylish; the floor covered in sand with a dozen aluminium ladders and a single chest which holds a few European trinkets and useful objects such as an umbrella. Accompanying this minimalist set is a minimalist soundscape, a bit of music and some sounds of water crockery and birds.
The aluminium ladders which form several an inverted V shapes are intended to refer to the Maori hakari stages which were used for food storage at large feasts.
They are as a metaphor for European impact on the new land. They also serve as symbolioc of prison bars, spars of a ship, dense bush as well as the various notions of having to surmount challenges.
Unfortunately the set and sounds only occasionally add depth to work. For the most part they are a distraction and an impediment to the rapport and empathy that builds between actress and audience. As with any of the great monologues Laure Devenie’s acting and delivery are enough to sustain the drama.
The play is one which will enter the pantheon of great New Zealand theatre and Devenie's performance as one of the best of the year.
