Rebellious Mirrors: Community-Based Theatre in Aotearoa/new Zealand

TLDR: The work in this article focuses on key community-based theatre case studies, such as the 1970s avantgarde experimental theatre group Amamus, a precursor to community engagement outside conventional theatre spaces and forms (40-62), the Town and Country Players of the early 1980s, described as the first formal, communitybased theatre group in New Zealand (64), and the 1990s work of Jim Moriarty and Te Rakau, including residencies and workshops conducted at Arohata Women's Prison (93-115).

Abstract: PAUL MAUNDER, REBELLIOUS MIRRORS: COMMUNITY-BASED THEATRE IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND (CHRISTCHURCH, NZ: CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2013)I have been preparing to introduce a new course on Applied Theatre at Massey University. Attempting to research community theatre projects using newspaper databases, I discovered how little has been published by the major broadsheets. So it was with considerable excitement that I read Paul Maunders book, which aims to register community-based theatre productions that normally 'go unnoticed in histories of New Zealand Theatre' (11).Rebellious Mirrors fills an important gap in New Zealand theatre history and is particularly useful in the way that it focuses on key community-based theatre case studies.These case studies include the 1970s avantgarde experimental theatre group Amamus, a precursor to community engagement outside conventional theatre spaces and forms (40-62); the Town and Country Players of the early 1980s, described as the first formal, community-based theatre group in New Zealand (64); and the 1990s work of Jim Moriarty and Te Rakau, including residencies and workshops conducted at Arohata Women's Prison (93-115). The case studies also offer more recent contributions to the field, such as the youth theatre of Sam Scott and Massive Company (136-42); Maori theatre company Taki Rua (142-6); the disability theatre of Tony McCaffrey and Elizabeth O'Connor (146-56); and the regional theatre ofTalking House (156-65).These case studies offer insightful commentary based largely on personal interviews conducted by Maunder. The contexts for the theatre initiatives, detailed accounts of performances, extracts from scripts, and the personal anecdotes, motivations and reflections of those involved makes for engaging and compelling reading. This focus on practice and the interviews with key practitioners, all of whom are pioneers of contemporary New Zealand theatre, is the book's greatest strength.For example, in a section sketching the development of early Maori theatre, Maunder describes performance interventions created by members of the Otara Waitangi Action Committee, based at the Mangataipa Marae in the Hokianga. Maranga Mai was described as 'campaign theatre' centered on Maori land and language issues, taking the form of skits with music composed by Hori Chapman. When the performance was invited to a South Auckland school, the Minister of Education intervened, sparking a scandal in the media when the group performed outside the school fences instead (72). According to Maunder, the performers were later invited by Maori MP Tirikatene Sullivan to perform in the Beehive theatrette, where 'at the end of the performance a Black Panther activist smashed a beer bottle against the back wall', resulting in further scandal (ibid).Similarly compelling are twenty pages of illustrations featuring photographs and posters that form a middle-section to the book. Included are pictures of the Amamus productions I Rode My Horse Down the Road, and '51, featuring a young Sam Neill.There is also a photograph of the Town and Country Players in 1980, featuring my colleague Dr Mary Paul, who managed the company for a while, standing nonchalantly on the shoulders of Murray Edmond. There is a striking photograph of Jim Moriarty in rehearsal for Theatre of The Eight Day's production Ngati Pakeha (1985), and beautiful colour photographs of Massive Company's production The Girls Show (2008).The photographs, like the anecdotes that inform this investigation, are drenched in personal details often neglected by theatre histories. These are the kind of details that make the book.It is odd, given how riveting and insightful these personal details and anecdotes are, that Maunder insists on a theoretical frame to explore the case studies that he documents by arguing that 'If this investigation is not simply to be anecdotal, it must have a theoretical base' (12). This choice suggests the book's origin as a PhD thesis that Maunder completed in 2011 at the University of Canterbury, and perhaps this recourse to theory reflects some challenges in translating his thesis into an accessible theatre history of community-based practice. …