22 May 2012

Politics at Bats

31/08/2011 8:52:00 a.m.

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WELLINGTON actor Phil Grieve met Sir Robert Muldoon when he was 16.
Grieve was at Parliament to accept his Boys Brigade Queens Award from the then Prime Minister.
“He was shorter than me even then,” Grieve remembers.
Now he’s playing Muldoon in Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a new Dean Parker play, opening at Bats Theatre this week. The play is an expressionist biography of Muldoon from his pro-Labour childhood through to his ruthless seizure of power in the 1970s and his inevitable downfall in 1984.
“Muldoon was a complicated contradictory man,” Grieve says. “He came across as a little ugly brutish person, and he was, but he was also responsible for some important pieces of social legislation such as the introduction of the DPB.
Grieve says most of his research for the part has come from reading histories of the period. He’s also had to learn Muldoon’s accent ... “he sounded quite Australian, with a slight drawl”... and that infamous laugh.
Director Dave Lawrence says Slouching Towards Bethlehem, depicts Muldoon as the dominating fearless Prime Minister he was, but also shows him as a loving father and husband.
“People who see Muldoon as a Stalinist dictator will feel vindicated when they see this play, but those who are sympathetic towards him will still come away sympathetic. Some of the most sympathetic stuff I’ve read about Muldoon was written by those who had the most reason to hate and vilify him.”
Lawrence says while playwright Dean Parker has written a true account of Muldoon’s life he has done so with some licence.
“Where there’s debate between historical correctness and theatricality Parker errs on the side of theatricality.”
Politics is a continuing theme at Bats with the return of political satire comedy shows Public Service Announcements. First performed at the NZ International Comedy Festival, Public Service Announcements  is a collection of three scripts which see Phil Goff preparing for the leaders debate, Murray McCully hunting for the best world cup ever, and Hone Harawira’s search for inner peace.
The shows will play at Bats over the next six weekends.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Bats Theatre, August 31 to September 10. Public Service Announcements, September 2 to October 8.
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Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

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