Meek creation
25/11/2009 11:48:00 a.m.
His play about Charles Darwin has been nominated in nine categories, including Best Production.
“I honestly think I deserve it,” says Meek. “Downstage has found the perfect mix between new New Zealand writing and audience appeal.”
Meek wrote Collapsing Creation – commissioned by the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution as part of worldwide celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s masterpiece: On the Origin of Species – because “it is as much a New Zealand story as a world story”.
“The [Chapman Tripp awards] mean everything especially in theatre because shows are on for about a month and then they are gone and there’s no record. The nominations tell you ‘you are doing ok’.”
Meek, who won Best Male Newcomer for On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover at last year’s Chapman Tripp awards, says his picks for this year are Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants, and Miranda Harcourts Biography of My Skin.
Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants and Eli Kent’s The Intricate Art of Actually Caring have been nominated for five awards, and Biography of My Skin for three.
Collapsing Creation has also been nominated alongside Biography of My Skin and The Intricate Art of Actually Caring for the Peter Harcourt Award for New Playwright of the Year. Meek is particularly excited about this category because Miranda is Peter Harcourt’s daughter.
The 2009 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards will be announced on December 6.
