Actor, director, and writer, Tim Spite delves into not only his own family life, but also that of the Bain family, in his latest production.

TIM Spite and his cast and crew spent three months as a sort of jury in the Bain family murder case.
The multiple Chapman Tripp award-winning director, writer, and actor, has dedicated the past several months to sifting through the enormous pile of documents involved in the case that still has New Zealand captivated.
Never one to take on soft issues, Spite’s latest production, The December Brother, is a play of three parts that weaves together his own family history, both sides of the Bain case, and a fictional murder.
The story of Spite’s father, who was adopted, drove the concept of the play. Extraordinary circumstances (including an astrological reading) caused him to begin a search for his birth family.
“He found his family in 1995 after his sister stormed into his office and said, ‘I want to find my real parents – sign this’,” laughs Spite. “He always had an apprehension that he may be related to some dysfunctional family, and his search started just before the Bain case was all over the media. I’ve collided the two stories for that reason, but also because they’re both about family and truth – there are themes of doubt, guilt, and nature versus nurture. It gives the play real weight and excitement.”
Luckily for Spite’s father, he wasn’t related to any sinister characters, and was surprised to find his own birth mother was still alive after finally finding her when he 55.
“She was in a rest home, and when he went to meet her she knew who he was. It was a very happy outcome. Meanwhile, a very unhappy outcome was playing out in the New Zealand national psyche,” says Spite, who has always been fascinated at how people have readily formed opinions over guilt in the Bain case, without knowing all that much information.
He hopes The December Brother will give people a little bit more. The months of meticulous research will present the two distinct legal perspectives of the case in the second act of the play.
“We’re trying to make it as plausible as possible with the facts we have. We’ve been very pedantic,” says Spite. “It hasn’t been easy, because there has been scant information. There are books written on the subject from both sides, and there are court papers, and the first and second trial, but the difficulty is that between the trials there’s different information. Why would Robin Bain murder his family on a full bladder? And then someone comes forward and says it’s plausible.  You sort of say, ‘I don’t know what to believe now.”
Spite’s dabblings in the legal world haven’t stopped there – to link his father’s story and the Bain case, he’s made up a crime “that’s believable” for the third act.
“We did feel like a jury, and we still do, and the jury is still undecided,” he laughs. “I think the audience will make up their own mind. They’re going to see something in a hell of a lot more detail than they could have ever imagined, because you can’t get a half hour re-enactment on a network news channel.”
As well as directing The December Brother, Spite will also play the main character – his father. He’s used memoirs of his father’s quest to find his birth family as the script. His dad’s supportive of the idea, and will be there on opening night.
“Dad’s got a background in theatre, and he used to be an amateur actor at Wellington Repertory Theatre so he has a sense of how things can be discussed,” Spite says. “He’s always been a really proud supporter of what I’ve done, and he knows I’ll deal with it with sensitivity. All mum and dad’s friends will be coming along too – mum’s got about 60 million friends.”
The play has also been a road of self-growth for Spite. Reading his father’s memoirs has taught him about his own ancestry.
“It’s kind of like learning an oral tradition. I feel much more secure about myself now that I know it properly – it’s given me the satisfaction of knowing where I come from, and I’m really grateful to my dad for writing it all down. It will be an amazing thing to hand down through our family,” he says.
Spite is now working on refining The December Brother to a level that he’s happy with. He says his theatre company SEEyD is unique because he allows himself the time to perfect each of his plays.
“I started SEEyD 10 years ago – we were originally called The Claw Footed Tomatoes, but for some reason that didn’t really stick,” Spite laughs. “I have this manifesto of taking a long time to put projects together because it gives us enough time to research, develop, and refine things properly. Everything is done very calmly because of that. We do yoga every morning, we start at 10am, we fart around, we talk – to do that for three months produces a quality piece of work. This whole myth of working your arse off doesn’t ring true for me, it never has.”
The December Brother, Downstage Theatre, August 12-September 11.