A boy’s show
Paora Taurima and Simon Leary star in Downstage Theatre’s Mates and Lovers.
The former “lowest elected official on Capitol Hill” has written, and now directs, Mates and Lovers which is on at Downstage till March 12.
“I was working on September 11,” says Nelson. “And I could smell the Pentagon burning from our front porch.”
The 2001 attacks prompted him to leave the US, eventually deciding to emigrate to NZ after a brief flirtation with Australia. Unable to find a job in politics, Nelson decided to do a Masters in Directing at Toi Whakaari. In 2009, his major project became Mates and Lovers when he glimpsed the cover of Chris Brickell’s Montana award-winning book Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand, in a shop window.
The book redresses historians’ scanty treatment of NZ homosexuality. Nelson imagined two guys on stage acting out the book’s stories and 54 characters, with around 60% of the book’s content making it into the final script.
“I was fascinated with the two guys on the cover but the audience has to figure out how the show works. The guys are not changing hats at each scene to make character changes obvious. You have to buy into the way it works,” Nelson says.
Brickell also had to buy into the fact that his book was about to be turned into a play, but the writer was thrilled when Nelson called him to ask permission.
“He said: ‘Fabulous’,” says Nelson. “Really it’s a geeky academic book – it’s gender theory but it’s almost going out of print.
“I’m sure I could go back to that book and write 20 more scenes,” Nelson says
Mates and Lovers, Downstage Theatre, March 9-12.
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