LET’S hope a play about New Zealand’s defeat at the 1995 Rugby World Cup isn’t an omen of things to come.
Downstage Theatre’s production of Roger Hall’s one man show C’mon Black opens this week but producer, Dave Armstrong, says while the play is about rugby on the surface it’s more about a guy finding himself and discovering there is more to life than rugby.
“It’s about the things we care about, the things that matter and the fact you’re never too old to learn something about yourself,” Armstrong says.
C’mon Black tells the story of heartland cattle farmer Dickie Hart’s first trip overseas on a supporter’s tour to South Africa to watch the All Blacks bring home the World Cup. Dickie is a kind of everyman for a kiwi national character that is arguably becoming more and more part of our history rather than our future. He’s introverted and isolationist, but easygoing and unashamed of his naivete and parochialism. But Dickie’s experiences of other cultures, poverty and the legacy of apartheid shake his world view. The play takes place after Dickie’s return to New Zealand where he speaks of his experiences, like a guy who has turned up to talk to the local rugby club.
“It’s not a pretentious piece of theatre,” Armstrong says. “It’s not just an audience watching a play, it’s a guy talking and reacting with the audience. The show is never the same on two nights.”
First performed at Circa Theatre in 1996 with actor Grant Tilly playing Dickie, this production sees Wellington character actor Gavin Armstrong in the role.
Armstrong says C’mon Black is a good warm-up for the World Cup. But as it deals with one of the ones we lost it has to tug on the question lurking at the back of the national psyche – what if we lose again? And at home!
C’mon Black, Downstage, June 8 - July 2.