Dealing with life, loss and famous relatives

Eli Kent inhabits an exaggerated version of himself in <i>The Intricate Art of Actually Caring</i>. Photo / Supplied

Wellington writer Eli Kent is keeping alive the writing legacy of his famous forebears, poet James K. Baxter and writer/pacifist Archibald Baxter.

Kent, 22, is the great grandson of Archibald Baxter and great nephew of James K. He's also an award-winning writer whose play The Intricate Art of Actually Caring finally makes it to Auckland 15 months after it was first performed in Wellington.

To say it was a sell-out show isn't actually a ringing endorsement because it was initially performed in Kent's bedroom where the audience could number no more than 12-15.

"We started with letting around 10-12 come along but we had to squeeze in a few more when people started hearing about it and wanting to see it," he says.

It's not the craziest place Kent has performed. He and best friend Jack Shadbolt, who also stars in Intricate Art, were once in a Shakespeare production on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

Luckily his parents were cool with having their home turned into a playhouse and despite the unconventional and small-scale venue, Intricate Art won a Best Theatre Award at last year's Fringe Festival Awards, the Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Most Original Production and went on to be performed at Downstage before heading south to Christchurch and Dunedin where more awards followed.

Part comedy, part road trip and part coming-of-age drama, the work pays homage to Kent's famous relative set against the tragically familiar aftermath of the sudden death of a 21-year-old in what may be an alcohol-related incident.

Jack (Jack Shadbolt) and Eli (Eli Kent) are best mates who spend their days hanging out in Eli's bedroom. Jack's the go-getter, an inspiring young poet who envies Eli being related to James K. Baxter, while Eli is the slacker who isn't interested in much other than drinking, movies, music and girls. But their adolescent world is brought into sharp relief when a friend dies while sculling beer from a yard-glass at his 21st. It is never clear whether it was alcohol poisoning or a heart condition that killed Johnny Harrison but whatever the cause, Jack is shaken. He suggests they go on a road trip to James K. Baxter's grave at Jerusalem in the Whanganui River Valley. Eli is not especially interested but agrees to go to keep the peace.

While the story of young men mourning one of their own can be read in most newspapers or on Facebook, Kent hasn't experienced the death of a close friend.

"That part is fictional but yeah, you can open a newspaper and read all about young people dying in road crashes and from alcohol poisoning."

Kent says he and Shadbolt, good friends since school days at Wellington High, aren't playing themselves but exaggerated versions which allow them to explore various sides to their respective personalities and by extension, the Kiwi male psyche.

He sees Intricate Art as a play about personal responsibility and the way the so-called death of God has left humanity struggling with issues like morality and the particular impact on young people finding their identity.

"To me, at the moment, it's about being an atheist - which I am - and grappling with hedonism and not letting that turn into nihilism. I think atheism does have a lot to answer for in some ways because there's no one, like God, to answer to. You have to forge your own moral path and work out what's right and wrong.

"People can be unashamedly drunk walking along the street or take all sorts of recreational drugs and it's not a class thing because it's in all social classes. We are so much a part of things without standing back to look at it and question it."

He says Intricate Art allows audiences to question their lifestyle without being preachy. In fact, there are parts where it's blackly funny. In one scene, Jack sings the song he wanted to perform at Johnny's funeral but was banned from.

"We live in quite a fab place in New Zealand and I think we maybe take more risks because it seems benign and even when reality creeps in, like someone getting killed in a car accident because they were drunk, the consequence really only strikes home to a few people."

Kent is not too keen on comparisons with his famous ancestors. He read a lot about James K. in preparation for writing Intricate Art but wouldn't like to do a pop quiz on his great uncle nearly two years on from writing about him.

But he's proud. "They [Archibald and James K. Baxter] were doers; they weren't just writers but put actions to their words and I haven't done that yet. Maybe when I grow up, I might do something important."

PERFORMANCE
* What: The Intricate Art of Actually Caring
* Where and when: Basement Theatre, June 14-19