Family tensions at play

Susan Partington has written Beachfront Reality, a new play set on the East Coast but with universal themes. Picture supplied

A new play, Beachfront Reality, set at a bach in an East Coast community, will have its world premiere at Evolution Theatre on February 22.

It is the first full-length play to be produced in Gisborne as a result of the East Coast Scribes programme run by Evolution Theatre.

It will also be the debut effort by local playwright Susan Partington who has made a conscious effort to find a Kiwi voice.

Susan is originally from Oklahoma in the US but has lived in New Zealand and called Gisborne home for 14 years. She has been acting in plays at Evolution Theatre for the past five years and is very much part of the local theatre scene.

From a young age Susan always loved writing but it is only in recent years she has picked up her passion again.

“Once the kids were a bit older I found I had the brain space again to get back into writing,” she says.

With a degree in English and creative writing it was only natural that she would put pen to paper at some stage and a playwriting competition, the East Coast Scribes programme at Evolution Theatre, was the perfect opportunity.

In 2021 Susan wrote a 25-minute one-act play which won the competition.

“Dinna (Myers, Evolution’s managing artistic director) asked me if I could make it longer. She thought it could be developed into a full-length play so I spent the next three years on it.

“When I had the original idea for the play I had these creative ideas and started thinking about the characters.

“I grew up with a sister who I am really close to. I also have two daughters so I’ve always been interested in the dynamics in the relationship between sisters.”

Susan also wrote a short story, “Pav”,  around the same time. which was published in an anthology. It is set at Christmas at the family bach and is based around one of the sisters reminiscing about the tradition of preparing the pavlova with her recently deceased mother.

“I used the same characters in the play and took the setting and tradition of getting together at the family bach at Christmas.”

The play looks at the friction that can arise when a family comes together in a confined space.

“There are light comedic moments too and people should be able to relate to the family dynamics that can get quite stressed when everyone gathers at Christmas. There are also references to the severe weather events of late and how that is impacting people’s lives.”

The impact of the weather events bring the future of the family bach into question.

The characters include two sisters and their father, one of the sister’s husbands and the father’s recent love interest. The father is beginning to develop dementia and the play looks at how the family deals with his declining health.

Susan said she has drawn on her own life experiences. She too has a father with Alzheimers, so it is a subject close to her heart.

The play is in two acts and audiences can expect a dramatic hook at the end of act one.

She has put her faith and trust in Danielle Siata to direct the play and cast the actors, who have varying levels of experience.

The director and actors have put their own mark on it and made some subtle changes.

“It’s great to see how it all comes together —this team of people, the set, the music and the lighting.

They’ve built this world and it is different from how I imagined it.”

After the premiere the play will be picked up by The Play Bureau with the potential to be bought by other theatre companies around New Zealand.

“These coastal communities do exist all across NZ — I would love for it to be bought by another theatre and put on somewhere else.

“It would be amazing to see it done by a  whole different cast and to see how another theatre company would produce it.”

Beachfront Reality, Evolution Theatre February 22 – March 3.