John Smythe: Downstage upfront

Downstage upfront - the first 40 years of New Zealand's longest running professional theatre


The cover of this very readable tome features Catherine Wilkin in Colin McColl's blue-toned 1990 production of Hedda Gabler. She holds a pistol in her hand. It is a highly symbolic image for a theatre that historically segues from heady success to threats of closure and then on to the artist-ically dangerous platform of stability.

The text is sprinkled with vivid photographs Ñ reminders of the hundreds of plays presented by the Downstage company in the University theatre, the Paramount theatre, the Star Boating Club and finally, in 1973, the impressive Hannah Playhouse.

I riffled through the 450 pages thinking: 'This will be worth dipping into with the aid of the index and play lists. I'll check out the most memorable productions I'd seen on visits to Wellington - The Good Person of Setzuan with Jean Betts in the title role (1974), Travesties with Stuart Devenie playing Carr (1977), Tony Taylor's production of Big and Little (1981), Waterloo Sunset by Ken Duncum (2001) and Elric Hooper's On the Razzle (2001).'

After a few dips I willingly turned to page one and embarked on the historical journey with John Smythe as an excellent and entertaining guide. Excerpts from critical reviews (Bruce Mason, Patricia Cooke, Laurie Atkinson etc) give a flavour of the event as well as an indication of standards. The text is further enlivened by wonderful theatrical anecdotes - often several versions of the same one. In the 1967 Hamlet, the actor playing Guildenstern dried and suddenly exited, ad libbing: 'Over to you, Rosencrantz.' This gem became a stock phrase among thespians throughout New Zealand.

The serving of food and wine before, and at times during, the play also provides some comedy which was unwelcome at the time. Nobody enjoyed the reheated spaghetti served chopped into squares.

Founders Tim Eliott, Martyn Sanderson, Peter Bland and Harry Seresin came up with the name Downstage because 'it suggested a theatre that was unpretentious, vigorous and in tune with its audiences. It would be egalitarian in structure, small, flexible and without the artifice of a proscenium arch'. It would serve food and provide 'a relaxed atmosphere conducive to discussion before and after the play'. The Dominion hoped it would be 'substantial rather than fashionable'.

Over the next 40 years these aspirations were further defined, dropped or endlessly argued. The first to go was the egalitarian structure. Like most other New Zealand

theatres, Downstage became director-oriented.

Financial management becomes a recurrent theme along with the theatre's relationship with the funding body for the arts, QEll Arts Council, now Creative New Zealand.

There are threats of closure in 1994 and for a while the theatre is managed as a venue only. In the new millennium the Prime Minister claims the portfolio for the arts and announces a one-off recovery grant of $20m to Creative New Zealand. Murray Lynch is appointed Director. Downstage is again in the ascendant.

No doubt the heady mixture of passion and temper-ament will continue to govern the theatre. The money crunchers will still hand out sobering advice and dire warnings. The critics will continue to dissect the product with varying degrees of helpfulness.

John Smythe's history is both a warning for us to dismiss the past at our peril and a clarion call for maintaining a theatrical vision that is relevant to the society it serves. I recommend it as a good read for theatre-goers and a compulsive read for theatre practitioners.

* Elizabeth McRae is an Auckland actor.

* Victoria University Press, $49.95