Jodi Bryant speaks with former Whangārei Boys’ High School student Tama Jarman before his performance here next week in an intriguing crime thriller.
At a bus stop late at night, at the scene of a violent crime, a woman watches herself split in two, her life ending and beginning atonce…
What follows will play out at OneOneSix next week as Red Leap Theatre debuts its latest dynamic show starring Whangārei’s own Tama Jarman.
Renowned for their physical theatre, arresting imagery and inventive original storytelling, Red Leap Theatre is bringing Wrest to Whangārei first before it hits Auckland.
The story centres around motherhood and how, by becoming a mother, one path is left and an alternative life continues to leave the former self behind.
The murder at the bus stop relates to the ‘death’ of the person she was before becoming a parent.
The Red Leap cast rehearsing. Photo Yin-Chi Lee
The cast includes Tama Jarman, 38, who lived in Whangārei from the age of 5 until 20. After attending Whangārei Boys’ High School, where he took drama, he wound up at South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland, from where his career flourished.
“I was working at Killer Prawn for a while after I left school and, after work, we’d head across the road to Bacio, which was owned by Des Wallace who’d done a bit of acting.
“I used to be a bit of a break dancer and I’d show my moves off and one day he said, ‘What are you going to do Tama?’
He’d gone to South Seas and had success as an actor from it and then bought the bar so I decided to give it a go – Des started it all!”
Jarman has been working as a freelance actor since, with TV stints including Shortland Street and Westside, multiple ads and loads of theatre. He has been involved with Red Theatre since its inception in 2008 and undertaken many roles. In Wrest his main role is as a detective.
Wrest came about when acclaimed performing artists and Kiwi mums Ella Becroft and Tor Colombus decided to combine their two worlds to create a new theatre show which explores motherhood’s hidden darker side.
Ella Becroft
The crime thriller is centred on a missing woman and a doppelganger with the unfolding mystery laying bare the mundane and sometimes monstrous reality of early motherhood.
When the original woman mysteriously disappears, an uncanny doppelganger emerges. Stalked by detectives seeking answers, the doppelganger hunts visions of her original self, determined to rebuild.
Becroft, who also directs the show, explains: “When having a baby, women are expected to transition with ease – to transform into a completely new self that can seem at odds with who they know themselves to be. I felt like I became a stranger, a doppelganger of my child-free self.
“What we have come to accept as ‘normal’ birth can be deeply disturbing for many women. The transformative experience of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood doesn’t match pervasive cultural narratives.”
Tor Columbus
The project combines the cast and creative teams’ personal experiences of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood with scientific, medical, and psychological insights to illuminate this often hidden experience.
The main piece of text used as inspiration for the show was the book Matrescence by Lucy Jones. Jones, a scientific writer, has pieced together science, medicine and psychology in her book to explain what a woman experiences. From there, the team further researched processes and changes.
Colombus, who is also the choreographer, says: “In the rehearsal room for Wrest, there were moments where a parent would tell a story about the unexpected struggle of motherhood, the moments of rage, and the physical pain of it, that they had never spoken out loud before".
“There is a power to a woman sharing her authentic experience, and we hope this show will empower others to do the same.”
The show encourages audiences to re-evaluate their perceptions of motherhood and to support women in their journeys. Jarman describes it as a dark and moody surreal crime thriller using devised physical theatre.
Tama Jarman
“We’re given a rough story outline so we had a thread to follow. We’ve got a setting, now we’ve just got to build the story and physicalise what happens,” he explains.
“There’s bones and we create the body and the flesh. For example, we might be asked to show five ways you could disappear into a portal. Then we all piece together the moments of gold amongst the many, many bad moments.”
Although he returns to Whangārei often to visit family and has brought shows there in the past, he’s looking forward to performing there next week.
“I’m just stoked to be doing what I do in my hometown. I’m excited to bring it up there and get some of my mates that are still there along and hopefully parents have a moment where they feel heard.”
Beecroft and Columbus during rehearsal.
He equates Wrest with a David Lynch film and says audiences can expect excitement, tension, along with some dark moments among a well-constructed story.
“It’s quite mysterious but when you do work it out, it’s very satisfying so hopefully the audience has a satisfying experience.”
Wrest runs from May 29-31 at 7.30pm-8.30pm in OneOneSix Bank St, followed by shows in Auckland in June. Tickets from Eventfinda.
