On The Up: Rotorua primary school teacher’s play brings fresh energy to city’s theatre scene

Rachael Bell and Matthew Sheard performing in Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap. Photo / Supplied

A Rotorua primary school teacher is debuting his first production as playwright and director two years after first putting pen to paper.

Matthew Sheard’s original play The Beast of Burden will premiere at the Rotorua Little Theatre, also known as The Shambles Theatre, this month.

The 43-year-old former New Yorker turned Otonga Road Primary School music teacher said he was one of those kids always immersed in a book.

He remembered the first time he opened one. He felt like someone had understood him in a way he hadn’t realised was possible.

That was when he clicked: “This is what I want to do.”

Sheard was a member of Rotorua and Tauranga writing groups and also of Rotorua Little Theatre Society.

While acting in a play, he realised that being behind the scenes in a theatre company was “sometimes more interesting than what’s happening on stage”.

Sheard’s play, The Beast of Burden, started as a short story.

“Then it kind of started snowballing,” he said.

“Shyly,” he pitched his play to actors and directors from the Rotorua Little Theatre Society, who were “really enthusiastic and excited about it”, he said.

The play, written for mature audiences, is a character-driven mystery that follows a group of egotistical actors backstage.

Matthew Sheard is a Rotorua primary school music teacher and local writer. Photo / Supplied

Sheard said his play was something never done before in Rotorua, and offered an alternative to the usual theatre repertoire.

“There’s just been such a buzz at the theatre [because] people [are] excited to be doing things that are fresh and new,” he said.

Helene Nicholson, a theatre society member of eight years, called the play a classic “whodunit”. She plays Rosie, whose arrival, battered and bruised, kicks off a mystery in the theatre company.

Rachael Bell and Elisha Lovegrove at rehearsal. Photo / Supplied

She met Sheard two years ago when they were performing in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap together.

Nicholson said some characters were based on cast members in that play, including herself and fellow actor Rachael Bell.

“He’s kinda morphed these characters from us and has basically made a play in a play,” she said.

Nicholson said they had a good chuckle reading the first draft.

Matthew Sheard and Helene Nicholson performing in Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap. Nicholson takes on the role of Rosie in Sheard's original play, The Beast of Burden. Photo / Supplied

“[It was] like, ‘oh my God, this is what people perceive us as’.”

She said the characters had evolved and were now quite funny and “definitely not us anymore”.

Nicholson starred in Sheard’s first short film, Home Base, earlier this year. The film was entered into several New Zealand film festivals.

Sheard said the best thing a writer could do was to get their work out there.

The production received funding from the Creative Communities Scheme, a Rotorua Lakes Council-administered initiative supporting local arts projects.

Sheard has already started work on a second play.

The Beast of Burden, written and directed by Matt Sheard, will debut on July 10, 11 and 12 at 7pm.

For more information, visit The Beast of Burden Facebook page.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.