Whanganui sojourn set to spawn screenplay

Marianne Martin is artist-in-residence at Glasgow St Art Centre. Photo / Paul Brooks

Marianne Martin is spending time in Whanganui as artist-in-residence at Glasgow St Art Centre. Marianne and her partner, Geoff Gunn, own and operate The Classic Theatre Company Ltd in Auckland, and she is here for a little peace and quiet so she can work on a screenplay.

"I've had this idea in my head for years now; essentially I've always loved Courage, the Cowardly Dog and Monster of the Week stories. Since I started teaching — I studied to be a teacher — Year 13 in Media Studies and English, I realised that I'm not the only person obsessed with monsters.
"The education system is starting to realise there's a lot of poignancy in pop culture and horror movies and all that sort of schlocky low art stuff."
What she found was that teaching it was like dissecting it, losing it in the analysis of it.
"I started coming up with my own version of that story, taking all these tropes and putting them into a funnier place. Like taking the vampire thing, turning it on its head and saying, well, what if the supposedly perfect, sexy bad boy is actually a bit of a loser?
"The best way to deal with anything scary is humour."

She says that's why Jordan Peele got it right with "Get Out" and is so good at making horror films. "He knows that horror and humour deal with the same thing. They are really about what we are scared to say. It's the idea of the monster — a vampire is a really good one, because it signifies being taken over, being assimilated into a different, more unsavoury point of view. I think a lot of us are a little bit scared of being pulled over to the other side, and there's an enjoyment in that fear."

Marianne studied screenwriting at university. "I've gone between wanting to write about the creepy travelling circus and being in the creepy travelling circus."
Her influences are many, from Stephen King and Oscar Wilde to Taika Waititi to Mary Shelley to Mel Brooks and Charlie Chaplin to Roald Dahl and Jennifer Saunders. She has a scrapbook of people who have inspired her, and they are legion.

She is writing the story of Uncanny Valley, naming her fictional location with the term used to describe a feeling of unease or revulsion when people see a humanoid machine, model or animation that looks so human, so real, but not quite, it's creepy and uncomfortable.
"The ambiguity of Uncanny Valley is where the really good stuff lies."

Marianne (spelled the same as Marianne Faithful, she says) is 34, but that doesn't mean much on a daily basis. "You're a different version of yourself, every day," she says, and with the ability to articulate thoughts like that she is well equipped to write whatever she wants to.

She would love to see her screenplay on regular television.
"They are university age characters, that's the main four — a vampire, a witch, a werewolf and Frankenstein's monster. They represent specifics of who we are."

In her little flat at the back of 85 Glasgow St, Marianne has the solitude and quiet to concentrate on her project.
"Loneliness is a brilliant inspiration: there's some really great content in loneliness. Going mad in your own head space — some of the best writing I've ever done comes from that place. Obviously, you don't want to spend too much time there ... but that push and pull, there's some good work to be mined there.
"Part of it is that mindset: I'm here for a reason, this is a job." Removing herself from the daily routine of running a business is also good for creativity.

"I will always be obsessed with monsters. There is so much in that idea of bizarre, scary creatures, that one TV show is never going to explore everything I want to explore." She has a lot of work ahead.
Her residency will keep her in Whanganui until the end of the month.