On Writing a Panto
By Michele Amas
I know from
my experience as an actor that pantomime performers are extremely versatile,
far more versatile than I am as an actor. They sing and dance, they clown, they
mimic, etc. as well as act. Knowing what they are capable of meant there was an
unlimited scope for what I would like them to do performance wise. At times
when writing the panto I would be relieved to think - well I won’t be in this
show, so these quick changes of costume, etc won’t be my problem. Having said
that there is nothing I have written that I know the actors can’t do. Actors
love challenges so it’s fun to write with that in mind.
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| (left to right) Lyndee-Jane Rutherford, Kathleen Burns, Gavin Rutherford. Photo by Stephen A'Court. |
Panto is
different from other types of plays and other types of rehearsals. There is
more direct input from the cast and it is fascinating to watch how they
interpret and expand the roles from within the script. There seems to be more
flexibility demanded of the writer. You have to be as relaxed about the process
as you can. You have to allow the actors to play with what you have written,
the important thing is for them to own it and keep it fresh. There’s more
audience interaction demanded in panto so actors need to be good improvisers
too, and if you have good improvisers in your cast it would be
counterproductive for the writer to get too dogmatic about the script.
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| (left to right) Simon Leary, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford, Richard Osborne. Photo by Stephen A'Court. |
The
challenge I set myself was to create a theatre piece that served both children
and adults, to be playful with the physicality and comic business, and also
with the words, puns, double entendre, jokes etc. To have a strong storyline
with all the twists and turns and drama you’d expect to see from any play and
for that to be combined with songs and catchy music. I wanted it to be
contemporary and have topical references to Wellington and have political shots
across the bow that our audiences enjoy while still retaining the classical
aspects of pantomime such as the dame of course.
MICHELE AMAS - Playwright
Michele
Amas is an award winning actress and writer. Originally from Dunedin she
graduated from The New Zealand Drama School, Toi Whakaari in the 80s and has
been a professional actress ever since. Michele was worked throughout NZ as an actor and director in theatre and
television. Most recently seen at Fortune Theatre, Dunedin in Calendar Girls, Circa Theatre in
Wellington in Peninsula and August Osage
County, in which she won Best Actress in the Chapman Tripp Awards. Other
productions include Joyful and Triumphant, The Clean House, Blood
Wedding and Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll for which
she won Best Supporting Actress. She also won Best Supporting Actress for Mammals and
Best Actress for The Herbal Bed.
She has an
MA in creative writing from Victoria University where she was awarded the Adam
Prize for her portfolio 2005. Her first book of poetry After the Dance was
nominated for a Montana Book Award in 2007, and was shortlisted for that years
Prize in Modern Letters.
Her poems have been
published in Sport 33, online in Turbine and in Best New Zealand Poems 2005, as
well as Sport, Bravado, Kaupapa global issues anthology 2007, Pacific Coast
Review and the Iowa Review, Landfall, The best of the best anthology 2011, 4th
floor, prize winner in the Casleberg Trust poetry competition 2011 Her short film ‘Redial’ that she wrote and
directed was in competition in the 2002 Venice Film festival She also writes
for the theatre and has had stories played on National Radio.
Mother Goose runs in Circa One until 11 January - to book, visit www.circa.co.nz or call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992.
