4 Billion Likes!: 'for everyone, really'

The star of 4 Billion Likes! (one half of 1st Gear Productions' youth theatre double feature), tells drama on the waterfront what to expect from her new show.

BLOG ENTRY MONDAY 5^TH MAY 2014:

Hi! My name is Chloe Anderson and I live in Hamilton but am coming to Wellington to do my show at the Circa Theatre, which starts on May 17th!!

And this is like so exciting because there are basically only two weeks till then and that is actually a really really short time.

Well that’s how it feels to me though maybe to some people it seems really long.

Like maybe if you were in hospital and all you could do was lie there and take pills and stuff it might seem like forever. But when you have so many lines to remember and costumes to wear and music to learn and everything to organize, the days go by really really fast.

I mean its not often people get to do a show that is just about their life.

It’s a bit scary cos I haven’t had a very long one yet – life I mean - and there might be all kinds of people watching who have done really exciting things like been on TV and climbed like Mt Everest or been in a play in Circa One or something. And to them it might seem that I haven’t done anything much yet.

But hopefully there will be people who have like only watched TV and gone to the supermarket and stuff like that and they will find my life really really exciting!!

I think really, that life must be about being young. Because everyone wants to be young and getting old is like the worst thing that could happen to you, and once you are old the only good stuff is maybe getting on the bus free or getting annoyed with how the world has turned out and moaning on about it. But when you are my age there is just so much life happening that sometimes you just have to like eat a few kg of chocolate to handle it. Seriously.

And I suppose that is something I am hoping people will get from my show. That being young and having to eat a lot of chocolate is actually a good thing and I also hope that my story changes people just a little bit even if it is shorter than some grandfather‘s who fought in all those wars and has medals and stuff.

Because I think the title – 4 Billion Likes! - is kind of mysterious and people will ask themselves, what could this be about, you know? Like what has Chloe Anderson done in her so far really really short life to give her show title like that?!

And I am so not going to tell you what actually happens, obviously, or you won’t bother to come and that would mean I would have no-one to tell and I would have so learnt hundreds and hundreds of lines for nothing.

But my show is for everyone really, with short lives and long ones because we are all like, human beings really and I think we all have to eat chocolate sometimes even if we haven’t climbed Mt Everest. So see you there!

4 Billion Likes! opens in Circa Two on 17 May and runs until 1 June. To book, call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz. 

Photoes by Stephen A'Court.

After Juliet

After Juliet director Sarah Delahunty talks to drama on the waterfront about the current Circa Two hit.

Recently I was idly watching  “Shakespeare in Love” on TV (while working on a rehearsal schedule for something and eating dinner) - but when I saw the supposed first stage performance of Romeo and Juliet and heard those words as if performed for the first time, I was seriously struck by how many centuries this play had survived, as alive now to so many people as it was then. And that here I was also working with this story as if it was happening to young people here and now.
 
After Juliet takes us into the fallout from those deaths, where the violence that caused them to happen still reverberates. Despite pronouncements from authorities on ending violence, this community is too deeply divided to easily change – or is it humanity as a whole? Is it just this group of teenagers struggling without help through their shock and anger or a bigger lack of acceptance, love and emotional maturity in the world around them? What choices are they really able to see at this time?

Ist Gear Productions is a group that puts on plays with young actors to give them the opportunity to work to a high standard of production on plays that are relevant to them, often written for specific groups of actors by myself. I have always found this age group an exciting and rewarding one to work with. In After Juliet we have an age range of 17 – 23 years - one still at school, one on stage for the first time, a few having now got several productions under their belts. And all with great focus and commitment to making this play work.

SARAH DELAHUNTYOther productions by 1st Gear have been  2b or nt 2b, Medea Songs. Crazy Joint Love, Trusting Strangers Counting Stars, Falling Sparrows Here or There, Hair the rock musical, and co-winner of this years Best Theatre in the Wellington Fringe, Affinity. www.1stgearproductions.co.nz

After Juliet runs in Circa Two until 8 June - to book, call the box office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.

Why you need to see After Juliet ...

This week, cast members Iris Henderson and Maxwell Aspe tell drama on the waterfront why we should see their new play with 1st Gear Productions, After Juliet.

Maxwell
All rightey all you blogomites, my job is to convince you to come see the play After Juliet while also maintaining a charming demeanor. Can I?
 
First off, it’s a sequel to the classic tale of star-crossed lovers we all know so well. Come on, aren’t you a little curious about what the heck happened next? Was everything hunky-dory? Maybe not! Come see to find out.
 
Second of all, it’s a 1st Gear Production. These guys know what they’re doing. And when I say these guys, I really mean one guy. And when I say one guy, I mean the fantabulous Sarah Delahunty. I have worked with this magnificent woman for five years now, and in that time I have seen her create magic by combining Dr. Seuss and Shakespeare, make hippies relevant to the present day, and of course have an eighteen year old boy play a fifty year old, very feminine, ex-pole dancer convincingly. So, you know you’ve got some quality stuff when you’re getting it from her.
 
Third, and most important, we’re working real hard over here! C’mon! There’s fighting, and ice blocks, and scary dream sequences! What more could you want from a play?

So when you’re deciding what to do from the 25th of May to the 8th of June, remember, there’s a kick-ass play down at Circa you’re bound to love. So get down there and see it!

Iris
I am ridiculously lucky to be a part of After Juliet. I am lucky to be able to act alongside so many awesomely talented people, and I am lucky for the opportunity to perform in Circa Theatre: one of New Zealand’s leading theatres. As I am new to working with Sarah Delahunty and 1st Gear Productions, performing in The Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre (Flash 2012) as well as Summer Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra 2013) put me in a position where being a part of After Juliet was a possibility for me – which is awesome.

Working on After Juliet has truly been such an experience. The cast are all incredibly fun, talented, and crazy in that way that all actors seem to be. Despite all of us having dedicated up to ten hours a week for rehearsal over the last three months, we’re not sick of each other yet – so that’s an accomplishment! In my opinion there’s nothing in the world quite like being a part of a production, and it’s definitely something I hope to continue with my whole life.

Young and Hungry was an amazing way of starting out, meeting people, and becoming involved in Wellington’s theatre scene, without which I wouldn’t be where I am today. Haven’t heard of it? It’s a festival of three productions run back-to-back at BATS theatre for a two week season. I just couldn’t get enough of it in 2012 (*cough* - look out for me and Catriona in this year’s Dragonlore - *cough*).

Rehearsing in Circa Two this week will be super exciting and I can’t wait for opening night!

After Juliet opens in Circa Two on 25 May and runs until 8 June. To book, call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.