We talked to Ginette McDonald as she returned to Downstage Theatre, we met Geraldine Brophy and Holly Shanahan to hear why the kiwi film Second-Hand Wedding was so successful and we heard from Sara Wiseman, Laura in Jinx Sister, about the strength of NZ scripts.

Downstage Theatre is dark until the marketing manager finds the house lights and reveals a stage with a lone chair and table holding a half empty pitcher of water. Or half full as its consumer the day before, Ginette McDonald, may see it. The room comes to life as Ginette enters through the elevator for her second day of rehearsals, struggling with an oversized handbag in one arm while navigating a new cellphone in the other.

Ginette is preparing for her one-woman tour de force My Brilliant Divorce with director Geraldine Brophy. Yet to join the stage is a cast of store mannequins who represent some of the 12 characters whose lives intertwine with the lead Angela - who has just been dumped by her accountant husband for a younger model.

Ginette is well known for mimicking and monologues through her 'infamous' character Lyn of Tawa, first created as a late night review at Downstage when she was 16.

A character revived for The Golden Years Tour with Gary McCormick in 'far flung pubs' last year, and a 'Cultural Ambassador' that took on an identity of its own.
It's been "a curse and a blessing ever since."

Geraldine Brophy and Holly Shanahan make a convincing couple. Geraldine has a wise motherly manner and Holly has a fresh, wide-eyed energy. Yet both actors are strikingly different from their mother-daughter characters in the bittersweet dramatic comedy Second-Hand Wedding.

Geraldine's thespian voice, polished attire and considered conversation are in notable contrast to her bargin-hunting 'soap-opera' character Jill Rose. Holly has a 'unique taste' and is an avid op-shopper and hoarder, unlike her character Cheryl.

"She's very normal, she's a very middle of the road young woman, and it's absolutely not like me at all. That's hard and challenging as an actor so it's attractive to play," says Holly.

The character development and personal chemistry between actors was important in a film whose key element was a believable family.

"This film doesn't have tidal waves and explosions, it is very much an emotionally heart centred film, so it needs to have actors communicating," says Geraldine.

The Big Idea and Scoop TV met with two of the stars from the small film with a big heart. Read more to see the YouTube vlog.

The Big Idea talked to event producer Pak Peacocke about the three-dimensional task of setting up for a show as big as Fashion Week and how he passed up the life of international touring for the 'warm blanket' of the New Zealand industry.

Pak talks about creating an emotional journey for the audience, an 'inherent responsibility', not written down in a contract, but at the heart of his company 'The Show Business'. He creates this journey by analysing his own response and questioning what gives him a warmer experience. It's a job where confidence is needed but ego can be your undoing.

"Your job is to do a great job and hopefully not be noticed, because the whole thing relies on a willing suspension of disbelief and if you start to jump up and down and say 'look we tricked you, I'm the person that created the tricks that made you feel this way' then you're undermining the value that you're creating for the person in the first place."

It is not uncommon for actors to rave about how they became involved in a small budget New Zealand film because the script was so riveting they couldn't put it down. Sara Wiseman is no exception.

The appeal of the big screen and playing the lead character of Laura in Jinx Sister, who features in nearly every scene, was enticing. The director Athina Tsoulis and Director of Photography Rewa Harre were also draw-cards. The universal themes of love and fear appealed. But it was the fresh, genuine writing, by Athina, that had Sara hooked.

"After reading a few scripts you start to develop a gut reaction. As an actor you don't really have control of how a film is shot, edited, produced or distributed. But we do have a direct link to the script and for me I really loved how it was written and the deep themes it explored. It's about as bare-bones as it gets."

Her gut reaction proved to be correct with Jinx Sister gaining recognition at this year's Qantas Film and Television Awards with nominations for Best Picture (budget under $1 Million) and Sara's nomination for lead actress.

The role epitomised by Audrey Hepburn's Oscar nominated performance in the 1966 classic thriller Wait Until Dark, has been revived on stage at Circa Theatre in Wellington by actress Ban Abdul.

Susy is a recently blinded young woman who is home alone when three conmen try to retrieve drugs, which her husband has inadvertently brought home in a doll. Susy must regain her independence and confidence to outwit them.

It is a role Ban is familiar with, as the film was a family favourite rerun, but she was unfamiliar with the life of a blind woman and enlisted the help of a Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind consultant to help create a realistic portrayal.

As a Middle Eastern woman it was also a role she wasn't sure she would be cast for - a reality for her career as one of the few Arab actors in New Zealand.

The Old St Michaels Church at Corban Estate Arts Centre comes to life as the guests for the evening's ArtSpeak walk in the room.

Rubbings from a Live Man director Florian Habicht appears with a familiar slim, tall frame but the cool reflective look seen in his media shots is replaced with a big friendly smile. His companion and star of the documentary, Warwick Broadhead, lightens the room instantly, his rosy face beaming from beneath his trilby hat.

Warwick: "It was very challenging. I had to keep asking them for information, why are you doing this film."

Florian said the film is not a fly on the wall documentary, but rather a forensically intimate and performance enhanced film.

"The film is incredibly intimate and Warwick's been incredibly open and brave with personal things and I've been pushing for that as a director and that's why those questions were really heightened because it was such a revealing film."

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December 2008