Ruby Tuesday Fringe winners bring "another hit" to BATS.

Ruby Tuesday Fringe winners bring "another hit" to BATS.

On the heels of rave reviews in Auckland, new Kiwi play Chalk is gearing up to charm Wellington audiences in August. Isla Adamson and Josephine Stewart-Tewhiu return to BATS with their second self-devised work, a runner up nominee for Best Theatre in the Auckland Fringe earlier this year.

A poignant dark comedy, Chalk is set in a resthome and follows several residents and staff members over the course of their day. Both actors felt compelled to explore the various reasons a person ends up living out their final days in the care of strangers. "We had a few realisations along the way, like that it's quite rare for Maori to go into care because of the whanau structure- they're more likely to live with extended family if they don't have children than elderly Pakeha are", says Adamson.

The two actors last performed together in Wellington in 2010 when their award-winning comedy set in a highschool, Ruby Tuesday, scored them recognition at the Wellington Fringe Awards. Stewart-Tewhiu says the pair found it daunting to write a new piece because their first foray into writing had been very successful, but many audience members in Auckland commented that they ended up enjoying Chalk more than their first play. "It was great to receive that feedback. We knew from the start that our shows would be compared and Ruby Tuesday did so unexpectedly well that we didn't know if we could top it", she says.

After its premiere in March Chalk was also celebrated by critics. "Often a show will provide you with two or three beautiful moments that stick in your mind long after the lights have gone up; Chalk, however, has moments like this in nearly every scene and it is the sum total of these small touches that make the show wonderful to watch and thoroughly engrossing", wrote Keziah Warner for Theatreview.

As well as receiving critical recognition for the writing of both of their plays, Stewart-Tewhiu and Adamson have both won awards for their own performances since they started collaborating. Stewart-Tewhiu walked away with an award for Best Performance in Theatre for Chalk in the recent Auckland Fringe, and Adamson won Standout Performer in last year's Wellington Fringe. "To win respect from your hometown audience is awesome, but to win it from people who don't know you from a bar of soap is truly humbling", says Adamson, who last tread the boards at BATS in March in Sam Shore's play The Idea of America

The duo acknowledge Chalk has greatly benefited from the direction of Outrageous Fortune actor Abigail Greenwood. Greenwood is best known in Wellington for The Height of the Eiffel Tower, her highly accaimed show with actor Morgana O'Reilly. "Abigail's input added so much to the aesthetic of Chalk, and the shape of the story itself", says Adamson.

The actors say they had many people approach them after each Auckland performance wishing to share stories about their own parents and grandparents, with many saying Chalk had given them the inspiration to visit their loved one.

Chalk plays at BATS August 23-27. Come visit Nana

ENDS

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