Sydney Bridge Upside Down Heads for Stage Premiere

New Zealand Coming-of-Age Story Sydney Bridge Upside Down Heads for Stage Premiere

There was an old man who lived on the edge of the world and he had a horse called Sydney Bridge Upside Down. He was a scar-faced old man and his horse was a slow-moving bag of bones, and I start with this man and his horse because they were there for all the terrible happenings up the coast that summer, always somewhere around.

One of New Zealand’s best kept literary secrets comes to life on the stage this year with Taki Rua Productions’ adaptation of David Ballantyne’s novel Sydney Bridge Upside Down.

Part sinister love-story, part darkly comic coming-of-age fable, Sydney Bridge Upside Down takes place during one summer in a tiny New Zealand settlement, Calliope Bay – a place “on the edge of the world”.

Sydney Bridge Upside Down will have its New Zealand premiere in New Plymouth on 7 and 8 June, followed by performances in Gisborne on 13 and 14 June, before seasons in Wellington from 21 June to 6 July and in Auckland from 7-11 August.

Often compared to J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Sydney Bridge Upside Down was first published in 1968 and reprinted only in 2010. The story is set in the small coastal village of Calliope Bay (based on Hicks Bay, Gisborne) and follows teenager Harry Baird through a fateful summer.

Told through Harry’s eyes, the events of the story unfold at an abandoned meat-works – a forbidden and dangerous place; a place where Harry Baird finds himself drawn, a place where accidents happen. A place where people die...

Taki Rua Productions’ artistic director James Ashcroft picked up the book in 2011 on the recommendation of a friend and has since read it “at least 20 times. It’s fair to say I’ve become a tad obsessed with it,” he says.

“I’ve read many similar ‘types’ of stories before but I have never responded to a book in this way. In many ways I felt that the author was writing implicitly about my childhood just using different names, places and events. The tone and feeling however were exactly how I remember those stages of growing up.”

James felt he had to bring the story to the stage and has written the adaptation together with the creative ensemble. “I love stories. I passionately ingest films of all descriptions, genres and languages. I love epics. Most of all I love hearing people’s stories first hand as well as sharing my stories with them too. This will be a highly theatrical and provocative work.”

Collaborating with James on Sydney Bridge Upside Down is set designer Kasia Pol, composer and sound designer John Gibson, lighting designer Nathan McKendry, audio-visual and multi-media designer Robert Appierdo with a cast including Claire Van Beek, Maaka Pohatu, Holly Shanahan, Tim Carlsen, Rob Mokaraka, James Tito and Aaron Cortesi.

Sydney Bridge Upside Down is at TSB Showplace, New Plymouth on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 June; at Lawson Field Theatre, Gisborne on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 June; Downstage Theatre in Wellington from 21 June to 6 July, and at Q Theatre in Auckland from 7-11 August. For more information visit www.takirua.co.nz

Alongside the development of the new play, Taki Rua has sent 300 copies of Sydney Bridge Upside Down around New Zealand to be read from the top of the North Island to Stewart Island. ‘Harry’s Hikoi’ started as part of New Zealand Book Month and readers share their thoughts on a special Facebook page and the progress of each book is tracked from reader to reader.

TOUR INFORMATION – SYDNEY BRIDGE UPSIDE DOWN

NEW PLYMOUTH: TSB Showplace | Friday 7 & Saturday 8 June 7.00pm | Book at Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.co.nz 0800 111 999
GISBORNE: Lawson Field Theatre | Thursday 13 & Friday 14 June 7.00pm | Book at TicketDirect www.ticketdirect.co.nz 0800 4TICKET (484 253)
WELLINGTON: Downstage Theatre | 21 June to 6 July | Book at Downstage www.downstage.co.nz (04) 801 6946
AUCKLAND: Q Theatre | 7-11 August 7.30pm | Book at Q Theatre www.qtheatre.co.nz (09) 309 9771

BACKGROUND INFORMATION – SYDNEY BRIDGE UPSIDE DOWN

Born in Auckland, David Ballantyne lived for a time in Hicks Bay on the east coast of the North Island, and the setting for Sydney Bridge Upside Down. Ballantyne left school at 15 after his father died and started work as a journalist in Auckland.

His debut novel, The Cunninghams was published in 1948 and received critical acclaim. It was his first foray into exploring provincial New Zealand and working class family life; Sydney Bridge Upside Down would follow 20 years later. Re-published only recently in 2010 after being unavailable for many years, New Zealanders are now rediscovering this kiwi classic. He wrote seven books in all and died in 1986.

“How did we fail to give this gripping, funny, desperately sad, great New Zealand novel, set “on the edge of the world”, its due when it was first published in 1968?…Not until last year when l was urged to read it again did l fully understand what a masterpiece Ballantyne had pulled off.” – NZ Herald

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