Documentary Captures Nation’s LGBT Stories
New theatre production Scene takes an unusual approach to sharing stories from New Zealand’s LGBT/Queer/Gay community. Over six months, three local
queer theatre makers conducted interviews in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland to document how life differs
for one of our most marginalised but vibrant communities.
“It is an opportunity for us to share our stories. Theatre gives an engaging human aspect to documentary that you simply
can’t achieve in film”, says Jess Green, the show’s director. Using a technique pioneered through the University of
Otago, the actors listen to MP3 players on stage and perform the interviews, word-for-word, in time with the original
audio.
The focus of Scene is as broad as the community itself. People interviewed include early gay liberation veterans such as Georgina Beyer
through to young queer youth workers like Tabby Besley, whose charity was recently acknowledged by the Queen. "The goal,
is visibility" says Green "to include gender and sexually diverse stories which are just as important as stories about cis and straight people".
Kerry Lane, a young student interviewed for the show, sums the documentary’s spirit perfectly: “Real people can often be
the only chance you get to see a story that doesn’t live in tragedy. It’s so incredibly valuable for people to see
that’s possible. That kind of thing literally saves lives”
Scene opens at BATS Theatre and runs from September 15 to 19.
ENDS