PREVIEW: Black Confetti (Auckland Theatre Company)
Siggy Tardust! [by Sharu Delilkan]
(L-R) Virginia Frankovich (Katie), Kip Chapman (Siggy) and Nic Sampson (Elvis) in depths of rehearsing Black Confetti.
When Kip Chapman saw Black Confetti at Auckland Theatre Company’s The Next Stage programme last year, he knew instantly he had to be involved.
“I approached Philippa [Campbell] as soon as the reading was over because I thought it was an amazing script that reminded me of Odysseus going into the underworld. I was even more impressed that it was written by the young playwright Eli Kent, because it was such a grand idea. I also thought it was incredibly funny with great depth,” he says.
Written by the award-winning writer Kent, Black Confetti is packed full of big ideas and a squillion little surprises. The show about surviving the earthquakes in our lives, which include poetry, mysteries and full-on theatricality.
Besides Chapman the other Black Confetti’s actors include Edwin Wright (Ray), Adam Gardiner (The Dean/Louis/Coroner), Nic Sampson (Elvis), Virginia Frankovich (Katie), Julia Croft (Flo) and Keith Adams (Baron Saturday).
As the main character Siggy, Chapman is a Generation Y casualty. He has maxed out his student loan; university is ejecting him; his uncle is behaving strangely; and his father, a famous seismologist, has disappeared off the face of the earth.