Selwyn Times: April 28, 2021
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Wednesday <strong>April</strong> <strong>28</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
7<br />
and under the floodlights of theatre<br />
How do you sum up your<br />
theatrical career, I understand<br />
you have won awards?<br />
I have been involved in well<br />
over 100 performances all over<br />
New Zealand, both on stage<br />
and off stage. Yes, the shows I<br />
have been involved in have won<br />
awards, some have been for me<br />
personally. About 15 years ago,<br />
I decided I would get into more<br />
of the leadership side of theatre,<br />
more of the production management<br />
side, and then directing,<br />
that sort of thing. I’ve covered<br />
all facets of theatre – back stage,<br />
front-of-stage, lighting, sound,<br />
so I was in an ideal position to<br />
be able to start pulling them all<br />
together. And the things New<br />
Zealand Police had taught me<br />
about leadership were exactly the<br />
same things that theatre needed.<br />
So I would basically run a theatre<br />
show like a police operation.<br />
That sounds scary for your<br />
actors . . .<br />
The funny thing is, it is all about<br />
organising people, organising<br />
resources, and making sure that<br />
everything is in the right place at<br />
the right time. Both in the police<br />
sense, and in the theatre sense,<br />
those things are critical.<br />
It doesn’t mean you are strict<br />
on them?<br />
No, in fact my style of directing<br />
is very collaborative,and it’s more<br />
of a partnership than it is of a<br />
hierarchical structure.<br />
VERSATILE: Directing The Full Monty for the Kirwee Players has been a highlight of former<br />
police officer Phil Dean’s theatrical career. He served in the force for about 25 years.<br />
What has been your favourite<br />
production to have been<br />
involved in?<br />
When I had the opportunity<br />
at the Kirwee Players (in 2017)<br />
to direct The Full Monty. The<br />
Kirwee Players do some amazing<br />
things, for a small community<br />
they do some remarkable theatre.<br />
They gave me a chance for five<br />
years in a row to direct their<br />
shows. At the time we were living<br />
at Darfield.<br />
Why was that your favourite?<br />
The story of The Full Monty is<br />
these guys in a small community<br />
who are trying to raise money<br />
for themselves by working out<br />
where they could be strippers. In<br />
a small community like Kirwee,<br />
the conversations I was having<br />
with the actors were the same as<br />
the conversations in the script.<br />
We didn’t make the decision<br />
until very close to opening night<br />
whether we were going to go all<br />
the way, which was exactly the<br />
same as the script. When we<br />
did The Full Monty, (the audience)<br />
just howled with laughter,<br />
because you have got these guys<br />
who are from your community,<br />
who are now up on stage stripping,<br />
and doing a pretty good job<br />
of it too, I’ve got to say.<br />
And did they go the full<br />
monty?<br />
They did, on every single night.<br />
We did some clever stuff with<br />
lighting. It would have been all<br />
done within a second. They had<br />
a hat in front, and then as they<br />
moved the hat away, there’s a<br />
flash of light, then a blackout, so<br />
it would have been half a second.<br />
The eye is so confused, you don’t<br />
see much.<br />
What does operating the cafe<br />
involve?<br />
I do everything, from dishes,<br />
helping in the kitchen . . . my<br />
favourite thing is to take food<br />
from the kitchen to the customers.<br />
And that is because the food that<br />
we cook here is such good food.<br />
Doing the dishes is probably my<br />
least favourite. I’m six-foot-seven<br />
tall, and the sink is just a bit low<br />
for me. If I’m there for an hour<br />
my back starts aching. I have been<br />
trained as a barista, I am one of<br />
the six baristas we have here.<br />
What is your favourite coffee?<br />
Long black. Our blend is such<br />
a smooth blend. I will declare a<br />
slight bias here.<br />
CentreStage Rolleston is<br />
currently staging Chicago and<br />
you are the director. Has there<br />
been any glitches preparing this<br />
production?<br />
When anyone has come down<br />
with a slight sniffle, we have told<br />
them not to come to rehearsals.<br />
Firstly because of the concerns<br />
around Covid, but also we don’t<br />
want to spread anything (else)<br />
around. That’s probably been the<br />
biggest challenge. When we went<br />
to level two that made it hard. I<br />
had a couple of online rehearsals,<br />
but mainly we stopped, we said<br />
this is an opportunity for us to<br />
hone our skills (at home).<br />
You must hardly get time for<br />
yourself, do you ever get tired of<br />
theatre or see it as a job?<br />
Courtney and I are both<br />
incredibly busy, but it’s doing<br />
things we love. Between us we<br />
have five kids (aged 11 to 22).<br />
When they are all home, our<br />
house is a very noisy house with<br />
music and laughter and those<br />
sort of things, it’s just lovely.<br />
Most of them performed on the<br />
stage or sing or play instruments.<br />
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