Rita & Douglas

Overview

Concrete Playground has a Double Pass to giveaway for the 2pm performance of Rita and Douglas on  Saturday November 26 2011. Either email [email protected] or Tweet this event page to go in the draw.

Art, classical music and theatre combine to deliver a deeply intense and highly unusual love story that lies in the heart of New Zealand’s cultural history. If you, too, did a double take when you saw Rita Angus's face suddenly brought to life on an inner-city poster, you are sure to relish in the love letters detailing the brief but passionate love affair between artist Angus and composer Douglas Lilburn, adapted by playwriting dynamo Dave Armstrong.

Living alone and in virtual poverty in the 1940s, Angus went on to produce a stunning body of work with Lilburn’s support. Rita and Douglas combines Angus’ images and her own words from her letters to Lilburn to create, essentially a monologue - the only response is from Lilburn's piano.

We spoke to the actress who plays Rita Angus in the production.

"What a woman, and what an amazing collection of work"; this is the first remark Jennifer Ward-Lealand makes about her character. "The exhibition at Te Papa a couple of years ago was a highlight of my exhibition-going life so far."

Being Rita Angus, enduring her fabulous highs and her guttural lows, is an honour for Ward-Lealand. "I get to go everywhere with Rita. It's such a joy for any actor."

She's keeping mum on exactly which ups and downs we'll see in the production, but she does say that Angus's feelings resonate in herself. This is not so much because she's had the same experiences necessarily, but because Angus's letters cut close to the very bones of being human.

"We're all humans and we all have that depth of emotion. I feel so lucky to be playing her."

Ward-Lealand says the show itself is "deceptively simple, but incredibly timed". She is countered by New Zealand's foremost concert pianist, Michael Houston, who represents Lilburn in the piece, responding to her letter readings with Lilburn's music.

"We don't have his letters back to her because her family destroyed them. But she's actually a pretty neat writer; you don't necessarily need his replies to know what's going on."

For any student who became a Rita-admirer in high school Art History (or perhaps somewhere much more classy), this is a rare insight into Rita's world: here, she comes to life. And Ward-Lealand looks entirely the part, with Angus' paintings  providing the backdrop to her words - biographical image adviser Jill Trevelyan has ensured this.

Having already toured much of New Zealand with the production, Ward-Lealand says Auckland will likely receive the most relaxed, intuitive performances yet. "We're at that really sweet point where it's just embedded in us."

Probably just as Rita is embedded in her.