Trees Beneath the Lake is the ominous title of the Auckland Theatre Company's latest theatrical offering. With the brilliant Michael Hurst in the lead, this tale of the prodigal son sees his character, William Campbell, reluctantly return to his mother's home in Central Otago after falling from grace with the Serious Fraud Office. Not an ideal situation, but this is what you get for shifty financial shenanigans.
In addition to the foreseeable tension of moving back in with Mum in small town New Zealand (after considerable autonomous success), household secrets brew under the surface. In a small tragedy of the distant past, a prized family orchard could not be stopped from being flooded by the Clyde Dam. Shocking new discoveries about the lost battle emerge.
Trees Beneath the Lake is written by Arthur Meek, who received both the Bruce Mason Award for Playwriting and the Harriet Friedlander New York Residency in 2012. This will be the play's premièr season. With the help of a talented cast and direction from Simon Bennett, it promises to be a good one.