Moon at the Bottom of the Garden

Irene Wood
Moon at the Bottom of the Garden

Irene Wood.
Irene Wood.
Q How was the premiere on Friday?

People just loved it. I think they didn't expect it to be as good as it is. There was a lot of praise and I'm sure it will have a further life and go on. It's too good to leave here. Sarah McDougall has written a piece that is unique to Dunedin but it has universal themes of love, jealousy, fighting, quarrelling, weeping, crying, that makes us a family unit.

Q Explain your character, Nana Rose

I am the matriarch. She is not a sweet, doddery old woman. She has a wealth of background knowledge and bad experience to call on to protect the future generations. She is a fighter.

Q Is the play heavy going?

No, it's not heavy going at all. I think it is intense. The time skips by for the audience - it's unique and exciting and rewarding and people are returning to see it.

Q Any laughter in the play?

There's laughs in it. It's not about getting the gag. The laughter comes through recognition and identification of a situation.

Q Any experience with the 1950s widgie and bodgie culture?

I'm a bit young. I was on the tail end of it, but I remember wearing makeup as a teenager and my grandmother coming in and slapping me and saying, ''you are not going to end up like one of those budgies''.

Q Favourite 1950s car?

We had a blue Vauxhall. As a girl, I used to polish it and it had beautiful wings and everything was chrome.

QFavourite 1950s song?

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), by Doris Day. Oh, we loved that. It was romantic and you were going to get married and everything was going to be beautiful. Of course, life is not quite like that.

Q How is it performing at Dunedin Public Art Gallery?

It is strange because it's not built as a theatre, so sound is a little difficult and you can't project in a space like that, but we've been treated very well and it's the right size.

Q Were you a tearaway teenager?

No.

Q Were you a model child?

No. Everyone has a bit of a tearaway and rebel in them. Actors always remain tearaways because they are always examining and critiquing their lives to bring into the script. Life is very interesting, always challenging and always still a tearaway, more so than when I was a teenager.

Q Have you been out in Dunedin nightlife?

No. Rehearsal has been too intense for that but I've managed to get out on Otago Peninsula and Port Chalmers - it's all so divine and I want to do the Taieri Gorge Railway trip before I go back to Wellington. I am going to return to explore Dunedin because it's quite a wonderful town. It's beautiful.

Moon at the Bottom of the Garden is on at Dunedin Public Art Gallery at 8pm today, tomorrow and Friday; 3pm on Saturday and 8pm on Sunday.

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