Lies, secrets and hidden agendas; that's always where drama starts, either on the stage or in real life, says actor Amanda Billing. She talks to Kim Dungey about Dust Pilgrim, a dark story that is full of surprises.
Former Shortland Street favourite Amanda Billing was feeling "the burn" after rehearsals for her new show last week.
Dust Pilgrim requires her to lift other actors and run around the stage in a performance far removed from the role of Dr Sarah Potts that made her a household name.
"The show's really physical so my body's a bit tired and I'm a bit sore ...," she revealed on day nine of rehearsals. "It's like going to the gym all day, doing this kind of thing ..."
That might be bearable if she enjoyed going to gyms but the 42-year-old "can't stand" them: "I do yoga and stuff like that but not consistently. I don't do anything consistently. Perhaps I will after this experience."
The show, playing in Dunedin on Monday night, is in Red Leap Theatre's trademark physical style; a mostly visual performance with little dialogue.
Specialising in original devised work, the Auckland-based company brought Paper Sky to Dunedin in 2014 and toured Dust Pilgrim around the North Island two years later. A new cast was assembled for the South Island tour, which was to have included Dunedin's Fortune Theatre. When the Fortune closed suddenly last week that performance was hurriedly moved to Logan Park High School.
Producer Angela Hicks says the show draws inspiration from the "magical realism" of Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose works have rain falling for a hundred years and people levitating into the air.
"It's the idea that your imagination creates your world. So we delve into the imagination of our characters and let their imaginary worlds come to life.
"You don't get told the story. You get shown the story. It's like a picture book coming to life ..."
A tyrannical, cigar-smoking figure, Billing's character berates and dominates daughter Panuelo. After stumbling across the bones of a long-buried secret, the girl makes a daring bid for freedom and runs into a vast desert. Along the way, she discovers a travelling circus, a monastery and, according to the media release, "vivid new landscapes full of tricksters and angels, boundaries and borders".
Billing partly took on the role of "Mama" because she needed a job but also because it offered a different challenge. Nearly every other part she has had has been heavily text-based and involved lots of talking.
"The opportunity to tell a story using movement more and my body more and using expression that's not just verbal, is really interesting to me."
The character she plays was once a vibrant woman who enjoyed life and loved the people around her, she says. However, things that happened in the past have "eaten away at her".
"The story explores the dark side of what people call love; areas like control, domination and not being able to speak your truth. It's about the sorts of things that secrets and lies do to close relationships ... and about the lengths people will go to to keep the people they love, in inverted commas, close to them."
While much of the show is about a woman oppressing another woman, similar dynamics exist in romantic relationships, schools, workplaces, "international political situations" and between people with different religions, appearances or values.
"People will be able to sympathise and empathise with what's going on. They may feel disturbed by what's going on. It's thought-provoking but it's a very moving piece as well."
Hicks says the play also contains messages about hope and resolving conflict: "It speaks to ... finding out your truth and your place in the world, which is your classic coming-of-age [story]."
The simple set includes a visible pulley system. Cardboard boxes feature in a choreographed circus scene. Spotlights highlight sand pouring from swinging bags.
That sand is scratchy and takes "a lot of wrangling", Billing says, laughing.
"[The show's] gritty in more ways than one."
Developed as a small, touring show, Dust Pilgrim has a cast of only three. The other roles are taken by Toi Whakaari graduate Ariaana Osborne and by another former Shortland Street actor, Tama Jarman.
Billing, a former high school teacher, says she is "over" talking about her shock exit from New Zealand's longest-running soap after almost 10 years on screen: "It happened nearly four years ago and a lot has happened in my life since ... I had a job. I didn't have a job any more. It was a very complex and very intense situation but I kind of don't care any more ..."
Now a freelance actor, she expects to spend the entire year working and says being able to go from one job to another is "wonderful". She has also become involved in other creative outlets such as designing jewellery, making T-shirts and taking part in the "100 day" project. She once photographed a different person every day for 100 days and recently committed to creating a new print every day for the same period, even while on the road.
A few years ago she performed in Dunedin with the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra but Dust Pilgrim will be her first acting role in the city.
"Hopefully when people leave the show, they'll get in the car and have conversations about it afterwards ..." she says.
"That's always a hallmark of a good piece of theatre."
The play
Dust Pilgrim, devised by Red Leap Theatre and directed by Julie Nolan, is on at Logan Park High School auditorium on Monday May 7 at 6pm (doors open at 5.30pm). Tickets at http://bit.ly/DustDunedin.