They’re acting out next weekend a dramatisation of a 2022 children’s book, The MaryCotter Tree, by Dunedin’s Tony Hanning, whose maternalgrandmother was one ofthe original Mary Cotter’s sisters.
The sycamore, which still flourishes on the library corner today, formerly fronted the property of Irish immigrants Frances and Richard Cotter — when planted in 1867, their daughter Mary, then just 20 months, was told it’d be named after her if she danced around it once it was in the ground.
The Mary Cotter Tree play has been written, with Hanning’s blessing, by Arrowtowner Rozy Winstone, who’s also directing it next weekend — she set up the town’s SkyTop Children’s Theatre last year "when there was very little drama happening locally".
She’s also on the Arrowtown Autumn Festival committee, "so I’m very passionate about autumn, so the planting of the Buckingham St avenue just resonates very strongly".
Winstone says the play — supported by Central Lakes Art Support Scheme — runs from 11.30am at Arrowtown’s Lakes District Museum on both September 20 and 21.
She explains play-goers should assemble at the front steps, where they’ll be split into three groups — they’ll then be escorted to the different sets by children acting as guides.
Winstone’s also been helped by Arrowtown sculptor Fiona Garlick, who uses the sycamore seed motif in her own work.
Tickets, for sale at the museum, are $10 for adults (children free), with proceeds going to the museum.
