Skin Tight: A “masterpiece of NZ theatre”
One of the highlights of this month’s Word-Fest will be the touring production of Skin Tight, the stage adaptation of Denis Glover’s iconic poem, The Magpies.
The Magpies was once described by Professor Bill Manhire as “probably the best-known New Zealand poem. It is as near as New Zealand literature has come to producing a classic, in other words, a poem which has escaped the classroom and has some sort of life on the tongues and in the memories of a whole range of New Zealanders.”
The first stanza of the poem is:
“When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
the magpies said.”
The refrain at the end of the stanza is one of the most widely known—and widely misquoted—pieces of writing produced in English in this country.
The poem deals with the relentless continuity of nature and the tenuous nature of humanity’s ownership of land. It has an elemental power and plenty of implied backstory. That backstory has now been fleshed out by playwright Gary Henderson, and his play has been described as “a masterpiece of New Zealand theatre.”
Skin Tight had a season at the Court Theatre in Christchurch and is now being taken all around the country. The production has the same cast as the Court Theatre production—Sia Trokenheim plays Elizabeth and Matt Hudson plays Tom. A critic described their performance:
“The actors inhabit their roles as if they knew no other life. Sia Trokenheim is lithe and spontaneous. Her total conviction is matched by a beautifully judged performance from Matt Hudson. Both have the ability to refine their roles with telling detail.”
Skin Tight is on at the Playhouse on Friday 11 September at 8pm. Tickets are available at Paradise Entertainment in Commercial Street. They are $18 if bought beforehand or $20 at the door.
Neil Wilson
