Norm Reynolds has done it all – teaching, acting, writing, even a stint in the family financial business.
In this new digital play, Making It Up, subtitled One Playwright to Another, he recalls meeting the playwright Edward Albee and the effect on his own career.
Playing both himself, Albee, and the odd peripheral character, Reynolds is writer/performer/director, and over a 40-minute piece gives a flavour of what it’s like to create for the stage.
Two events are the focus of this piece: an interview with Albee for Gaiety magazine and a workshop for new writing led by him. These are clearly clear markers in Reynolds’s own writing life, which stem from these incidents.
Extremely well-shot and edited, with clear sound and sharp visuals, Making It Up is directed by Lesley Ballantyne and filmed by John Bertram.
This is both memoir and faction, with both author memory and a little artistic licence to place the audience in the moment. The digital form of theatre is very good for the intimate feel for a show like this, and proves that the art of mixing live performance and film still lives and breathes.
I was particularly intrigued by the decision to share little of Reynolds’s playscript under the close eye of Albee, leading us to imagine the work, other than the monologue referred to and performed immediately afterwards.
Playing as part of the New Zealand Fringe until 9 Mar, then at Dunedin Fringe 13-24 Mar, Making It Up should appeal to those who have interest in the mechanics of theatre inspiration, practice, and influences.
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