Rex McGregor Wins PANZ 10-Minute Play Competition
Here are the results of the 2024 Playwrights Association of New Zealand 10-Minute Play Competition.
1st Place – Ngā Wai o Te Tairāwhiti – Rex McGregor
2nd Place – Patty with a WhY [entered in the competition as Katy with a WhY for anonymity] – Chartsiri Klinpibul (Patty)
Commended – A Ring is Round it has no End – Lindsey Brown
Commended – Fight for the Apron – Rex McGregor
The competition had a record 47 entries.
Here are comments from the adjudicator, James Wenley.
1st Place: Ngā Wai O Te Tairāwhiti
The first detail that catches my eye in the play Ngā Wai O Te Tairāwhiti is the setting – “next week” – a future that is very, very close. Recalling the extreme weather event that devastated Te Tairāwhiti in 2023, this play presents an urgent call to action to protect Papatūānuku and embrace kaitiakitanga.
The stage direction, “a jumble of forestry slash is piled on a riverbank”, offers an exciting design prompt. We meet kuia Ngaio, and her nephew Hau, a construction foreman, representing differing generational perspectives. I loved their bond and Ngaio’s very cheeky humour. The arrival of Dyllis, a HR manager from a big forestry company, who has a tantalising job offer for Ngaio, heightens the play’s dramatic question: what is the best way to make change? Is it better to work from the inside with a seat at the table, improving the practices of harmful companies and institutions, or the outside, maintaining your integrity but without direct power? The play raises important questions around cultural engagement, skewering Pākehā box-ticking efforts.
The play is well-plotted, the writing is sharp, and the characters come vividly to life off the page. I was gripped, eager to find out how it would end. Congratulations to the playwright, this was a clear first place amongst a strong pool of entries this year.
2nd Place: Katy with a WhY
Told primarily through a monologue, Katy with a WhY shares the perspective of ‘third culture kid’ Katy and her experiences growing up in Thailand and moving to Malaysia, Egypt and New Zealand. The playwright does an excellent job in evoking Katy’s experiences with details and specificity. A striking visual offer for performance is the inclusion of Thai shadow puppets of star fruit, durian and other fruit – there is potential for these to take us beyond realism if they were to begin to move and interact with the performer. By the end of the play, we have been offered a rewarding journey, with insights into the sacrifices and love of Katy’s parents. The script made me eager to see this story in performance, with great potential to be developed into a full-length play.
Commended:
A Ring is Round it has no end
A Ring is Round it has no end presents a surprising encounter between Alice, a would-be bride looking for an engagement ring, and jewellery designer Rowan Riverstone. Alice knows her rings, which is why both Rowan and the reader are taken aback when she declares she’ll take one without trying one on. As Rowan refuses to sell without trying one on, the play opens up thoughtful reflection on the contemporary meaning of marriage and the tension between art and commerce. I expect audiences in performance will find themselves choosing sides and changing their minds during the standoff between seller and buyer. This play is excellent example of how significant character development can be achieved in a short play, with new connections and understandings in its conclusion.
Fight for the Apron
Fight for the Apron introduces a sci-fi context to a domestic comedy. There’s great world-building as we learn details through the play about the societal and employment context of a world dominated by Android workers – and how some humans are allowed jobs as a form of charity. The playwright does an excellent raising of the stakes through the play, including the revelation that Sev and Cate, both competing for the same human job, are married. A satisfying twist delivers a heartwarming ending.