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Fresh from a successful season at BATS and the NZ Fringe, The Two Farting Sisters, a play for ages 7+, hits its home town this week. Petit Workshop have taken a traditional Chinese folk tale, modernising it and setting it in NZ. Writer Renee Liang asks director Ella Becroft some questions.

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Why do you make theatre?

I love the creative challenge of finding ways to tell stories on the stage, and I love the magic and immediacy of live performance. I grew up surrounded by theatre and dance and have always loved that form of storytelling. I find visual and physical theatre the most compelling in it's unique ability to reach beyond the restrictions of language. Making work with Petit Workshop is great because it is so crafty and allows me to fulfil my urge to create things - be it designing and building a pop-up set and learning how to use power tools, or creating a 3D cat puppet.
 
You began your theatre career in Red Leap's Beyond The Blue, and since then have had roles in many Red Leap productions. How influential have they been in your career?

I feel like I grew up in the warm embrace of Red Leap Theatre, and I owe a huge amount of my learning and confidence to their support. Julie and Kate have been incredibly supportive of me throughout my theatre career as a performer, and 2013 I was their Artistic Director Intern. I think Red Leap have an incredible company culture and ethos that I aspire to when I work as a director, and I always have an amazing time making work with them. I find myself a firm supporter of visual theatre thanks to them too.

How and why did you take the step sideways into directing?

I have always wanted to direct. Acting in devised theatre means you play a huge role in shaping the play you are creating - I guess directing takes it that step further. I find it an interesting challenge shifting from an acting-devising brain to a directing-devising brain - they are very different skills! I tried doing both roles a couple of times, but that doesn't really work, so now I try and limit myself to one job (although that never seems to happen). I enjoy holding the vision of a project and helping guide it towards a final shape. When it comes to opening night I always wish I was on the stage though, watching a show in the audience as a director is a million times more stressful!

Tell me about Petit Workshop - why did you start it, where would you like to go?

I started Petit Workshop with three other performers with a love of nifty, crafty and magical visual theatre. We created a short 10 minute devised show for Short and Sweet Festival - The Soldier's Heart and The Feathered Girl, which went on to win three awards at the final. We then extended the show out to a 40 minute production which we performed at The Basement. The Two Farting Sisters is our second show together as Petit Workshop, and we would love to tour it.

Your first work, The Soldier's Heart and the Feathered Girl, went through many stages - can you tell me about its development?

We started off with Short and Sweet Fest, then we took it to Red Leap Theatre's Incubator programme. Incubator gave us more devising skills and ideas. We were then selected with three other works to go on to Incubator's next step, Short Works, where we took part in a two week guided workshop which culminated in a work-in-progress showing to an audience of industry professionals for feedback. Finally I produced a season at The Basement called The Feast, which showcased the three works - including The Soldier's Heart and The Feathered Girl. It was great developing the show over several stages - the whole process became an incredible learning opportunity for everyone involved.
 
Why did you decide to take on an old Chinese folk tale with The Two Farting Sisters?

You approached us with a folk story about farting and we were hooked! I tell people the name of the show and they always ask me to repeat it with a slightly incredulous look on their face. And then they say they are obviously coming. I thought devising a story about a ingenious young woman and her fragrant farts, with Chinese folk tale origins, was a brilliant fit for Petit Workshop's style. I really liked how you had adapted the story to be about two Chinese sisters (instead of brothers), and set it in New Zealand. And I was really inspired by Chinese folk art and Chinese shadow puppetry techniques and wanted to play around with those.
 
Tell me about your devising process for this.

We do a lot of crafts! The Scout Hall where we are based is covered in little bits of paper and craft knives. As it is so puppet and imagery heavy devising is a little bit slower going then I'm used to with physical theatre. Unlike Soldier's Heart we have a swift making period for this one. We devised and played with imagery for a week, took a week to build the set and create some puppets, and have just started a two week devising period before we head to Wellington for the Fringe. We then come back up to Auckland for the Auckland Fringe and Lantern Festival.
 
What will audiences enjoy about it?

I think the show will be as beautiful as it is silly. Farts never stop being funny, no matter how old you are. We have some incredibly beautiful shadow puppets designed by Jewel Yan, a pop up set, an on-stage musician Adam Ogle playing music and creating live foley. We really play with magic and surprise, and I'm sure it will delight audiences young and old. The story also touches on some interesting themes around migration, family, and life in modern day NZ which I think will appeal to the adults while the kids giggle at fart jokes.

Who's in the show and what roles do they play?

Katrina Wesseling, Xana Tang, Emma Newborne and Alisha Laurie Paul form the cast. They all play all sorts of characters and act as puppeteers. Adam Ogle creates the soundtrack live on stage with us. Ilai Amir is the producer, and Renee Liang translated and adapted the original tale into short story form for us to devise from. She is also our dramaturg. Jewel Yan is a spatial designer who has created the shadow puppets, and we have all made the millions of other puppets!