River Magic

On Friday 11th and on Saturday 12th July, the society put on three performances of River Magic.   We were been asked by the Mahurangi Action Plan, a joint project between  Auckland Regional Council and Rodney District Council, to put on River Magic again to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the Mahurangi RIver and it was great to be able to do it in Warkworth - closer to where most of the cast and crew live.

A great time was had by all and the audience enjoyed the performances and picked up the underlying message.

Photos can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Theme

Our local river, the Mahurangi, is becoming badly silted primarily as a result of human activity further upstream.  As a consequence, the river and the creatures in it are dying.

The play follows a drop of rain as it journeys along the river meeting the creatures who live there and also encountering environmental nasties on the way.   

Do you remember that last year on, 9th August 2007 - 13,000 litres of diesel spilled into the Mahurangi? Read more

Through the use of dance, drama and dialog the audience will gain an understanding of the issues and also discover some ways that the damage can be undone.

Research

As part of their research into the issues facing the Mahurangi River, the cast spent a morning with the Waicare team, lead by Ira Seitzer (from the ARC) and Rachel Griffiths (who was from Rodney DC but has now moved to Waitakere).  See the environment page for more details.   As can be seen from the photos, the cast had a great time.

Photos from the 2008 production

Research

Rehearsals

River Magic 2008

Planting the streams