Off the Top of My Head  

By Paul Murray  

The stage production “Virtual Symposium,” which was written, directed, produced and performed by local playwright Brendan O’Dwyer, co-director Sacha Healey and a troupe of actors from Karamea closed on Saturday February 25 after two sell-out shows at the Karamea Pulse Energy Centre and near full houses at The Lyric Theatre in Granity.    

Over a year of preparation and dedication shaped a disparate gaggle of schoolteachers, nurses, farmers, horticulturalists, cave tour guides and Department of Conservationists into a guild of performers who rallied together and performed superbly.   

Many of the performers are also members of the Karamea singing group “The Endorphins” and could really hold a note. The casting director deserves special mention as the roles assigned to the actors seemed to fit well with their characters, and they all seemed very comfortable in their thespian personas.   

The show opened with a gunfight and had it all; fabulous costumes, singing, dancing, rap, hip-hop, social commentary, poetry, some magic, robots, romance, a mad scientist, a bearded lady, some associated cross-dressing and a lot of humour. The stage set was a simple white backdrop that was highly effective in catching the performers’ shadows and enhancing histrionics. The sound, lighting and venues were superb, and matched with the enthusiasm of the performers, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining evening.  

The premise of the production was to address the insidious means by which technology has infiltrated our lives and, in some instances, taken over. Game-addicted “Helen (Sacha Healey)” is trapped in a virtual world and has sought professional help to overcome her dependence on computer games and to seek more meaning from life.   

Assisted by an avant-garde psychiatrist, “Ziggy (Val Moynihan),” who prescribes some experimental medication, and her hilarious robotic sidekick “Bud-E (Dave Guppy),” she embarks on a quest of rediscovery. With a little help from her friends, she is encouraged to escape her virtual reality to seek actual reality and regain an appreciation for life’s simple pleasures.   

Along the way, she meets snake oil cabaret performers “Heidi Seekey (Aby Chalmers)” and “Micky Dangledeep (Cliff Meakin),” a synod of argumentative, toga-wearing philosophers, a nutty professor and ends up performing in a talent quest. When we first meet game-addicted Helen, she is irascible, sullen and disconnected, without purpose or meaning in her life, but as reality kicks in, she gradually begins to smile and finishes the show beaming like the Cheshire cat. Did she choose humanity or digitality? That questions caused some ambiguity, some thinking she embraced the reality of the natural world, others thinking she morphed into virtual reality under a new persona, but in the end, all that really mattered was the resultant stimulating debate and conversation that the play elicited among the audience.  

The show took off in all directions but came together in the end to thoroughly address the juxtaposition between virtual and reality and the challenge of our age to know the difference.  “Virtual Symposium” was made possible with support from the Buller District administered Council Creative Communities NZ grant of $2,000 and a grant from the Department of Internal Affairs through the Community-Led Development Programme of $17,987 to the Karamea Drama Group. The group invested the entire finding amount into the production of the show, set, equipment, professional services, venue hire etc. The performances raised a significant profit from ticket sales and the money will be distributed to local organisations in need of financial support. The recipient organisations for the profit distribution will be announced formally in the coming weeks.  

“Virtual Symposium” was a triumph. It generated much-needed community unity after the social disruption of the COVID era, enabled creative ferment to blossom, raised money for deserving community groups and provided a great example for young people in the community as well as superb evening’s entertainment; Well done all concerned! 

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Thank God for Fools

By Brendan O’Dwyer 

I am honoured to acknowledge the players and crew who were involved with the Virtual Symposium. Each member committed to the project on the basis that they would only do it if it was ‘going to be great.’ There was no room for half measures. This level of commitment became the backbone of the production, and I am forever grateful to those people who invested their energy into such an abstract vision. Commitment alone is rare. Commitment to a moving target that barely exists in someone’s head is, at best, foolish. Thank God for fools, otherwise we’d never get anything done. 

Thanks to: 

Sacha Healey, for her tireless patience over a tumultuous two years. Sacha was not just a support person for me but an equal in terms of the creative vision. Her writing skills, editing abilities and creative prowess are apparent throughout the script, the songs and the overall vision of the show. Her acute attention to detail and her ability to interpret the written word was key to bringing dialogue to life and movement to otherwise flat characters. Simply put, without Sacha’s exceptional skills, there would not have been a show, and I would be responsible for a mediocre script that sat at the bottom of a pile of empty ideas. 

David Guppy, who described it best when he declared that I’d ‘built a great ship and it was sitting high upon the dry dock, and all hands were onboard and all the coffers were full, and ahead was a great voyage, and all that remained was for me to get underneath with a small hammer and tap, tap, tap at the little wedge that held the entire thing at bay and at the moment he jumped onboard, ‘tap’ went the wedge and the whole thing lurched headlong into the ocean.  

Tina Wylie, for her creative energy in the costume department. A ninja with a needle, with glee did she take on the massive task of outfitting 13 people and always maintained her composure. 

Liz Kerslake, for asking ‘So, when are you gonna write the thing?’ and believing in me when I wasn’t sure if I could. Also, thanks for her abundant patience and positivity. Her friendship and calm presence steadied the ship when we were headed for the doldrums. 

Cathy Sampson, for ‘trusting the process.’ It was a pleasure to watch you grow into the role and also grow into yourself along the way. I’m sure you got younger over the years. 

Cliff Meakin, for taking a leap of faith and grabbing his character by the Top Hat. Armed with an arsenal of wisecracks, he always lightened the mood. 

Aby Chalmers, for her bright energy and professional approach. Leaving the shore long after the ship had sailed, Aby swam her arms off and not only caught up with the ship but jumped onboard and gave the rest of us swimming lessons. 

Ang Cronin for her endless enthusiasm and bottomless bag of tricks. 

Pete Moynihan for his sharp ability to smell bullshit from a nautical mile away. 

Val Moynihan, who got onboard with a small part and ended up with a much larger role, I don’t know how many times I heard someone say, ‘Val can do it,’ and she certainly did.  

Tamati Dean, another one who left the shore long after the ship had sailed. Not only did the man catch up, at one point he was spotted pushing icebergs out of our way. 

Sina Tuiavi’i wasn’t on the shore to begin with. Nearing the end of the voyage, we were desperately low on supplies and morale was on the wane when the kind winds blew us on a course to Sina’s Island. She nourished and restocked us and came onboard with a determined aura, becoming a rock for a frazzled crew. 

Sanae Murray, tasked with making us look pretty, she would look through the foundation and past the glitter and gaze into your soul so that your entire being would be ready for the harsh reality of performance.   

Kathy Ramsay, her gentle professionalism was much appreciated and her late addition to the crew was a welcome shift in our dynamics. Having her there was a personal measure of how legitimate the production was. 

Emilie Schmitthaeusler, unwavering in her enthusiasm and carrying so much responsibility, she ran a tight ship and never buckled under pressure. A cool, calm presence that we all relied on, she never let us down. 

Sam Beach, with his technical skills he could diagnose a discordant sound and ‘tweak’ it out of existence. He could also identify the ambient resonance of a space and tune the rig to harmonise with it. Nerdy for sure, invaluable no doubt. 

Harry Bretherton, a master sound engineer with decades of recording and mixing experience, he treated the music with grace and engineered it to a higher form than I had ever intended. 

Thanks also to Raramai Adcock and Carlos de Treend for graphic design, Tracy McEwing for mentorship and filming the show and David Lee for being the man. In addition, thanks to Sonder de Vries, Dion Mawson, Seth Doherty, Fernando Tarrango, Paul Murray, Rosalie Sampson and Jessie Creedmore, Steve Shultz and Mary McGill for support, encouragement and know how. And finally, Vinnie Dunford for the superb food, Rebecca and Emma for working the bar, Craig and Hannah for looking after the door and Juliette for use of the rehearsal space. 

Thanks in general to the families who supported our mission. In particular my own, Ema, Quillyn and Odin, your support and understanding was priceless. 

Virtual Symposium Article from The Westport News February 19, 2024