Real Life

Weekly people: The Christchurch earthquake inspired my play

Theatre company owner Victoria Abbott has turned personal pain into a hit play.
Victoria Abbott

“I’m a 27-year-old documentary theatre company artistic director. My family knew I wanted to be an actor before I did. My first role was at the age of four as the angel Gabriel in a nativity play (or Gabrielle, as it was spelled in the programme).

It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts: I fell off the stage before I delivered my first line, and the audience burst out laughing. I eyeballed them until they stopped, delivered the line and walked off triumphantly.

That moment eventually led to drama school in Wellington, and stints in London, New York and Paris, where I trained at clown school (I’m also a clown ‘doctor’ at Starship Children’s Health hospital).

I was in Christchurch, where I’ve lived since I was six, when the September 2010 earthquake hit. I’d had my wisdom teeth out and I remember catching a big glass lamp before heading to a doorway, and watching my mum freak out.

Victoria was in Paris when the Christchurch earthquake on February 22, 2011 hit.

But I was in Paris on February 22, 2011 and woke that morning to a text from a classmate that read, ‘There’s been a massive earthquake in Christchurch, there are fatalities. I’m so sorry.’

I couldn’t get hold of my family, so I went online to find as much footage as I could. Mum worked in the old State Insurance building, which was just behind the Christchurch Cathedral, and I kept willing the web cameras to pan a little bit further around to see if it was still standing.

It was four hours before I got an email from friends of our family to tell me my parents were safe, but I still didn’t know about my brother or grandparents.

It was the longest day of my life. I sat and read a book, cover to cover. I was trying not to panic, but the thought did go through my mind that I might not see my family ever again.

Victoria (left) and co-director Jackie are longtime friends and now they’re taking their theatre show on the road.

Eventually, I got hold of all my relatives. While no-one close to me had passed away, there were a lot of people I knew who did, such as the woman I used to carpool to school with.

I flew back to Christchurch a month after the ‘quake with the idea for a play already formed.

I wanted to tell the real stories of what had happened to the people of Christchurch exactly as they remembered them, so my friend, Jackie Shaw, and I wrote and produced Munted.

We interviewed 15 people about their experiences on that day, from a four-year-old and a police officer, to a dentist who almost died after falling in a liquefaction-filled hole.

We also talked to reporters Matt McLean and Heather du Plessis-Allan, who balanced doing their jobs with wanting to help people.

We turned those interviews into a documentary theatre piece, recounting people’s interviews exactly as they said them – word for word.

Hearing what people went through was like therapy for me. It was good to open a space for discussion – a lot of the people we spoke to had never really talked to others about their experiences.

Victoria is taking Munted to Los Angeles for a four-week run.

I now live in Auckland, but every time I go back to Christchurch, it’s pretty confronting. People are still struggling with post-traumatic stress, including my own family.

We don’t take as much for granted any more and my dad has had to deal with the fact that he can’t guarantee the safety of his family. It’s changed his perspective on life.

month, we’re taking Munted to Los Angeles for a four-week run, and then a 16-centre New Zealand tour.

It’s amazing to hear stories from members of the audience after they’ve seen the show.

I think it’s nice for people to know they’re not alone.”

As told to Kelly Bertrand.

Image credits: Robert Trathen.

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