Daffodils: Kiwi Music & Theatre Come Together (Interview)

The 13th Floor’s Dedee W sat down with playwright Rochelle Bright, to talk about her play Daffodils, and the power of theatre combined with a really good soundtrack.

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Writing a story based on your own family mythology is no easy feat. Daffodils is based on the true story of how writer Rochelle Bright’s parents met and fell in love in 1960s Hamilton. It spans over four decades to the present day, with stories and characters she was too young to remember. She uses old love letters, slides, photographs and Super 8 footage of their wedding in the show. It’s twenty years this year since her dad passed away; she was still a kid at the time.

“You don’t know your parents when you’re young. You know them as Mum and Dad, but you don’t know them as human beings until you’re older.  After Dad died, I started asking a lot of my family questions about who he was, because as a storyteller that’s what you’re interested in, you’re interested in the stories behind everything.”

Bright wrote this play with the actors in mind, and had a certain vision for how she wanted it to be.

“It was about creating our own form of cabaret, using songs as direct points of conversation.”

This was Bullet Heart Club’s first production, and it fully surpassed their expectations.

“You have a clear idea of what you want, but when you see it all actually happen the way you imagined it, but better? It gets you really excited, it’s pretty satisfying.”

The play was very well received, earning a Metro Magazine 2014 Best Debut Theatre award, an Auckland Theatre Award, and glowing reviews from theatre critics.

Music plays a huge role in the storytelling of Daffodils. Musicians Stephanie Brown and Abraham Kunin remixed and arranged new electronic versions of the songs for the show. Bright was studying music and theatre in New York when she met Brown.

“We had a mutual friend, went to see a couple of shows together and just started talking.  We were in a ramen joint in Manhattan, talking about what we wanted to achieve in theatre. She’d never done theatre but she was really interested by it, and I really love indie music, and I love her music. So we decided we wanted to work together. ”

“The music theatre community is actually quite small in New York, as it is here in Auckland, so you all get to know each other pretty quick. There’s a really lovely community of expat Kiwis over there; musicians, writers, actors, a really good mix. You kind of find each other.”

The play features some landmark New Zealand songs, from Ray Columbus to The Mint Chicks. The newest artist on the soundtrack is LIPS, whose music also features in the show.  Choosing the right songs was an interesting process. Bright used the Top 100 APRA list of songs as a reference point, but the first song she chose came as a bit of an epiphany.

“There was one song in particular I was listening to, y’know, it always happens just when you’re about to fall asleep. I was listening to it, and the entire scene, world, and the story came to me –  thinking about how that song fit with my parents’ story.”

The rest was like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle.

“It was very specific. Cos within the story there are very important moments or scenes, and so it was about finding the right song for that scene and moment that connected emotionally to what was being said. It had to hit the context and push the story forward. And also, just damn good songs. All the songs we have are songs that are iconic for a reason. Not just cos they’re played a lot, they’re just such good songs!” she emphasises.

Another great thing I’ve read about Daffodils is how they combine storytelling and song together so seamlessly.

“You would think the songs were written for the show, the way we’ve worked it in,” says Bright.

This allows the audience to hear the songs in a different way, though they may be songs you’ve heard a hundred times, you can rediscover hidden layers of meaning you didn’t know were there before.

“We spent time speaking to Jordan Luck, and he told us the meaning behind one of the songs we use of his. That meaning I think has been lost because now, The Exponents – a lot of their stuff is really kinda pub songs. But actually the meaning behind the particular song we use in the show is way way deeper than that. And when you really listen to it, it’s actually something quite amazing. Very simple song, but it’s amazing.  It was really beautiful to bring the meaning back. In regards to how it’s used in the show, it’s closer to what Jordan told us it was about.”

Having an outsider’s perspective on the songs was also quite enlightening.

Stephanie Brown’s partner, Fen Ikner (who drums in the band for Daffodils) is American, and came into it not knowing the songs. When they first started rehearsals, he would say, “Don McGlashan songs are the most difficult songs! They’re really complex…”

He makes a good point, adds Bright: “Some of these songs that we use in Countdown commercials are incredibly complex pop songs. And it’s not till you have someone who’s never heard it before break it down and say ‘this is such an amazing song’, that you really appreciate that.”

Choosing to craft their version of “Kiwi cabaret” gave this show a unique point of difference.

Daffodils is a form of “theatre combined with a music gig”, Bright explains. “It’s direct to a mic – a direct conversation to the audience. The two characters don’t ever look at each other.

“But it’s a lot more than a concert, cos you do get a full story and emotional journey from the characters.”

In their first season, they attracted a wider audience than expected.

“As a company we’re interested in bringing the younger indie set into the theatre, the kind of people who would go to Laneway or out to a pop gig. But at the same time because of the content, and because it’s about my parents, we had a lot of people in their 60s come. And all the music’s incredibly contemporary, but they loved the story so they connected to that.”

“I love theatre, and I love song, so I wrote this as the kind of show I would want to see. But the great thing about theatre is it can become something more universal.”

Having heard rave reviews, I knew I had to see this play. As a New Zealand music fan who loves a good story, it was a no-brainer. One particular quote stuck in my mind though. Simon Wilson wrote this in his Metro review:

“Daffodils should play all over the country… it resonates so strongly as a piece of our own mixed-up, precious culture, it should be our new national flag.”

High praise indeed, and this year sees them heading to Hamilton’s Meteor Theatre after the Auckland season. This is followed by trips to Wanaka for The Festival of Colour, and Kerikeri for the new Upsurge Festival, with more dates to come.

Having her family come to see Daffodils brought up many feelings.

“For them, seeing Dad again, after twenty years… it was quite emotional.  We don’t tell the story in a fairy tale glossy way. It’s a very real warts ‘n’ all story. But they all really really loved it.”

Although the play is based on real events and is “ninety per cent true”, Bright found that the parts of the story that were completely true, were often the parts people assumed were fictional – or vice versa. Which just goes to show, life really is stranger than fiction.

For anyone who believes in the power of song, and the significance of the soundtracks to our lives; this is a show for you.

 

Daffodils runs from April 8-12 at Auckland’s Q Theatre.

Tickets: https://www.patronbase.com/_QTheatre/Productions/5578/Performances