A love story in bloom

Rochelle Bright, who grew up at Mount Maunganui, is bringing her parents’ love story to the Tauranga Arts Festival. Photo: Garth Badger.

Former Bethlehem College student Rochelle Bright doesn't tell anyone where the truth stops and fiction begins in her much-lauded play ‘Daffodils', a love story based on that of her parents.

'Even people who knew Mum and Dad really well can't find the seam between truth and untruth – and that's exactly how I want it,” Rochelle says.

Her parents met in a field of daffodils beside Hamilton Lake and married after her father had done his OE, with the script including material from letters he'd written home.

'I showed Mum the first script and then she gave me the letters. I couldn't believe how close I'd got on some things,” Rochelle says.

The family moved to Mount Maunganui just as Rochelle was entering her teens – but a workplace accident that killed her father when she was 14 shattered their lives.

'The play is about me trying to reconnect with Dad,” she says. 'I was very close to him and through this play I can hear him again.

'This year is the 20th anniversary of his death – ‘Daffodils' has been a project to honour him and mum who are really two very average Kiwis. The family has always joked that you should never go down to the daffodils because you never know who you might meet.”

‘Daffodils' features cover versions of iconic Kiwi music by award-winning Lips – expat Stephanie Brown and her indie-band partner Fen Ikner. 'All the music has been remixed and is very contemporary,” Bright says.

The play, which has an occasional backdrop of Bright's home movies, is performed by TV star Todd Emerson (‘Westside') and theatre star Colleen Davis (‘Chicago') in a 'kind of a cabaret style”.

'It's quite hard to explain,” says Bright, who studied music and theatre at New York University and is the current Michael King writer-in-residence in Auckland.

'Let's say that it's a deeply personal conversation interwoven with classic New Zealand songs.”

‘Daffodils' is at the Pacific Crystal Palace (Masonic Park) at 8.30pm on October 22 and 23. Festival programmes are widely available or go to www.taurangafestival.co.nz for details.

You may also like....