Original songs feature in theatre production

By The Star - Brenda Harwood | Posted: Friday Oct 25, 2024

The first outing for Dunedin-based director Lara Macgregor’s newly founded theatre company Birds of a Feather will be award-winning play Prima Facie, by Suzie Miller.

Original songs feature in theatre production | Otago Daily Times Online News

The one-woman play, to be performed Serena Cotton, follows a criminal defence lawyer at the top of her game, until a life-shattering event places her on the other side of the bench. She is suddenly forced to face the system she so fervently believed in.

This production of Prima Facie, which opens next week, is Macgregor’s first solo-produced and directed production since stepping down as Fortune Theatre artistic director in 2015. In recent years she has directed and performed across New Zealand and on television, and is a founding member of Dunedin Summer Shakespeare.

"Prima Facie is an indictment of the legal system and its failure to provide reliable pathways to justice for women in sexual assault cases," Macgregor said.

"Serena is an outstanding actor and rights activist, and the marriage of this play and her performance will transform you."

In preparation for the production, Macgregor has been working with young Dunedin singer-songwriter Sylvia Harper, a Year 11 pupil at St Hilda’s Collegiate, and musician-recording engineer David Harrison, who have written and recorded two original songs for the Prima Facie soundtrack.

"Sylvie and David have collaborated on some really great music before, so I was delighted when they agreed to record two original songs for the soundtrack," Macgregor said.

"As a young person, it was pretty special that Sylvie could embrace a story like this and write music around it that is incredibly moving."

Sylvie wrote the lyrics and melody for the songs, and Harrison created the music around them.

Sylvie said that she and Harrison — a senior teaching fellow in the School of Performing Arts, had worked on six songs together in total and had released an EP in August, entitled Luminary.

The pair began to collaborate when Harrison heard Sylvie in a vocal lesson with Bridget Telfer, was "very impressed" by her talent, and offered to work with her.

Alongside the songs, Dunedin-based sound designer Matthew Morgan has come on board to create tonal sounds to form an undercurrent to the action of Prima Facie.

"There is an undercurrent of tension to the play and I have designed these sounds to enhance that," Morgan said.

Sylvie’s mother Leah Harper has supported her through the process and her father Gareth has also been drawn in to the production — he is now building the sets, designed by Mark McEntyre. Lighting design is by Martyn Roberts.

• Prima Facie, by Suzie Miller, opens next Thursday and runs until November 17 at Allen Hall theatre. Bookings via www.trybooking.com