Eleanor Bishop, theatre director and alumna
Eleanor Bishop is a theatre director who graduated from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in 2009. Normally based between New York and New Zealand, the COVID-19 pandemic meant Eleanor had to limit her theatre work to one location, choosing to stay in New Zealand.
Staying in New Zealand has also meant challenges for Eleanor and her work. The administration of managing constant rescheduling and cancellations of shows has been exhausting, Eleanor says, and the pandemic has also been a strain creatively.
“It feels very frustrating not to get to practice one’s craft with an audience,” she says. “Theatre is an essential form that relies on communion with an audience.”
Although Eleanor has continued to work in theatre, she says many people have become fatigued to the point of leaving the industry. She worries about how independent artists will survive financially, especially as people get out of the routine of attending shows and making theatre part of their lives.
“I think the whole world has changed, and so the theatre industry has to as well,” she says. “Although we’re still very much focusing on getting through the next stage of the pandemic, I think long-term we’ll need to keep being flexible with how we make theatre available to people and make a big push to get people to engage with the industry again. Ticket prices going down would also help a lot!”
However, despite the struggles, Eleanor says the pandemic has also brought some unexpected highlights and new experiences.
“My creative partnership with Karin McCracken, EBKM, was funded by Creative New Zealand throughout 2021 and 2022, which has given us the opportunity to plan long-term and to develop new projects,” Eleanor says.
Eleanor and Karin have spent the last 18 months developing a stage show of Aliens & Anorexia, a novel by Chris Kraus. Although the performances intended for 2022 were cancelled, Eleanor says she is excited to bring this work to the public when the timing is right.
“Chris Kraus is a real hero of mine and the way her life and the novel traverses New Zealand, New York, and Berlin feels very personal to me, given I’ve travelled and worked in similar places,” Eleanor says. “It’s a story of processing failure and the power of art-making, and these feel very appropriate themes at this moment.”
Eleanor also had the opportunity to put on a digital version of Chekhov’s The Seagull for Auckland Theatre Company, a project which Eleanor says has opened up some brilliant dialogues with international audiences and peers and has also given her the chance to do a lot of speaking and teaching online.
2019 also saw Eleanor take on opera for the first time, and her pandemic experiences in New Zealand have since involved working as assistant director for The Marriage of Figaro and being appointed director for The Strangest of Angels for NZ Opera this year.
“I have absolutely fallen in love with the possibilities and emotional power of opera,” Eleanor says. “I’m very excited about my role as director for The Strangest of Angels—it’s a new work by composer Kenneth Young with opera singer Anna Leese about Janet Frame’s time in Seacliff mental institution. I’m thrilled to be creating a new opera with and for New Zealanders—fingers crossed it goes ahead!”
Despite the challenges, Eleanor is optimistic about the future for theatre.
“I’m so hopeful about young artists,” she says. “I think they have the vision and drive to see things that we can’t see. They have that no. 8 wire mentality which is just what we need—new ways of doing things.
“So to all those young artists—find your tribe, put on work, build your audience. Just do it.”
Find out more about Eleanor’s work here.