Hardware stores as a parodic substitute for a classic Shakespearean rivalry?
It’s not Romeo and Juliet, but the Mitre 10 Montagues and the Bunnings Capulets lift the curtain on the basic premise of Master of Fine Arts graduate Lizzie Bysouth’s thesis performance for the practical industry-focused degree.
It’s been six months since A Hardware Love Affair, the musical which Lizzie co-wrote with fellow graduate Sophie Helm, raised the roof of Bats Theatre as part of the Six Degrees Festival.
Having had the experience of creating one piece of theatre, Lizzie has now become part of another.
She’s squeezing her graduation at the Michael Fowler Centre in late May in during a hectic season performing in SEXWISE, featuring a cavalcade of actors and musicians touring New Zealand secondary schools,teaching rangatahi about the sometimes fraught subject of sexual health.
The program is split into two forty-five-minute segments, a devised and semi-improvised performance and a workshop where the young people get the chance to ‘hot seat’ or interview the characters portrayed in the performance.
“The students become the experts answering their own questions by asking, advising and empathising with the characters.”
It’s an ideal follow-up to co-writing the homage to being a home handy person, in which she had to apply a little DIY, being both musical director and production manager too.
“It wasn’t supposed to be that way, I was just focused on the music and lyrics, but the original music director pulled out just before rehearsals,” Lizzie says.
She enlisted the help of music student Daniel Honey to support her as a co-musical director, while she got to grips with the primary role.
“I never ever thought it was something I would ever have to do,” she says.
“I love music, I’m in a band (Lemon Spitfire) I write music for, I’m really big on my lyrics and play guitar, but never thought that my skills would be enough to be a music director.”
All music in the show is original, with many of the songs a homage to Broadway classics like Chicago, Waitress, Hairspray and Stomp — and all inspired by a six-month stint stocking shelves in the aisles of Mitre 10.
“All of the characters have pun-like names such as Lee Flathead, Brent Toolman, and one of the customers is called Alan Key.”
Both hardware chain stores joined in the fun, providing sponsorship for the show with store credit, borrowed uniforms for costumes and even offering staff to help build the set., Further support came from crowdfunding plus financial backing from Te Herenga Waka.
In addition, Lizzie’s own studies received a $10,000 boost when she was awarded a Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavour (FAME Trust) scholarship for students pursuing careers in the performing arts.
“It was the first time I’d won anything, and it was a big chunk of money to help me go into my Master’s,” she says.
Her studies were further supported through an internship (an integral part of the MFA) with Circa Theatre where she worked as stage manager on the show Give Way The Musical, even standing in and performing when one of the actors fell sick.
Growing up in Masterton, Lizzie’s artistic journey traversed multiple paths from dance to drama to her love of musical theatre.
She opted to travel after leaving school, before returning to her studies for an undergraduate degree majoring in history, sociology and “of course” theatre.
“I think I’m the biggest advocate for waiting to go to uni,” she says.
“Especially in this day and age where everything’s up in the air post COVID, I think it helped me being slightly older as I had a really clear idea what I wanted to do.”
Following her graduation, Lizzie plans to visit the Edinburgh Fringe and explore the idea of staging A Hardware Love Affair, after some workshopping touch-ups, in UK pub theatres.
She’s confident about overcoming the logistical challenge of having to carry around lots of hardware props used in each show, hammering home her determination by declaring, “DIY’s in my DNA!”