Kororareka The Ballad of Maggie Flynn

There is a story crying out to be told. It is a re-telling of our history through the eyes of a fiery and unforgettable woman.

This is not your average story. It is a sea shanty, a coarse and vulgar rhyme. It's a tall and fathomless tale and this is your chance to be part of it.

This Boosted campaign is really important to us and we ask you to join us to fund our three week development workshop.  For the first time, Red Leap will be working with a script and we are so excited about it. The script is now in its third draft and written by the critically acclaimed writer Paolo Rotondo  (Orphans and Kingdoms, Strange Resting Places).

During our development workshop we will be unpicking the script, diving into it and playing with how it meets with Red Leaps visual and physical style. We will be fine tuning storytelling techniques to set the time and themes of this story being historical but not literal, theatrical and limitless and a captivating mix of language, accents, style and song.

Set in the era of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Kororāreka (Russell) was a lawless outpost in a wild country.

Maggie Flynn leaves Ireland a convict and arrives in Kororāreka the captain of a whaling ship. When burying her husband on the shores of this land she is captured by a Māori chief and becomes his mōkai, a prestige slave more akin to a pet. An unthinkable intimacy burns between her and the chief until her fateful rescue where she loses all she has held dear. Her fortune continuing to twist and turn Maggie becomes a force facilitating the burgeoning trade between Māori and European settlers, the publican and madam of the notorious King Edward Hotel. One day culture and history collide and her ultimate undoing is the very world she sought to escape.

We are taking to the rehearsal floor a powerful all female cast  including Victoria Abbott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, All Your Wants and Needs Fulfilled Forever), Miriama McDowell (Mahana, Dark Horse), Alison Bruce (Dust Pilgrim, The Events), Awhina Rose Ashby (The Mooncake and Kumara, Marama) and Toi Whakaari intern Katrina George.

 YOUR SUPPORT WILL FUND…

Set Designer, John Verryt to prototype set ideas, Costume Designer, Elizabeth Whiting to bring characters to life, Robin Kelly to create beautiful sound and Poppy Serrano and Owen McCarthy  to build props and create live drawings for projection.

Help our creative team do what they do best and embark on this rough and wild voyage with us.

No donation is too small, it all counts!