Lantern to light up Bats' stage

MARK GLUCINA

BUSY: Writing a play is just one of many of Renee Liang's talents. Her production Lantern is at Bats Theatre till May 2.

Relevant offers

Renee Liang claims her multiple and seemingly disconnected career paths - paediatrician, writer and health researcher - are really all the same activity.

"Writing and medicine are about story-telling. You can't help anyone until you find the real story," Liang said.

Liang took up creative writing when she finished her medical training in 2006.

"I was increasingly interested in the power of narrative writing during that time. I got to the stage where I had to either commit fully to a life of medicine or take a year out and see where the writing took me."

Three years on she has earned a creative writing masters degree from Auckland University, written two volumes of poetry, drafted her first novel, presented Auckland's weekly Poetry Live readings and written her first play, Lantern, which opened at Bats Theatre this week.

She also works as a locum paediatrician and is involved in the "Growing up in New Zealand" research project.

Though Liang is New Zealand-born Chinese and Lantern is performed by two Chinese actors, it was not a Chinese play, she said.

"It's a play about family relationships and about finding out who you really are. So they are universal ideas, but no-one has addressed it before from a background of growing up in New Zealand and being defined as Asian."

Actors Li-Ming Hu, of Shortland Street, and Andy Wong, previously seen in No. 2 and The Tattooist, play 10 characters between them and are on stage continuously for 90 minutes.

"I intentionally wrote it as a challenging piece," Liang said. "A number of my friends are actors who complained that they never get offered challenging roles. "

It was a very contemporary play, set in Auckland in 2009, she said.
"It's a comedy, but it's also a drama. I don't do straight. I do humour with a bit of an undertone to it. It's not black humour, but the laughter has a tinge of sadness over it."

Liang is excited to be staying in Wellington for the production and to be immersed in the local art scene.

" It's always going to be really, really scary. It's scary enough writing your first play and your first production, without taking it to a new city."

Newest First

Oldest First