10 Sep 2017

Arthur Meek - from young lover to magic lantern operator

From Standing Room Only, 12:35 pm on 10 September 2017

Actor and playwright Arthur Meek can now add "Trained Magic Lantern Showman" to his resume. He's done power-point presentations before, notably in the play On the conditions and possibilities of Helen Clark (and later, Hilary Clinton!) taking me as her young lover. But the Victorian Magic Lantern is something else again. Arthur travelled to America especially to learn the art for his new production, Erewhon Revisited, which premieres this week at the Christchurch Arts Festival. As Lynn Freeman discovered, the play is based on Samuel Butler's famous Nineteenth Century Utopian satire, with some property speculation thrown in for good measure.