Time in a care home inspires NZ actor's hit play
The London-based New Zealander was at a loose end during the Covid lockdowns when she put her mind to writing a new one-woman play.
When Kiwi actor and writer Ellie Smith returned to England's Brighton after a stint teaching English in Madrid, she needed something to do.
“I said to this woman I met; ‘I just need to do something. I don't know what to do. I'm in my 60s, what do I do?’ And she said, well, why don't you go and sing in care homes? And I thought, what a brilliant idea,” Smith RNZ’s Nine to Noon.
The 75-year-old got kitted up with mic and amp, and started performing in care homes along the English south coast. It was a profound experience, she says.
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“I was busy most days going to different homes and I just grew to love these people, because they needed something instead of not just sitting staring at the television.
“You go into the lounge, and all the chairs are pointed at the television. And so, I just started doing it and got very, very close to quite a few of them.”
Que Sera Sera by Doris Day was a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, she says.
“You start singing ‘when I was just a...’ and the whole room erupts. They all know it. They might not know the words, they might sing out of tune, but they know it, and they join in. It's just lovely.”
When Covid hit Smith, who has worked as an actor, singer, director, and drama teacher in professional theatre in Britain and New Zealand for more than 30 years, went in search of another project.
“We were, of course, the first out the door because they couldn't have any visitors.
“And so then one day I was thinking, oh, I think I might write a one woman play about this.”
That play, Life on a Loop, went on to be a hit in London, playing to sell-out theatres. Now Smith is bringing it to Auckland - her first time performing here in 15 years.
Fellow Kiwi expat director Jesse Peach is directing her in the show , Smith says.
“I actually wrote it hoping that one of the many fantastic actresses my age back in New Zealand would do it. But Jesse said, oh, I'd like to direct you in it. So, we just decided to do it ourselves.”
The subject matter is universal, and she draws on her many experiences as an entertainer to inhabit the various characters in Life on a Loop which takes place on one Christmas Day, she says.
“This woman called out one day, ‘you don't look like Shirley Bassey’. And I thought, well, I haven't tried to look like Shirley Bassey.
“And another woman told me; ‘that dress, you look awful in that dress. It makes your bum look like a beach ball’.”
Life On a Loop is playing Auckland's Q Theatre from the 11 to the 16 November.
