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Moon at the Bottom of the Garden, brainchild of playwright Sarah McDougall, began as McDougall’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) work piece at the University of Otago. Now, with a few adaptations, it will be performed at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery from 10 – 19 October 2014 as part of Arts Festival Dunedin. The festival includes music, theatre, dance and visual arts events, as well as a circus.

The play is based on four generations of women whose family is “riddled with estrangement, addictions and traits passed forward as a direct result of being implicated in a murder,” said McDougall. “The matriarch and her young self have coping mechanisms that serve, or cease to serve, formed to cover secrets and guilt,” she said. Director Julia Edwards added, “It's about family dynamics of women through the eras who are all holding a lot of baggage.”

The play features a cast from all over New Zealand. Irene Wood, of Outrageous Fortune and Go Girls, plays the protagonist, Nana Rose. Edwards said, “The girls that we’ve cast have all got that ability to show a bit of their ugly side as actors … [and] they work so hard, there’s so many laughs.” McDougall said the girls are “a hard working group of women who have dived deep into the script, themselves and the characters to make new theatre.”

The idea came from a book, All Shook Up by Redmer Yska. The cover featured a photograph of a group of “bodgie” and “widgies,” terms used to describe New Zealand youths in the 50s. The book itself is based on the 1995 Jukebox murder whereby a young man murdered another over a girl they were both smitten for. The second man was given the death sentence and hung shortly after. “I read the chapter on the Jukebox Murder … all I could think about was the girl, the widgie from 1955, how would she be affected after being implicated in a crime where two young men died over her, and how might that affect her life,” said McDougall. The play itself is set in Dunedin. “There’s a lot of prominent Dunedin culture involved,” says Edwards.

Speaking of the time in which the play was set, McDougall said “an influx of GIs and merchant sailors after the war brought in new music, and fast cars; the culture of bodgies and widgies knew how to party.” She said, “It is likely you will recognise some of your own family in this play, or families you know, damaged in some way, those that hold back secrets, pass things forward, yet hold fierce love for each other.”

A limited number of student tickets are available for Thursday 16 October at 1pm. These will cost $15 and can be sourced on the play’s Facebook page, “Moon at the Bottom of the Garden Productions.” Regular tickets will be range from $15–20 and can be purchased at the Dunedin Art Gallery or Ticket Direct from the Regent Theatre.