Hi there my name is Eugene Winterburn. Last night my partner and I were lucky enough to attend opening night of “Biography of my skin”. I guess I could be described as your typical kiwi rugby playing fish and chip eating bloke..and this was the very first live play/show I have ever been to and the first time to Downstage.
I didn’t know what to expect. Can I say that we have not stopped talking about this show. We absolutely loved it! It was so fantastic!! And the twists and turns that Miranda and Stuart showed on stage with their very own relationship were very real and something I and my partner related to too.
I loved the experience and it has really opened my eyes. We look forward to returning to Downstage soon! If you get a chance please pass this feedback onto Miranda and Stuart. An amazing play!! We loved it.
— Eugene Winterburn
Our brief clutch in the bar hardly communicated our enthusiasm for the play. So just wanted to say that it was a great show. I said to Neil on the stairs that it was more of a romp than I was expecting - and I mean that in the best sense of romp! A romantic comedy might be more accurate. And in the best sense there too - Howard Hawks, Hepburn & Grant, you know. Screwbally but with sharp moments of true feeling. Loved the lightness of touch in the writing, and the timing. And the performances were just lovely. May it run and run.
— Damien Wilkins
Boy that was something else! What an outstanding piece of drama. Lizzie and I laughed, cried and were totally absorbed by the whole performance. You two should be so proud. So poignant , so real, so fricken beautiful! Thankyou for enriching our lives. We loved the honesty and the parallels that we all share as I'm sure everyone present, felt in the theatre. Congratulations.
— Al Brown
What a fantastic show! I think the show will do very well. My guests all raved about it. Well done to Downstage and well done to Miranda and Stuart. Great stuff, we need more theatre like that.
— Bernadette Courtney
The play has really stayed with me in all sorts of way. The writing, the structure, the theatricality, the generosity and bravery of the story-telling, the wit, the heart, the beauty. The cleverness… the surprises. The questions, the dance of fact meets fiction. It really is a remarkable piece of impeccable and exhilarating theatre. Hope your season is block-buster brilliant.
— Carmel McGlone
I have just got home from an exciting evening at Downstage. Everything was very special-writing, performance, direction. I'm sure you could tell from the audience reaction that you have a success on your hands. Lets hope that word of mouth spreads quickly. I will be doing my bit encouraging people to see a show that has heart, wit, love and excellence.
— Bill Sheat
Congratulations to you and Miranda on a fantastic play – You had us laughing and crying and we have let everyone we know that your play is not to be missed.
— Todrick Taylor
Hi Stuart, I was so impressed with Biography of My Skin and your work on and in it. The creation of the witty, moving, deceptively simple and fluid script was feat enough, but then to appear in the show, transforming it from a one-woman show into a two header, and to pull off the extraordinarily difficult feat of being yourself on stage - being relaxed, being funny, being truthful, and giving a funny, touching and very specific account of your own courtship and marriage - well, that's just amazing, and I thought you did something unusual and perilous with a great deal of ease and grace. So very well done!
— Fiona Samuel
Thanks again for the show it was an honour to see theatre that polished/ interesting/ funny/ cool/ revealing/ surprising/ sexy.
— Murray Keane
Saw your show last night and absolutely LOVED it. You bloody made me cry again, though, you bastard!!! But I laughed like hell too. We think you both incredibly brave. And, boy, did we see parts of our marriage reflected!!
— Nicola Johnson
Dear Miranda and Stuart, A thoroughly engrossing, entertaining and thought provoking night at the Theatre. Such a pleasure to have a well cooked broth on opening night. Loved it. Great storytelling in the new, nearly documentary/nearly drama, genre, we are exploring in our own ways.You're both bloody clever.. Thanks for the pleasure. Oh - and Tim Spite was an inspired choice to direct. Just the right touch.
— Gaylene Preston
I just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in and say how much I enjoyed the show last night. I haven't seen Miranda perform on stage for a long time and I had forgotten how she can command an audience's attention and it never ever feels like she's 'acting' when you're watching her. Congratulations to everyone involved in this production, this is exactly the kind of theatre we need more of in Wellington and I'm really pleased it's Downstage taking the bull by the horns!
— Felicity Bunny
I just wanted to say that I have thought about your show every day since opening night. The more I think about it the deeper I get entangled in the amazing intersecting knot of performer, writer, life and theatre that you both created. Genius. It was better than Cats!
— Salesi Le’ota
Could you pass on to Stuart and Miranda and Tim that my wife and I thought the show was fantastic. We chortled and reflected all the way home. Wonderful writing, direction and performance. I was very jealous (always a good sign).
— Jacob Rajan
If, like me, you found the promotional stories (all slight variations on the necessarily circumspect media release) less than inspiring, forget them: Biography of My Skin is well worth going to. It is funny, insightful, shocking, poignant, extraordinarily personal and finally generous. A gift.
In telling the warts-and-all story of the half-life of herself, leaving no metaphorical pimple unsqueezed, Miranda Harcourt and her writer /husband Stuart McKenzie transcend mere anecdote, narrative and gossip to survey the nature of life itself, in our times. ...
The quest for self is one theme that threads through childhood, adolescence, dissolute young adulthood, marriage and parenthood; not revealed in a linear fashion. Yet amid the minutiae of this particular life the big questions about life and death - including Stuart's 'Death of God' theology - are confronted, experienced and embraced.
Then there is the deconstruction, not only of Miranda's life but of story-telling itself, provoking some very funny and dramatically conflicted existential and metaphysical moments. The highly theatricalised question of who is in control goes to the heart of most of our public and private lives and relationships.
At one point, just to cite one example, Miranda has a surprising reaction to the yet-to-happen death of Stuart. Is this Stuart bravely scripting what he knows to be Miranda's truth or is she having to play out his warped fantasy?
The screen brings on some surprising cameos, from real people role-playing themselves and actors role-playing others, and the interaction between stage and screen is terrific, thanks also to operator Marc Edwards.
Director Tim Spite has worked with Harcourt, McKenzie and the creative team - including Paul O'Brien (lighting); Thomas Press (original music and sound design) - to bring a light touch to profound themes while ensuring the powerful moments connect. The means by which Miranda exits, for the interval, and returns for the second half, is a fabulous piece of theatrical illusion.
It has to be added that the lives Miranda and Stuart have led, as co-creators of theatre work and films especially, have not been commonplace. Some shocking things have occurred that prod the nerve-ends to bring the question of control - of personal responsibility - into even starker relief (if that's the word).
The final story - about loss, recovery and what is finally important - is a simultaneously satirical, whimsical and profound distillation of the central question: where exactly does truth lie?
If you thought, from the publicity, that this was an egotistical exercise, it proves to be quite the opposite. By being ruthlessly honest with themselves and each other about their personal experiences, they give us access to a great deal more. Not to be missed.
—John Smhythe, Theatreview
www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2566
It was superb. I loved it. Most of all I had forgotten what a wonderfully talented actress Harcourt is. There is such a difference between an actor or actress who is good, and those who are great. Harcourt’s voice and presence dominated the stage. Not everyone can do a one person show, but she definitely can.
Miranda is not quite alone on stage. We see video interjections of various friends and families, and I also advise people to keep an eye on the suitcase. It is not just a prop!
At times the play is very poignant, as we see photos of her father dying of cancer, and spreading his ashes. Even sad moments can turn humourous though as Harcourt tells the tale of trying to get the Karori Cemetery to cremate her son’s (named Peter after he father) placenta to mix it in with his ashes. You want to both laugh and cry. And I won’t even tell you my reaction at the video of her giving birth via c-section. But it all forms part of a memorable play.
At the heart of the play is the love story between Miranda and her husband Stuart McKenzie. It is never soppy, and often hilarious. The highlight must have been her reciting of when a cop pulled Stuart over for driving without his seatbelt on. By the time the cop got to the car, the seatbelt was on, and the offence was denied. And then the cop asked Miranda if he had been wearing it, and she told the truth. She gets evicted from the car, as he tells the kids in the back seat (including the one month old) that Mummy has to walk home as she had been bad.
The play is called Biography of My Skin, and you do get to see a fair bit of Miranda’s skin, as she changes outfits on stage. I think Miranda is around 47 years old, but let me tell you her body was the envy of every woman in the audience aged over the age of 25, and the admiration of every man aged over 16! She is a stunning beauty.
A moving part of the play was by coincidence very topical. It was about the guilt when Steve Williams killed step daughter Coral Burrows in the Wairarapa in a manner not dissimiliar to a film they produced, in which he had been an extra. Williams killed her after he had been up all night smoking P.
— David Farrar, Kiwiblog
www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/10/biography_of_my_skin.html
…there is no feigning of anything in this play, tucking itself neatly around our national psyche Biography of My Skin tells an incredibly honest and intimate story of a 17 year marriage…
I caught the eye of another smiling theater patron in the bathroom mirror at half time. “It’s great isn’t it” she said, and I agreed.
It’s fabulous, go see it!
— Michelle Mars, Scoop
sex.scoop.co.nz/2009/10/16/dr-michelle-mars-miranda-harcourt-and-i-shared-a-boyfriend/
We Kiwis have a habit of not talking about ourselves in great detail, afraid to lay ourselves bare, be ridiculed or opened up to criticism from others.
Yet this is precisely what Miranda Harcourt has done in her new production Biography of My Skin. Penned by her husband Stuart McKenzie, the show traces Harcourt's haphazard life through the various highs, lows and oddities. The interesting part here is that the story is framed by (and sometimes told directly from) McKenzie's point of view, blurring the lines between his role as a writer and as a husband.
The show is presented almost documentary-style, a huge video screen frames the stage area and Harcourt - in a compelling and at times, moving performance - interacts with people on the screen in a conversational manner.
It is a real challenge to successfully integrate live and recorded performances and it is testament to the talent of these individuals that this is so seamlessly done.
Harcourt has clearly had a colourful life, perhaps more than some. To me however, her story highlights the fact that if we look inwards, we discover that the tale of our own lives has just as many twists and turns and all of these things are worth celebrating. Biography of My Skin openly challenges us to do just that.
— Mark Westerby, Capital Times
www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2576
Biography of my Skin was not your standard self-trumpeting autobiography or feminist-slaying monologue, but rather a very real experience that focused on the unpredictability of the human life, celebrating both its heartaches and triumphs… and yes, there was a catch… her autobiography was written by her husband, Stuart McKenzie.
It was a superb piece of unassuming theatre that celebrated the unpredictability of life. It was wonderful.
— Texture
www.texture.co.nz/blogs/reviews/archive/2009/10/18/biography-of-my-skin-13-october-downstage-theatre.aspx
Biography is exceptional and enthralling. Written by her husband, Stuart McKenze, Miranda’s adult life is probably no different to most of ours; teenage angst, dating and escapades, marriage, child birth, parenting and partnering, being a victim of violence, and dealing with a dying parent. However, while our own lives might appear to ourselves as ordinary, Stuart has depicted Miranda’s life, and Miranda has acted her life story so it appears real and vital and important. And underlying this vitality is the glaring honesty of the depiction. Let’s remember, this is a husband and wife collaboration, about their story and the intimacy that that involves. This is stunning stuff.
While one learns a lot about this remarkable woman, by the end of the show I would guess that many in the audience were thinking about their own lives… Biography is a must see and I’m sure will bring Miranda and Stuart accolades which they very much deserve. Well done.
— Sheridan Bruce, Wotzon
www.wotzon.com/diary/SBruce/
Biographical story about Miranda Harcourt who plays herself. who plays herself, written by her husband Stuart McKenzie who joins her on stage later in the play. It is really good, much more frankness about their relationship(s) than many of us would enjoy seeing about ourselves.
Bits of it are hysterically funny – others take your breath away.
I’m a Harcourt fan. Remember Dame Kate when she was a TV children’s host and being about a decade older that Miranda have watched her develop into a deep and brilliant actress over the years.
Using video clips for interaction was a technique I hadn’t seen before – it worked well … See it.
— Trevor Mallard, Red Alert
http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/04/10/biography-of-my-skin/
Downstage is on a roll with yet another top quality and highly entertaining New Zealand work, Stuart McKenzie's portrait of his wife, Miranda Harcourt, and their marriage. I thought I was going to see a solo play but it turns out that while Miranda takes centre stage for most of the time she shares the stage and a vast screen that covers the entire back of the stage with many others throughout its 85 minutes in Tim Spite's immaculate production.
If you think this is the apotheosis of luvviedom you are mistaken. Tim Spite writes in the programme that by turning the lens on themselves, they are holding a mirror to the audience. The truth of this was demonstrated to me when the lady next to me, a tourist from overseas who had never heard of the Harcourt family, said that she was thoroughly engaged and entertained throughout the performance.
While there are scenes of pathos and poignancy what saves the play from a surfeit of egocentricity is its honesty and the deprecating humour of both husband and wife and from the cleverness of its structure as their differing points of view are bounced off each other and one is never quite sure where reality and fiction begin and end as the conventions of theatre are turned inside out with Stoppardian-like skill.
Arguments develop between Miranda on stage and Stuart on screen (all the filmed sequences are brilliantly presented by Robert Larsen) and tensions occur when Miranda deviates from the script which Stuart, upset playwright and quality control supervisor, demands she stick to. She leaves in a huff and [the lighting operator] has to take over her role reading her lines from the back of the theatre.
Camiknickers, old boy and girl friends, seat belts, a hand-made skin lotion, a wedding dress, Gloss, Princess Diana, and well-known and unknown New Zealanders as well as criminals all play a part in this portrait of a marriage and an actress who learns that she can't act her way through giving birth to her daughter. It was received with rapturous applause.
— Laurie Atkinson, DominionPost
www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2572
For those who haven't seen this play, it would be easy to think: actors, eh, gawd what a narcissistic bunch, touring a performance autobiography. As Miranda says: "Never trust an actor."
But exactly; she says it. Miranda Harcourt as "Miranda" - the character written for her by her husband, Stuart McKenzie - can laugh at herself. This is no self-indulgent vanity project; instead, the character is appealingly quirky and a recognisable everywoman, a "mirror" held up to the audience.
Like many, Miranda is burdened with working woman's guilt, saying she didn't produce grandchildren for her dying father because "I was too busy with my career".
Unlike many, she takes driving lessons between work and home because they are cheaper than taxis. After she finally does give birth as a "geriatric mother" of 35, she scatters her father's ashes with ash from her son's placenta.
She talks in an intimate, domestic, everyday manner about things we usually leave under wraps - youthful indiscretions, violent offenders, not being comfortable in her own skin.
Birth and death are treated as both meaningful and commonplace. The result is moving, and very satisfying.
Skilfully, she holds smooth "conversations" with people who appear on the huge screen that dominates the clean, shallow set - a technically sophisticated business.
This is where "Stuart" - ie McKenzie - would appear onscreen to say: "But she's only saying my words".
We are constantly reminded this is a play within its own play, a biography within a life, a real-life act of marital trust onstage, as Harcourt as muse interprets the piece she has inspired. Whose story is this: Miranda's or Stuart's?
That self-consciousness is a running joke rather than a clunky device - the pair wear their cleverness lightly.
Refreshingly, their love and unorthodox courtship are presented not as "happily ever after" but as a strong work-in-progress, occasionally in need of counselling, which delights them both.
It's like having your most entertaining, self-disclosing friends around for dinner, affectionately one-upping each other all night. Enjoy the ride.
—Janet McAllister, The Herald
www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment-reviews/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502967&objectid=10675413
The cinematic titles on the large rear-wall screen indicate the start of the show. Then the large on-screen smiling face of local celebrity Miranda Harcourt gets straight into the title theme, relaying her tumultuous battle with problem skin, only to be interrupted by her real-life self charging in late for her own play.
This odd scenario perfectly sets us up for almost two hours of anything-goes style theatre. Breaking the fourth wall has long transcended its radical origins to become a familiar convention, but in the course of telling their very personal stories between them Harcourt and her husband and playwright Stuart McKenzie manage to ‘break’ all four walls, plus the fire exit and a large onstage chest full of costumes and props.
Biography of my Skin marks the third installment of a biographical family trilogy after the short film Voiceover explored the early career of Miranda’s father, veteran broadcaster Peter Harcourt, and the 1998 play Flowers From My Mother’s Garden, also written by Stuart about (and performed by) Miranda with her mother Dame Kate Harcourt. I haven’t had the fortune to watch either of the preceding works; fortunately this remarkable work stands alone.
It’s quite a feat to utilise the potentially glib devices such as interacting with the projections of herself, her friends and family and some endearing character ‘re-enactments’ played by director Tim Spite and others, without it coming across as simply that – glib, clever but trite amusement, a diversion rather than a means to take the story deeper. Yet this is what has been achieved: a strong, affecting, honest and loving insight to the world of these people.
The other obvious pitfall with any autobiographical piece is the risk of becoming overly self-indulgent. There’s certainly a fair dosage of it but like every other aspect presented in the play it’s unapologetically played with, analysed and cross-examined. That they don’t take it too far is measured by the simple fact that we never get bored or want them to stop.
There are many surprises both comic and tragic along the way, and the time-line is all over the place to put it mildly. Starting from now each little yarn, account, and anecdote takes us back or forth to any point in her life between age about nine and the present, yet I’m never confused as to where each scene fits in the overall chronology.
I shan’t poke deeper into any existential implications or attempt to evoke the masterful deconstruction of theatrical, not to mention familial, convention – that could end up being a complete thesis unto itself. It’s always a challenge for a reviewer to evoke a theatrical experience in words, all the more so with a piece so unique and complete in and of itself as this.
I will point out that effective and powerful as Miranda Harcourt’s presence and delivery is, and however effective she may have been if she had performed it truly solo, the presence and input of husband Stuart lends a huge amount of weight to the prevailing message that none of us are islands and it’s our differences which show up our individuality. Moreover, the striking and well-integrated AV design by Robert Larsen and original music of Thomas Press provide further welcome enhancement.
A post-post-modern retrospective, Biography Of My Skin is the most courageously barefaced confessional work I have witnessed since Mervyn Thomson’s solo opus Passing Through. By the end, there’s a palpable sense of catharsis, as though all the struggles and complications leading up to its conception are finally vindicated, put to rest so that now the life they have been attempting to create all this time can now ensue.
—Nik Smythe, Theatreview
www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=3376
OK... I was expecting to learn heaps tonight, but one thing that had never clicked in my head was that Gordon and Miranda Harcourt were brother and sister... How can someone in their mid-30s, who is a fan of Fair Go not know this? (Gosh I shudder writing mid-30s in reference to myself)...
I have to say this right from the outset: Miranda Harcourt is a freaking genius! To carry a show like this with it's expertly navigated maze of live drama and video discussions (with significant characters from her past), is truly something that will have you on the edge of your seat... Miranda is someone that I have never really seen in action other than what I remember of Gloss (which never featured prominently in my viewing priorities to be fair). But on a stage, with a crowd, and a kick-bottom script - Miranda Harcourt is in her element. She is larger than life and I am a total convert to her Miranda-ness. I won't give away much of what is in the show, I just don't think that would be fair really - you have to see this show for yourself... Stuart McKenzie's script is SHARP and incredibly funny... however...
There are times during this show where I felt completely absorbed into the story, as my recollections of childhood memories connected with the events that form the backdrop of Miranda's life. In my head it was completely as if the 3 of us (Writer, Actor and Audience) were laying out pictures from our lives, onto a large canvas... A collage-a-trois if you like...
I felt challenged as a parent, as a husband and always find comfort that in many of the toughest times that I have had to face, that there are others that have survived similar things. This show is unceasingly honest and I find that to be totally refreshing. I loved the banter between Miranda and her Husband, and also the banter that was so expertly timed between Miranda and her video friends... I had taken my 21yo little sister and she really loved this show - the humour was timeless, so not just for us 80s geeks. She was even thinking of friends that she thought should come!
I can't emphasize enough that you truly have to get to this show. It not only captures the life of our country through a couple of awesome decades, but sheds light on the life of someone who has invested much of themselves in making those decades memorable for US. You WILL laugh and by the end of the night, you would have to be a brick if you hadn't had a hint of a tear in your eye.
Thank you Miranda for a good laugh that will have me up into the wee-small hours reading Milton to my breast-feeding wife.
— Al Rosenberg, Kissmyarts
kissmyarts.posterous.com/gordons-sister-rocks-my-world
One woman plays conjure up images of angsty, pain-filled hours squirming on bare wooden seats. So, had I realised that “Biography of My Skin” was a one woman show there is absolutely no way I would have made an appearance.
But once again, my dismal failure to research landed me, literally, in the hot seat. Ten seconds into the play, pressed smack bang up against the stage, staring at a giant screen as Miranda Harcourt’s teeth mouthing the opening words “I always had bad skin…” I realised this was my worst nightmare. Oh no, I thought, crap, get me out of here – but before I could exit stage left Miranda (herself) appeared on stage and started mouthing off at her alter ego. And ten seconds later I was laughing so hard any thoughts I had of crawling my way out under the rows of (people-packed!) chairs had fled!
Miranda Harcourt’s play is a thoroughly enjoyable time – and while not completely devoid of cringe-worthy moment these are deftly dealt with a strong side of wit and humour. “Biography of My Skin” starts as a re-telling of Miranda’s life, chronicling the scars on her body and how they got there - but it quickly morphs into the love story of her marriage – a “how-we-met” and “how we have survived.”
A bare stage set with a giant screen provides appearances from other individuals in Miranda’s life – preventing this from becoming a one-sided narcissistic view. And, as the story evolves from chronology to love story, Miranda’s husband appears first on screen and then on stage – allowing you a wonderful insight into the dynamics of their love. Frustrated at times, complex, in need of counselling, the world of two very different people collide and it is their enduring love for each other that holds them together.
While you are invited to witness this (much scripted) relationship and life – it never once feels voyeuristic. Miranda and Stuart manage to share their love – that of a Death of God Theologian paired with a high strung drama queen – in a way that is inviting, witty, and never burdensome.
Thoroughly recommend this!
— Athalia Bond, Thread
www.thread.co.nz/news/5435/15/Under-her-skin/d,thread-article
...Biography of My Skin worked on several levels. Although intensely personal it radiated universality as audience members instantly recognised and connected with events and characters....This is a brave performance that laughs in the face of the traditional New Zealand belief that you shouldn’t expose your personal life.
But then McKenzie and Harcourt have always bioldly pushed the boundaries of the theatrical world with amazing results. Biography of My Skin is no exception. Like life itself — it is priceless.
— Jo Hills, Taranaki Daily News
What a joy to have such a consummate actor playing in Nelson.
Miranda Harcourt just blows her audience away with her rapid-fire non-stop personal story. Her vivacity knows no bounds and bubbles on through the whole performance.
She not only reveals many family "secrets" but does so with an outlandish sense of humour that brings them all close to home. All can identify with her problems, disasters and triumphs. ... A large audience showed delighted approval ...with prolonged applause and three curtain calls.
—Arch Barclay, Nelson Mail
Dear Miranda, Dear Stuart –
I don’t normally do ‘plays’. I guess that’s because I could never hear what anyone was saying. But now I can. I’m glad I came to yours. Today I’m 30 and have a baby on the way. Nicola brought me tickets. We’ve been married almost 2 years now.
We were curious to see what this ‘play’ was all about. It’s always interesting when you know the characters on stage. And you two are characters.
Stuart, I remember you talking about this project years ago, when Neil Pardington, you and I worked on the titles of For Good … I didn’t like that script (For Good) much. The content too rough.
But this one. This one was a doozy. It crackled and popped, slipped and slithered, cuddled and caressed its way along. Stuart the director, scriptwriter, puppetmaster, Miranda the pawn, or was it the other way around? Stuart are you Miranda? Miranda are you Stuart?
Stuart I’d forgotten you were such a good actor. But I suspect you were playing yourself. And Miranda, wow.
It’s such a good story, you two are so eventful. There were harrowing parts too, I teared up when you mentioned that bootprint on a card. I’d gone from laughing to despair. But I suspect it was a ‘didn’t kill us, made us stronger’ moment.
I especially like how you wove your children into this, endearing beautiful pictures they are.
But what most interested me was the on stage dynamic between you ‘Stuart’ and you ‘Miranda’. What it’s like to live and work together. What It’s like to find yourselves – discovering you’re comfortable in your skin.
Bravo.
—Clem Devine
www.clemdevine.com/
