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Festivities reach their crescendo on June 21.

Catch North America’s premiere Indigenous arts and culture festival this summer in Vancouver.

Adapted from ‘Up Down Boy’ by Sue Shields with Myrtle Theatre Company Reviewed by Sonya Stewart It’s time for Mattie Baker (Lily Harper) to leave home and go to college, and Mattie’s mum (Trudy Pearson) is helping her pack. Or rather, she is doing the packing while the energetic and easily distracted Mattie is zooming around in a cape, listening to songs and playing with her imaginary friends (Michiel van Echten and Mycah Keall). In the end the only thing she tries to pack is a lifesize cutout of Shane from Westlife. As many mothers of a teenage girl would attest, “most of my life i...

Up Down Boy. Mudge met Harper when he ran a performance company for people with intellectual disabilities out of the Globe theatre in Palmerston North. “I was instantly caught by her unique perspective of the world and natural talent for performing. She brings an openness and huge desire,” Mudge said. Harper projects her own life experience to the story augmenting the original play with dance, song, skits and shadow play. “That process was led by Lily so what you see onstage is an extension of how she sees the world,” Mudge said. Harper’s commitment to her role rivalled any ...

They've adapted it from British writer Sue Shield's play  Up Down Boy. Harper's version tells the story of 19-year-old Mattie as she prepares to move out of home for the first time. She won best emerging actor at last year's Central Regional Theatre Awards dreams of touring the play around the country, starting with Wellington. Ultimately she wants the cast of  Shortland Street to come to see it, not only as a devoted fan of the TV series but because it was a hurtful scene from the show that made her determined to challenge stereotypes surrounding the condition. "One particular storyline a...