Here at Channel, we’re thrilled to see that the popular Takapuna beach performance of a segment of Bruce Mason’s ‘The End of the Golden Weather’ takes place again this year at Takapuna Beach Reserve (near the playground) on Christmas morning.
Stephen Lovatt, who first performed it under the direction of Roger Hall as a Christmas Day tribute to Takapuna and to Bruce Mason, right on the beach where the work was written and set, again performs an extract, Christmas at Te Parenga, from this much-loved play, focusing on a planned family Christmas.
Stephen’s presentation celebrates Takapuna (thinly disguised as Te Parenga) and some of the trials and eccentricities of its residents in the 1930s, and has become very much a North Shore Christmas tradition, with families adjourning to the beach reserve from present-opening to share what is now part of Takapuna’s heritage.
Every year since 2006, thousands of people of all ages have shared Christmas morning on the reserve with family, friends and neighbours, collectively enjoying part of a truly classic New Zealand play that celebrates the lazy, sun-dappled spirit of Christmas beloved by all Kiwis.
With Rangitoto and the sounds and smells of the ocean as a backdrop, and framed by pohutukawa, the performance of ‘The End of the Golden Weather’ epitomises the halcyon days (and classic rivalries and tensions) of a beachside New Zealand Christmas. The story is told from the childhood perspective of a character who no doubt encapsulates some of the experiences of Bruce Mason and his contemporaries growing up in Takapuna in the Depression. It’s a heart-felt memoir that recalls the sights, sounds, attitudes and personalities of 1930s Takapuna – and an acknowledgment of the inevitable growing up and awakening of a boy’s sense of the harsh realities of life.
The extract Stephen performs, short enough to retain the interest of young family members, captures the injustices of childhood seen through the eyes of the child who upstages a carefully planned family Christmas pageant. It is poignant, packed with laughs and the perfect way to begin celebrating Christmas Day.
Playwright and Takapuna resident Sir Roger Hall staged the inaugural performance before a small audience of friends and acquaintances in 2006. With the tradition firmly established, Sir Roger handed organisation of the event to Bruce Mason’s daughter Belinda in 2016, and the baton has now passed to Malcolm Calder.
Recent performances have attracted up to 600 who relish the performance, and share their lives, their coffee and nibbles, and even their folding chairs and rugs along with their Christmas-engendered goodwill.
Attendance is free with optional koha for Oxfam New Zealand. It is suitable for – and attracts – anyone of any age who is a New Zealander – or wishes to celebrate New Zealand (and Takapuna in particular) as it once was.
The End of the Golden Weather, 10.30am Wednesday 25 December 2019
Alternate wet weather venue – the Takapuna War Memorial Hall, The Strand
(Performance lasts about half an hour)
