Kaikoura script E Rua judged best in Crashbash 2003

24 June 2003

E Rua, the winning stage script for Crashbash 2003, was written by Lynnette McGregor, a year-13 (7th Form) student at Kaikoura’s Pari Nui O Whiti Correspondence School.

E Rua will be performed by paid actors at school assemblies in February next year.

The 2003 theme, Alcohol Limits for Young Drivers, was chosen by the planning team because of the proportion of teenagers being convicted.

Four scripts were picked for the 2003 finals performance, held on 20 June in the Great Hall of the Arts Centre. The event’s format was changed this year, with scripts judged on the strength of their message and their ability to be staged for school assemblies. The other finalists were from Ellesmere, Linwood and Christ's colleges.

Elizabeth O’Connor, the convener of adjudicators, says Ms McGregor’s work was the stand-out.

“ It is an exceptionally well-structured play,” she says. “It gathered emotional and dramatic momentum as it went on and came to a very strong conclusion. It has the potential to be really quite theatrically gripping with a professional production and it’s multi-layered –- using karanga, naturalism and a collage of voices and images to achieve its effect.”

Ms O’Connor says it is great to see Crashbash encouraging playwrights and composers.

“ There were at least a couple of plays by people who should go on and write more drama and I’ve told them so. There was an absolutely beautiful song composed and it’s nice to see the competition encouraging composers as well as writers.”

Crashbash has been going for 10 years. It was set up by Christchurch Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD) and is now run by the Christchurch City Council's Community Alcohol Action Project. Its aim is to encourage teenagers to think about issues to do with drink-driving.

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