These PreNZels are making me thirsty!

By: Juliet Cottrell*

This blog is part of a series documenting the progress of the Pretzel Theatre Collective, a project within the Incubator for Creative Impact.

“They’ll probably say we have lots of sheep” and “Do they even know where we are?”. “I bet they think we’re part of Australia”. These were among the responses given when I asked the PreNZelers (Pretzel NZ)  what they thought the ‘others’ would say about them. None of the preconceptions were to be revealed until after we had made our intro video - so my next question was ‘Well then, what do you want to say about you and about New Zealand? By ‘others’ I mean the young theatre makers in the other four pilot pretzel countries - Abu Dhabi, Canada, England and China. On this, they were sure. Sustainability, sport, food, scenery, weather, earthquakes and mythbusting! 

Some of the NZ Pretzels have been students of mine for over four years. They are comfortable in the drama space, experienced performers and claim they have found their ‘tribe’ with after-school drama, working with students from seven other schools across the district ranging from public to private and including Rudolf Steiner school students. Others have only joined us recently and new group dynamics creates a sense of ‘awkward excitement’. Our weekly meetings have just kicked off for the year and many have just made the transition to High School. Drama is their stability in a sea of hormones and uncertainty. I love the raw energy of this age group, the vulnerability yet the confidence with which they navigate the world.  

We’ve looked closely at the goals of the UNESCO Soeul Agenda, in particular the “social and cultural challenges facing today’s world” and have started to form an idea about what we would like to create a play about. Their thoughts and ideas around what the challenges are range from mental health to environmental struggles and everything in between. ‘Man up’ and the myths around zero tolerance featured heavily as did anxiety and depression. The main barriers to wellbeing discussed were school systems, social media, toxic masculinity and discrimination of all types. In the end the ‘PreNZels’ decided on a ‘realistic game of life’.  I’ve decided to introduce them to Collage Theatre as a genre to underpin their ‘game-themed’ theatre design. Intertwined in all of this is the desire for them to say ‘You are not Alone’. It’s early days and we are looking forward to receiving the next round of videos from our international partners to springboard off and to help us cement our ideas for continuing the creative process.

One thing’s for sure - as storytellers, these kids are sassy, slightly stroppy, strong-willed and hungry (or should I say thirsty) for opportunities to share. 

I would like to mention here that the NZ Pretzels expressed a desire not to reference the Coronavirus in their perceptions of other countries, in particular China, out of concerns that had recently been raised around offensive and racist behaviour in our country and others. Our thoughts are with Man Cheung and his Pretzelers who were due to get going in February but have now postponed to begin in March. We will keep the wheels of Pretzel Theatre turning in the meantime and look forward to you joining us soon

Ngā mihi nui,

Juliet Cottrell

*Juliet Cottrell

Juliet Cottrell. Dip. Teach, B.Ed, Masters Applied Theatre and Drama Education (Hons).

Juliet has 30 years teaching experience in primary drama, teacher training, theatre for young people, teacher professional development and Arts immersion programs in schools with a focus on enhancing literacy.  She co-owns a performing arts school in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.