Martyn Roberts
{{Short description|New Zealand theatre designer and photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Martyn Roberts
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|48|2014|12|10}}
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| occupation = {{Hlist|Lighting and set designer|photographer}}
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| known_for = afterburner (arts collective)
| notable_works =
| education = University of Otago (MFA, 2014)
}}
Martyn Roberts (born 1965 or 1966) is a New Zealand lighting and set designer and photographer, and founder of the arts collective afterburner theatre productions. Roberts has won 14 theatre awards. The afterburner production Dark Matter, conceived and created by Roberts won Best of Fringe at the 2017 NZ Fringe Festival Awards.{{Cite web |title=NZ Fringe Festival Awards 2017 |url=https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2022/06/15/02/26/03/NZ-Fringe-Festival-2017-AWARDS |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=Creative NZ – Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa}}{{Cite news |date=28 March 2019 |title=Converting quantum physics into art |work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/fringe/converting-quantum-physics-art |access-date=2022-11-09}}
Background
Roberts grew up in Wellington. He went on a PEP Scheme (Project Employment Programme) after school and worked with a theatre troupe in Northland. He then enrolled in a master's degree in theatre at Victoria University of Wellington and began working in lighting design in the mid-1990s.{{cite news |last1=Gibb |first1=John |title=Master of lights utilises deafness |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/master-lights-utilises-deafness |access-date=28 November 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |date=10 December 2014}}{{cite thesis |last=Roberts |first=Martin |year=2014 |type=Masters thesis |title=Dark Matter - Engagement Through Threshold States |publisher=OUR Archive, University of Otago |hdl=10523/4966}} In the 1990s over four years or so he worked with writer Jo Randerson, director and designer Andrew Foster, and actors Jo Smith and Jason White in the theatre company Trouble producing six shows. He won his first lighting design award in 1996 for the play Black Monk by Trouble and his second for their play The Lead Wait.
He founded the arts collective afterburner in 2001.{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Carolyn |date=December 2021 |title=The Empathy Machine: Luminosity in the heart of darkness |work=Down in Edin |issue=24 |url=https://issuu.com/downinedinmagazine/docs/downinedinissue24 |access-date=2022-11-09 |via=Issuu.com}} A lighting and set designer who has worked throughout New Zealand, and internationally in Sydney, Brisbane, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, Roberts teaches theatre technology and design in the Theatre Studies programme at the University of Otago.{{Cite web |last=O'Donnell |first=David |date=24 February 2017 |title="Dark Matter": An Interview With Lighting Designer Martyn Roberts {{!}} The Theatre Times |url=https://thetheatretimes.com/dark-matter-interview-lighting-designer-martyn-roberts/,%20https://thetheatretimes.com/dark-matter-interview-lighting-designer-martyn-roberts/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |language=en-US}} According to Roberts, being deaf has made him "very visually aware" and "has been a continual source of inspiration" for how he sees and relates to the world. In 2014 he graduated with a masters of fine arts degree in theatre studies from the University of Otago.
Past collaborations have included Airport Conversations, which afterburner developed together with The Company of Pleasure based in Melbourne, Australia, with funding from Creative New Zealand.{{Cite news |last=Benson |first=Nigel |date=30 December 2012 |title=Play arises from ashes of tragic Bangkok fire |work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/play-arises-ashes-tragic-bangkok-fire |access-date=2022-11-09}} The work is based on the tragic 1993 fire at the Kader Toy Factory in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2014 Roberts received a service honour medal from the Dunedin Theatre Awards in recognition of completing 'more than 50 professional shows'.{{Cite web |last=McAvinue |first=Shawn |date=2014-12-17 |title=Theatre puts on its own awards |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/theatre-puts-its-own-awards |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}
Roberts has won the Lighting Design award at the Chapman Trip Theatre Awards five times, been awarded five times at the NZ Fringe Festival Awards and four awards at the Dunedin Theatre Awards.{{Cite journal |last=Davies |first=Caroline |date=Dec 2021 |title=The Empathy Machine: Luminosity in the heart of darkness |url=https://issuu.com/downinedinmagazine/docs/downinedinissue24 |journal=Down in Eden Magazine |issue=24}}
afterburner major productions and critical reception
Afterburner specialises in productions hybridising installation and live performance.{{Cite web |title=Martyn Roberts |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/performing-arts/staff/otago629385.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628181444/https://www.otago.ac.nz/performing-arts/staff/otago629385.html |archive-date=28 June 2021 |access-date=9 July 2021 |website=University of Otago |date=5 March 2020 |language=en-nz}}{{Cite web |date=3 June 2020 |title=Transforming the Dark: Using Colour to Compose Sound in Dark Matter |url=https://www.critical-stages.org/21/transforming-the-dark-using-colour-to-compose-sound-in-dark-matter/ |access-date=12 December 2021 |website=Critical Stages/Scènes critiques |language=en-US}} Other major productions have included Fission, Nag, and The Cell Trilogy, which included The Singularity and The Telescope.
= ''The Cell Trilogy'' =
Between 2001 and 2008, afterburner created and presented a trilogy of work about astrophysics and human nature. The Cell Trilogy included Man on the Moon (2001), The Telescope (2002) and The Singularity (2008).{{Cite web |last=Atkinson |first=Laurie |date=14 April 2008 |title=T h e S i n g u l a r i t y – Puzzling, cryptic – and creepy |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=1355 |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=The Dominion Post}}
The Telescope involved composers Sebastian Morgan Lynch and Steve Gallagher present on stage while their music interacted with light and the performers' actions.{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=William |date=2005 |title=Fuel Festival of New Zealand Theatre (review) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tj.2006.0039 |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=737–742 |doi=10.1353/tj.2006.0039 |issn=1086-332X |jstor=25069747 |s2cid=192027139|url-access=subscription }} When presented at the FUEL Festival, reviewer William Peterson described it as fitting in with the New Zealand tradition of theatre practice of "a willingness to cross interdisciplinary boundaries".
The Singularity received mixed reviews; the design rated highly with the set and light "telling a story of its own" and the soundscape by Matthew Hutton adding value, but the script was described as "too cryptic".{{Cite web |last=Freeman |first=Lynn |date=16 April 2008 |title=T h e S i n g u l a r i t y – Singular piece of theatre |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=1358 |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=Capital Times}}{{Cite web |last=Smythe |first=John |date=12 April 2008 |title=T h e S i n g u l a r i t y – Allusive and elusive exploration of inescapable truth |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=1351 |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=TheatreView}} The Singularity was written and directed by Miranda Manasiadis, from an original story by Miranda Manasiadis, Roberts and Jason Whyte. The actors were Danny Mulheron, Jessica Robinson, Rose Beauchamp and Jason Whyte. Set design was by Roberts, lighting design by Roberts and Rob Larson.{{Cite web |title=PRODUCTION INFORMATION: T H E S I N G U L A R I T Y |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=702 |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=TheatreView}}
= ''Dark Matter'' =
File:Dark Matter credit M Roberts.jpg
Afterburner's 2016 production Dark Matter contributes to a small number of performing arts work in New Zealand that centre creative work by lighting designers "as a work about light".{{Cite web |last=Trubridge |first=Sam |date=18 February 2017 |title=DARK MATTER – Sculpts darkness as if it were a thing of immense solidity and form |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=9907 |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=TheatreView}} A review in Theatreview compared Dark Matter to works by David Lynch, in part because "the tension...never lets up for the full 45 minute performance" due to the darkness and the sound which "menaces and rumbles"; in other words, the tension makes the audience part of the piece.{{Cite news |last=Cunninghame |first=Allie |date=26 September 2018 |title=Beautiful, menacing, extraordinary, unique |work=Theeatreview |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=11255 |access-date=2022-11-09}}
The production Dark Matter won two Dunedin Fringe Festival awards in 2016, and Best of Fringe 2017 in the New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington.{{Cite web |date=March 2019 |title=Fission |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/otago707024.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190123/https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/otago707024.html |archive-date=9 July 2021 |access-date=9 July 2021 |website=University of Otago |language=en-nz}}{{Cite web |date=7 March 2017 |title=NZ Fringe Festival 2017 Awards |url=https://thebigidea.nz/stories/media-releases/213231-nz-fringe-festival-2017-awards |access-date=31 October 2022 |publisher=The Big Idea |language=en}} Dark Matter was also featured in the 2018 Dunedin Arts Festival and at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial as a virtual reality exhibit. Dark Matter came from Roberts' master of fine arts thesis.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Rebecca |date=11 February 2016 |title=Into the void |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/void |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}} Designer and critique Sam Trubridge places Dark Matter amongst the work of other lighting designers in New Zealand such as Tony Rabbit, Marcus McShane and Helen Todd (and her work with Lemi Ponifasio), who treat light as "an art form that is expressive in its own right". In Dark Matter the audience starts in complete darkness "unable to even see their hands in front of them" and so visually impaired it creates a "heightened sensory experience". The sound was created by Dr Jeremy Mayall.{{Cite web |date=3 June 2020 |title=Transforming the Dark: Using Colour to Compose Sound in Dark Matter |url=https://www.critical-stages.org/21/transforming-the-dark-using-colour-to-compose-sound-in-dark-matter/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=Critical Stages/Scènes critiques |language=en-US}}
= ''Fission'' =
File:Fission_credit_M_Roberts.jpg
Fission, produced by afterburner, was performed over five nights in March 2019 at the Allen Hall Theatre, telling the story of Lise Meitner, who discovered nuclear fission but was overlooked for a Nobel Prize despite being nominated 48 times.{{Cite web |title=Fission : Dunedin Fringe Festival |url=https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/events/fission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709193826/https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/events/fission |archive-date=9 July 2021 |access-date=9 July 2021 |website=www.dunedinfringe.nz |language=en}} It was an arts and science collaboration by theatre-makers and scientists that had a focus on process and learning. One of the frameworks of the project was a "bicultural performance process", and the project investigated connections between science and mātauranga Māori.{{Cite web |date=18 September 2020 |title="Fission": Entangling Science, Theatre and Mātauranga Māori. |url=https://thetheatretimes.com/fission-entangling-science-theatre-and-matauranga-maori/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=The Theatre Times |language=en-US}}
There were a number of workshops with reflection, research and meetings in between. The first workshop was in December 2016 with Rua McCallum (theatre-maker and Māori researcher), Megan Wilson (dancer), Roberts, Anna van den Bosch (technician), Hilary Halba and David O’Donnell (theatre directors) and scientists David Hutchinson and Dr Ian Griffin. Other collaborators were added to subsequent workshops.
At the time of the 2019 production Fission the team of 19 theatre professionals held 19 awards between them. A summary of the research in the creation of Fission is stated in a paper published in The Theatre Times:
In this work, a scientific theory such as quantum entanglement can also become a dramaturgical and aesthetic principle. Fission also demonstrates the considerable potential of collaborative devised theatre in opening up connections between Indigenous knowledge and scientific theories. (2020 – Hilary Halba and David O’Donnell with David Hutchinson, Rua McCallum and Martyn Roberts)
List of past productions
Selected list of productions worked on or produced by Roberts:
- Man on the Moon (2001), afterburner
- line:near (2001), afterburner
- The Telescope (2002), afterburner
- crossing the concourse (2004), afterburner
- Fog and Mirrors (2005), afterburner
- Radiolight (2005), afterburner
- Pathlight (2006), afterburner
- The Singularity (2008), afterburner, BATS Theatre. Written and directed by Miranda Manasiadis. Co-designed by Martyn Roberts and Rob Larsen
- Nag (2010), afterburner, Toi Pōneke, 61 Abel Smith Street, Wellington. By Marcus McShane with Peter Stenhouse, Andrew Shaw, Erin Banks, Thomas Press, Joseph Nicholls and Adri Lamprect{{Cite news |date=9 February 2010 |title=Afterburner presents: Nag |work=Scoop Media |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=STND&u=wikipedia&id=GALE|A218488682&v=2.1&it=r&sid=ebsco}}
- This Other Eden (2014), Opera Otago
- Dark Matter (2016),afterburner, Dunedin Fringe Festival
- Dark Matter (2017), afterburner, New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington.
- Dark Matter (2018), afterburner, Dunedin Arts Festival
- Dark Matter (2019), afterburner, Prague Quadrennial (virtual reality exhibit)
- Fission (2019), afterburner, Allen Hall Theatre, University of Otago, Dunedin{{Cite web |last=Malloy |first=Hannah |date=28 March 2019 |title=FISSION – Light and sound and matter made accessible |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=11630 |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=TheatreView}}
- Dr Bullers Birds (2006), New Zealand Festival of the Arts
- Last Resort Cafe, afterburner, at the Allen Hall Theatre
- Punk Rock, Fortune Theatre
- Yours Truly, by Albert Belz, BATS Theatre{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2017-02-16 |title=Loose Canons: Martyn Roberts |url=https://www.pantograph-punch.com/posts/loose-canons-martyn-roberts |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Pantograph Punch}}