Our Year 11, 12, and 13 Drama students had the fantastic opportunity this week to attend a performance of "Patty With a WhY," a new, award-winning theatre work written and performed by Ōtepoti-based artist Patty Klinpibul.
The show, which delves into the complexities of growing up abroad and navigating adulthood as a Third Culture Kid (TCK), took place at the St Hilda's Collegiate School Drama space, as a shared performance for senior drama students of St Hilda's and John McGlashan College. The show has already played the Dunedin and Auckland Fringe Festivals earlier in the year.
"Patty With a WhY" tells the story of a young woman, born in Thailand and raised in Malaysia and Egypt, as she revisits the people and places she's supposed to call home. The nearly hour-long monologue, developed as part of the 2023 Ōtepoti Theatre Lab Playwrights Programme, is brought to life through Patty’s engaging performance, with dramaturgy and direction by Emily Duncan.
The set design, a simple yet effective arrangement of three boxes with cutouts of various fruits, adds color and symbolism to the stage, drawing our eyes to the center where Patty spends most of the performance. Through her wry humor and storytelling, she transports the audience to different locations, using the fruit as a clever metaphor for her journey and the sense of place.
Our students were captivated by the semi-autobiographical nature of the piece, as it resonated with themes of identity, belonging, and the quest for answers to life's big questions. Whether or not they identified as TCKs, everyone found themselves relating to Patty's exploration of her own "WhYs."
Experiencing "Patty With a WhY" was an inspiring and thought-provoking experience for our senior Drama students, offering them a valuable look into the creative process of developing a solo performance. We can't wait to see how our own students apply the lessons from this incredible work to their own drama projects in the future!
We thank Patty for taking time out of her day job to perform her show for us. It was a very worthwhile experience for all.
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