THAT BLOODY WOMAN to Play The Court Theatre

That Bloody Woman, the smash hit rock opera about Kate Sheppard, makes its triumphant return to the suffragist's hometown with a season at The Court Theatre.

The musical by Christchurch-born writers Luke Di Somma and Gregory Cooper premie?red at the 2015 Christchurch Arts Festival with a completely sold-out season and rave reviews for its fiery, fresh and funny take on Sheppard's fight to give women the vote. Off the strength of that debut, The Court Theatre and Auckland Theatre Company jointly programmed the show in back-to-back seasons using the original cast and key members of the creative team.

That Bloody Woman recounts Kate Sheppard's personal and political life as a 90-minute extravaganza described by Di Somma as "One-third cabaret, one-third musical and one-third rock concert", with Sheppard (played by singer and actress Esther Stephens) front and centre as narrator, commentator and agitator. The feminist icon is reimagined from a face on the $10 note into an archetypical punk rebel, backed up by a "Gang" (Amy Straker, Phoebe Hurst, Cameron Douglas and Kyle Chuen), and engaging in a (fictional) confrontation with Prime Minister Richard "King Dick" Seddon (Geoffrey Dolan).

The 2015 Christchurch Arts Festival production was hailed by critics as "a kick ass punk rock musical full of infectious tunes that is unafraid to have fun, but just as unafraid to bring intelligence and insight to this powerful and important moment in history." (The Press). The "rebooted" production is similarly earning rave reviews in Auckland as "the show New Zealand didn't know it needed" (Metro), "a rockin' riot" (NZ Herald), "boisterous, slick and inspiring" (Theatreview), "a show that should be seen worldwide" (Theatrescene) and "a bloody great night out" (Newshub).

Stephens (currently on TV's Westside) leapt at the opportunity to "be part of something that hasn't been done before" and play a New Zealand icon. Stephens describes That Bloody Woman as "an enormous show, physically and vocally demanding and emotional, but those are absolutely its greatest strengths," hailing the musical as "all killer and no filler."

Director Kip Chapman was instrumental in adapting That Bloody Woman for the original spiegeltent venue in the Christchurch Arts Festival and is relishing re-jigging the work for its seasons in Auckland's SkyCity theatre and The Court Theatre. "The Court Theatre was where I fell in love with live theatre," says Chapman. "I could never have imagined that as an adult I'd be able to direct a show about one of our country's heroes." Co-writer and Musical Director Luke Di Somma likens the process as "moving from off-Broadway to a main stage".

Artistic Director of The Court Theatre Ross Gumbley programmed a rehearsed reading of That Bloody Woman as a work-in-progress at The Court in 2013 and is proud that a work the theatre supported in its infancy is returning fully formed to "explode off our main stage". Gumbley is also pleased that The Court is launching its new season with "a Christchurch story by Christchurch creatives."

The Court's current facility, "The Shed" is near the Addington community hall where the pivotal New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union and Suffragist meetings took place, as well as Addington Cemetery, where Sheppard is buried (she passed away shortly after New Zealand's first woman MP was elected). "We're proud to be performing so close to where women made history," says Gumbley, "and loud enough for Kate to hear."

"Sheppard stands as one of our very few superheroes, and arguably the greatest leader this country has produced," say Di Somma and Cooper. "She deserves her own musical and so we wrote one." Both writers feel there are still issues against which Sheppard campaigned that are still relevant today. "We think she'd be pretty appalled about our lack of progress: our persistent culture of domestic abuse, the underrepresentation of women in politics and business and the gender pay gap that still exists."

With rocking tunes, a strong political message and two of New Zealand's leading theatres championing the production, That Bloody Woman is set to ask audiences "What can we learn from history? What can we learn from her story?"

That Bloody Woman is currently being performed in Auckland's Sky City Theatre until June 26 and will play at The Court Theatre from 2-30 July. Audiences are advised that the show contains coarse language, loud music, smoke/strobe effects and ladies on bicycles.

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