Tell me your
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| Despite my tiredness I felt compelled to attend the production “into The Naughty Corner,” held at Henderson’s Mau theatre. I have driven all day from Napier via Taupo, which is, for those of you in foreign lands, in the middle of New Zealand’s North Island. The last thing I wanted to do was to drive across Auckland that evening. However I made the effort and I was not disappointed. The theme and actors were brilliant. As it states in the promotional blurb Auckland’s “Kingseat, Carrington, St John’s were all 'naughty corners' in their day. Places where people with an intellectual disability were sent before the advent of care in the community and more ‘enlightened’ times. The cast have all lived and worked through intellectual disabilities and use the play as a medium to speak about their experiences of growing up different in the shadow of the old institutions. The production showed glimpses of the controlled life of institutions where participants’ liberty was squashed at every opportunity. Thankfully we, the audience, had the privilege of witnessing the other lives of these people. Colourful lives that included horse riding and collecting “gold” from the streets. The gold, some might say, was other people’s unwanted trash but as the climactic scene stated, we must look for the gold within us all. |
 "I would love to hear your story" states Ross Flood |
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The show also laid bare the tragic romance of one of the actors whose husband died of a heart attack in the fourteenth year of their marriage. This courageous lady reached out and the audience embraced her. As part of my research into writing the history of the Cerebral Palsy Society I have come across individuals who were willing to talk about their experiences in institutions. They spoke about the loss of freedom and their determination to break out to become members of the real world. I would love to hear more of these stories because I want a better understanding of life in an institution. If you have such a story please feel free to contact me. (Contact details below) Ross Flood- Editor |
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