The strike of creative inspiration doesn’t always coincide with a time in life when it can be acted upon. Ian Goode, Judene Edgar, and Debbie Brooks have all shown however, that time need not be a barrier to following a passion. They have all taken the courage to step out and launch into new projects recently. Their stories are an inspiration and show that anyone can take the plunge to have a go at a new creative endeavour, no matter what their age or stage in life.
This month Ian will swap his building tools for singing songs and perform on stage for the first time in 45 years.
Local builder Ian Goode is about to do something he hasn’t done since he was nine years old. At 54 he is once again going to stand on a stage and sing his heart out.
“I have always loved music,” he says, but apart from that early production which was ‘Joseph and his Technicolour Raincoat,’ he has not been anywhere near a stage since. “I can remember a few years after being in ‘Joseph’ I went to the theatre to see a production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and was completely blown away by it but there really wasn’t an opportunity to develop my singing any further so it became something I just did pretty much for myself,” he says.
English born and living on the outskirts of Hampshire, 2002 saw newly married Ian with wife Victoria invited by friends to drinks at the local pub. “They dropped a massive bombshell on us and announced that they were emigrating to New Zealand,” he says. “I remember that afterwards Victoria and I got into the car in complete silence before turning to each other and saying ‘we can do that too’.”
“After carrying out a bit of research and a recommendation from a friend who lived in Christchurch who was relocating to Nelson, we made the decision that this was the place where we wanted to be too,” he says.
Once here he threw himself into work which mostly involved building renovations and restorations. “It took a bout of depression a few years back to shake my singing voice back out of me,” he says. “As I crawled out of my well of misery I realised I had stopped singing altogether and actually needed it in my life for my enjoyment and well-being.”
An advertisement for auditions for Nelson Musical Theatre’s ‘Victors, Victims and Villains,’ caught his eye and he went along for fun. “I didn’t think for one minute I’d get a part, I was just going for the experience,” he says. “Since I hadn’t been on a stage in front of anyone since the age of nine, I was extremely nervous. I couldn’t believe it when I got a phone call a few days later to say I had a part in the show.”
“Although rehearsals are becoming a regular part of Ian’s week, he still finds them sometimes nerve-racking. “I don’t read music so can feel a bit out of my depth and at other times I am completely bamboozled,” he laughs. “Fortunately if I can hear how it is meant to go I can usually sing it.” A supportive cast and crew with a range of ages and experience are giving Ian confidence. “I am becoming a bit more excited now than nervous,” he says.
It won’t be long until March 17 when the show’s run of six performances begins and Ian finally returns to the stage after forty-five years, this time even with his own solo, ironically a number from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, the show that first enthralled him as a child so many years ago.
After finding a passion for performing art later in life, Judene has once again stretched herself, this time into writing a play
Judene Edgar has worn so many hats in her vibrant and varied life that it is no surprise that at fifty-three she has added another. In addition to currently being the Nelson city’s deputy mayor, and an actor and theatre producer in her “spare time” she has now added writer to her resume, having written a play about well-loved and prolific children’s author, Dr Seuss.
“When we were children, my sisters and I lived in a house with big front steps and we loved putting on shows on them,” laughs Judene. “I was always drawing and making crafts, so I guess creativity has always been in me. The idea of writing a play about Dr Seuss actually came to mind about seven years ago when I was acting in a show in the first Nelson Fringe Festival. It is somewhere for people with their creative L-plates on to start out and see if their creativity can grow into something more than an idea. Over the years I’ve also been a volunteer, a contractor, followed by time on the Fringe Trust. It seemed about time to stretch my wings and create a work myself.”
The worldwide controversy that ensued last year when six of Dr Seuss books were withdrawn from publication due to criticism that they contained racist and insensitive imagery was the impetus for Judene to finally put pen to paper and ‘Horton Hatches a Controversy’ was born.
The Covid lockdowns provided another motivator. “I attended a production at the Theatre Royal after the first lockdown ended and felt that I was ‘back’, that this is the place that centres me. Other people might find that in the bush or walking by the sea, but the theatre is where I really feel at home. It is a magical place where great ideas, talents, and skills come to life and that really excites me.”
Judene says that there’s a lot more to Dr Seuss than people realise. “He started as an advertising man, and then during the Second World War he created over four hundred political cartoons; he was very critical of Hitler and Mussolini and those who wouldn’t intervene. He was pro-worker’s rights and railed against those who were anti-Semitic. He did however have a few “blind spots” and, for a time, supported the internment of the Japanese.”
“My play is essentially about the controversy surrounding his work,” she explains. “When writing it I had firmly in my head a great quote from the late American poet Maya Angelou: ‘Do the best you can until you know better, then, when you know better, do better’. I actually think Dr Seuss would agree with the decision made to stop publication of some of his books. There is always an opportunity to change for the better and I wanted to address the need to give people a second chance – to learn, grow and change – but of course to acknowledge and apologise for their wrongdoings. Having a story inside you is one thing but taking the plunge and sharing it with the world is scary, but a challenge I’m ready for.”
It was a long, hard journey to motherhood for Debbie but the experience has led to a creative burst, writing her own children’s book
Debbie Brooks doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to talking about the birth of her son Joseph. “My husband and I had gone through six years of trying to get pregnant,” she says. “Two rounds of IVF and surgeries for my endometriosis left me with one embryo which was miraculously our son.”
The pregnancy was terrible. “I was in and out of hospital and extremely ill,” she says. “Even when he was born I couldn’t be alone with him because of my reduced heart function (PPCM).” The whole experience was an enormous rollercoaster but when Debbie looked at Joseph she realised the experience could be turned into an adventure. It was lift-off time as a writer.
Born in Illinois in the Midwest of the United States of America she was the oldest of ten children. “Despite having such a large family my Mom still made time to read to us,” she says. “I became a real bookworm, reading everything I could lay my hands on. Half of us have remained avid readers though and my Dad still regularly sends me book recommendations.”
Launching herself into writing however is a brand new experience. “I’ve always liked making up stories and have done creative writing courses as part of my university degrees,” she explains. Soon after university she travelled to South Korea with her best friend to teach English. “It was a huge culture shock,” she says. A Master’s Degree in childhood education however, stood her in good stead and she spent three and a half years teaching there. Part way through she came to New Zealand for a working holiday.
“I came here and married a local,” she laughs. Working in the couple’s business, Longbrook Landscapes is her day job but the writing has been something that has been tucked away waiting to bloom.
Debbie and husband Jeff didn’t know the sex of their child until he was born. “That was like an adventure in itself,” she says. “We had a baby shower and invited everyone to bring a book so we could start his own bookcase. It was the most wonderful thing. We wanted to instil in him right from the start a love for books and reading and he now has his own library filled with a wide range of children’s literature in all manner of styles and subjects.”
“I’ve always loved adventure stories and fairy tales and it is finally time to write my own. It is a tale about motherhood, about how I went through huge adventures and battled dragons, swimming through dangerous waters to finally meet our son. It is a really positive story that children from the age of six will be able to understand and enjoy. I’m so glad we pushed through the battle to have him and to see him so full of joy. The book will be a celebration of that experience and after thirty-eight years of reading other people’s stories I will finally be an author of my own.”
