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Media pursue an unruly tourist outside the court in Hamilton.
Photo: screenshot
It is aiming to portray the group s infamous campaign, as it reportedly stole, littered, and verbally abused its way through the North Island in 2019.
NZO general director Thomas de Mallet Burgess said inspiration struck when the ordeal unfolded, shortly after he had moved to New Zealand. It struck me as extraordinary, the amount of interest that they garnered as they moved around the country.
He said the show would primarily be a comedy, although more weighty aspects of the event would be examined. Aside from the essential comedic value of the unruly tourists being hunted by the media and people of New Zealand. there was also possibly a more serious theme about people coming from abroad and rampaging across the country.
Unruly Tourists as a title that gives off a “Shakespearean” feel; a story fit for the stage. Fast-forward a year and a half and de Mallet Burgess has amassed a talented team to chronicle the affair. They include renowned composer Luke Di Somma and first-time librettists but longtime funny-women Livi Reihana and Amanda Kennedy, of The Fan Brigade fame.
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The unruly tourists wreaked havoc across New Zealand in 2019. (file photo) “We had been fully invested in the whole story,” says Reihana, describing how the two were quick to jump at the opportunity when de Mallet Burgess first proposed the idea last year.