The making of Mudereka: play creates mixed emotions

Elise Vollweiler a writer and mother living in Motueka.

OPINION: Fifteen years ago, freshly graduated from journalism school, I excitedly announced to my friends and family down south that I had been offered a reporting gig in Motueka.

I didn’t expect them to know much about Motueka – I certainly didn’t – but apparently the place had a notoriety that had filtered beyond the regional borders.

“Murdereka!” laughed my bestie. “You’re moving to Murdereka?”

The job offer’s shine was ever so slightly dulled. I had been feeling marginally smug – Motueka would definitely have better weather than Milton, after all – but South Otago was also not renowned nationally for its homicide flurries.

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Because the Murdereka moniker was already 17 years old by the time I arrived here, it has always felt like a nickname that belonged to history. It predated my tenure and my bond with the community, and it has never been part of my direct experience.

I am still fuzzy on the details, but I know enough that I’m almightily relieved those events didn’t take place when I was the one following up the emergency service sirens. Weapons. Drugs. Four murders in 10 months.

I listened wide-eyed to a new friend who told stories about a childhood with loaded shot guns primed in her family’s farming block. My partner and his siblings went to school with both the murdered and murderer’s children. These little realities are reminders that there are very few degrees of separation between the events and the people who still live here.

Nathan Green is another newish recruit to the Motueka census count. He moved to Mot from Wellington seven years ago and started listening to the town’s stories. Murdereka featured heavily.

“That, to my mind, was THE story,” he says. “It almost seemed like the essential Motueka story.”

He wrote the “Murdereka” script during 2020’s lockdown, and together with his friend Jaci Brown has produced a live theatre show that is set to run for three nights at Imagine Theatre later next week.

Nathan is at pains to point out that this is not a retelling but is instead, to quote the show’s advertising, “loosely inspired by tragic events of 1990”.

Locally, feedback about the subject matter is mixed. How could it not be? Nathan reports that most people are positive, “because it’s a show about Motueka, in Motueka”. Tickets sales are going quite well – “we’ve got ourselves a show,” he confirms.

And yet other people are horrified, assumedly because that time in Motueka’s history has never really receded for them.

“Some people aren’t very chuffed,” says Nathan. “I’ve met one or two people who I’ve had to listen to and just try to understand their point of view.”

Online, there are plenty of people tagging their friends to pick a night to attend. These messages sit amongst a jumble of opinions that either congratulate or chastise the producers.

“Totally understand the hours of work that has gone into this, however probably not the best subject choice for our town,” was one that politely summarised each viewpoint.

Depending on your own stance, tickets (age 13 and over only) are available from Eventbrite or on the door at Imagine Theatre, and cost $25 each. The show runs from Thursday March 2 to Saturday March 4, starting at 7.30pm.