When I was growing up, the sum total of New Zealand’s contribution to global culture was, essentially, the singer from Crowded House and Shortland Street – that’s to say, middle-of-the-road music for a middle-of-the-day soap opera crowd. I probably only noticed because my father is from New Zealand – he still uses the Edmonds cookbook and memorably described the birth of my son as “far out” – and since the age of about nine I have held a Kiwi passport.
So it has been a particular thrill this year to look across the listings for the Edinburgh festival fringe and see that it is packed with young, exciting New Zealand talent genuinely rivalling that from Europe and America. There’s Rose Matafeo, of course; star and co-writer of Starstruck, competitor in Taskmaster and voice in the forthcoming Moana 2. There’s Guy Montgomery, standup and presenter of Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee, which is simply clamouring for a UK television deal. Then you have standups Alice Snedden, Paul Williams, James Roque, Guy Williams and clown Trygve Wakenshaw.
In the world of film there’s obviously the woolly mammoth of Peter Jackson but also Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Jane Campion. For books there’s Meg Mason (she lives in Australia but we can still claim her) and Eleanor Catton.
Musically, as well as the all-conquering Lorde there are interesting solo artists such as Aldous Harding, Princess Chelsea, Jonathan Bree and the singer, songwriter and star of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, Marlon Williams. For a population of just over 5 million, that’s not a bad scene.
When I decided to make one of the main characters in my new novel a New Zealand standup coming to England after a DNA test surprise, it wasn’t a question of novelty but authenticity. London is full of Kiwi creatives, which makes their nationality believable as well as dramatically useful.
As to why there’s this boom in Kiwi culture, it’s difficult to say. A fringe benefit of Jacinda Ardern’s time as prime minister? The global power of social media? Or former PM Helen Clark’s children coming back to roost? Who can say? I’m just glad we’re no longer talking about Split Enz.
Nell Frizzell is the author of Holding the Baby: Milk, Sweat and Tears from the Frontline of Motherhood
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