Massive Moment:
Hunting the Heart

35 years ago, Massive Theatre Company (then known as Maidment Youth Theatre) presented its inaugural production, ‘Hunting the Heart’. The eight-night production was staged at Auckland’s Maidment Theatre, where the company was originally housed for seven years.

Opening night was February 8, 1991 — a summer evening that marked the beginning of what would evolve into a multigenerational company for performing artists, and one of Aotearoa’s most beloved and longest-standing theatre companies. At the dawn of the 90s, Maidment Youth Theatre was an environment for young performers to make excellent theatre, for FREE, so that economics would not be a barrier to participation. Not much has changed. Under Founder Sam Scott, the company would go on to be renowned for its high-quality, meaningful physical and devised theatre in New Zealand, becoming a home to hundreds of artists and telling real stories of Aotearoa.

The audience for ‘Hunting the Heart’ saw a cast that many of whom would go on to become household names, such as Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and Jodie Rimmer (In My Father’s Den), as well as Dale Corlett, Frances McCahon, Larissa Marno, Sefa Enari, Nick Tarulevicz, Rita Stone, Laura Valient, Sharyn Duncan, Victoria Sealy, Rachel Crowther, Soozie Everard, Gavin Downie, Frith Joiner, Jane Aldersley, Heather Skinner, Darron Nicholls, Rebecca Bowden, Mervyn Whitley and Gareth Kayes. Directed by Sam Scott and Anna Marbrook was a production that at its heart was about connection, risk, and the joy of shared creative experience.

Jodie Rimmer reflects on being part of the cast, “Being part of Maidment Youth Theatre when I was just 16 was a magical experience… reaffirming for me that this is absolutely where I wanted to be. Sam Scott and her village are remarkable in that they have managed to keep this going and going so strong! So important for our rangatahi, so important for mental health. And so vital for the world to have wondrous impactful theatre and storytelling.”

‘Hunting the Heart’ was an extraordinary tale of puritans, dancing princesses and a banana… Inspired by Jeanette Winterson’s novels ‘The Passion" and ‘Sexing the Cherry’. Devised co-operatively by the whole company, each contributed to the characters and storyline over the four weeks taken to produce the work. The work was a combination of the ideas, spontaneity, and generosity of 1991s Maidment Youth Theatre.

Maidment Youth Theatre went on to make 13 new works before becoming Aotearoa Young People's Theatre in 2002 and finally being renamed Massive Theatre Company in 2010, no longer primarily a youth theatre company.

From those early days in the Maidment Theatre, Massive has grown into a company that not only stages compelling work but also nurtures generations of emerging and professional artists. Today, as we look back 35 years on, that summer’s evening marks the beginning of it all. The birth of a beloved theatre company that has had a profound impact on the performing arts ecology of Aotearoa.