In Supping with the Devil, Bolwell explores the extraordinary life of Leni Riefenstahl — known as "Hitler’s Pin-up Girl".
It was as a student at the University of Otago School of Physical Education that Bolwell first learned about Riefenstahl, when she saw excerpts from Riefenstahl’s film Olympia, on the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
In her show, Bolwell will use text, music, dance and videography to tell the story of Riefenstahl — a dancer, actor and one of the most innovative film-makers of the 20th century.
As a young film-maker, Riefenstahl was given the opportunity and the resources by Hitler to make films such as Triumph of the Will, on the 1933 Nuremberg Rally, and Olympia.
After World War 2, Riefenstahl was ostracised in Germany and never made another film until she was in her 90s.
She reinvented herself as a photographer to much success, with two best-selling books on the Nuba tribes in Sudan.
Bolwell said Supping with the Devil was "a psychological study of a superb artist who becomes corrupted in her quest for power and fame".
"In our play, we try to delve below the surface into her state of mind, the myth-making, the defensiveness, the blindness — often through the use of sound.
"Although this theatre work is set in the historical past, we believe it has contemporary relevance, as the world witnesses the rise of autocracies and populist leaders, and the serious challenges to democracy in the 21st century," she said.
The play’s lighting design is by Helen Todd, and its musical score is by Waikanae composer Jan Bolton.
• Supping With The Devil, by Jan Bolwell.
March 20, 21 and 22, at 6pm, New Athenaeum Theatre, The Octagon.
