November 7-10 will see Caroline Thomas embracing her whimsy, as this year’s Steampunk Festival rolls into town.
Steampunk The Thames committee chair Caroline has been involved in the festival for several years. But this year’s theme, Down the Rabbit Hole, is an amalgamation of everything she loves about the genre.
“The theme can be interpreted in many ways,” she said.
“I mean, the basic way is Alice in Wonderland. But of course, we talk about people having conspiracy theories and going down a rabbit hole. So it’s entering a world of fantasy, I guess – anything goes.”
This theme in particular offered Caroline the chance to lean into her favourite aspects of steampunk.
“Many, many years ago when I was a student, I had a lecturer who told me I wrote like a Victorian. And it’s the Victorian side of things which appeals to me, as opposed to the more avant-garde, Mad Max themes that people are into.”
Caroline, like many others in the steampunk scene, plans to slip into her alter-ego persona over the festival weekend. As well as Victoriana, Lady-Break-A-Nail was heavily influenced by Caroline’s love of Oscar Wilde.
“I based it on Lady Bracknell… Very proper, a bit of a social climber,” she said.
“[She] was a fairly common person who married well and became a bit of a social snob. So I based my persona on her, which is partly me.
“It gives you the opportunity to express yourself in ways that in conventional society might be considered quite rude, you can call a spade a spade without offending people.”
Caroline never intended to fall quite so far into the steampunk rabbit hole.
“I sort of fell into steampunk almost by accident. They were looking for a treasurer some years ago… My husband had passed away and I was at a bit of a loose end with what to do with myself,” she said.
“I thought, ‘oh, well, it won’t hurt to do this, it would be something that I could do from home. It wouldn’t involve a lot.’ At that stage, I had no intention of joining in.”
Of course, the society members quickly encouraged her to give it a try, and she said she hasn’t looked back since. The appeal, Caroline said, was that it’s such a welcoming, inclusive and permissive space.
“Steampunk gives people, I think, an opportunity to step outside the ordinary and become someone that they would like to be, but social convention prevents them from living that sort of life full time,” she said.
This year’s festival will include all the favourites – high tea, teapot racing, the Strut and the parade. But the committee has also planned a few surprises.
“This year a number of events are actually being held in the Civic Centre – we’ve brought them all together under one roof,” she said.
“And we are planning on having an illuminated structure outside.”
Caroline wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics of the sculpture, other than its name, Full Spectrum. But she tempered the mystery by offering up a hint of another new event, to take place on Sunday at Victoria Park.
“For the first time, we are having hobby-horsing… We encourage people to make their own hobby horse and bring it along,” Caroline said.
“[It’s] a very, very big thing overseas, they have international competitions and they adhere to the equestrian rules… They have to learn how to walk like a horse, to trot like a horse. And yes, it’s a bit of frivolous fun as far as I’m concerned, but overseas, they take it very seriously.”
DETAILS: The Steampunk Parade is on November 9, 11am on Pollen St, Thames. See www.steampunkthethames.co.nz for more.
