{"id":639569,"date":"2026-10-24T01:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/639569\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T01:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:48:14","slug":"nic-sampson-turns-chaotic-1904-st-louis-olympic-marathon-into-silo-theatre-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/639569\/","title":{"rendered":"Nic Sampson turns chaotic 1904 St Louis Olympic marathon into Silo Theatre play"},"content":{"rendered":"

It comes after six years of writing about and researching the story. Sampson learned about the 1904 marathon while trying to find inspiration for an Edinburgh Fringe show, standard practice for any UK-based comedian. His life changed when he stumbled across a tweet urging people to read about the insanity of the race. \u201cIt was on a day when I was really despairing about what my show was going to be,\u201d Sampson said. \u201cAnd then I started reading the story and thought, \u2018This is insane, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve never heard about this\u2019, and then I could really see myself doing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"NicNic Sampson’s latest show is inspired by the 1904 Olympic marathon. Photo \/ Darren Skene<\/p>\n

In the chaos of the 1904 marathon, only 14 of 32 competitors completed the race. Before proper regulation of the sport, poor planning and intense heat led to racers running through dust clouds during the hottest part of the day, while trying to dodge traffic and wild obstacles after the course led them out of the stadium and into uncleared streets. <\/p>\n

Sampson said multiple themes in the story \u2013 such as the corruption involved and the \u201cstupidity\u201d of the race \u2013 are more relevant now than ever. \u201cThere\u2019s this whole story about them like testing out purposeful dehydration just because they think that humans potentially don\u2019t need water to perform well, and I just feel like we\u2019re going in that direction again \u2013 sort of \u2018Let\u2019s go against every sort of common sense thought that we have\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

Given it was only the third modern Olympics, Sampson believes there was much naivety among competitors who didn\u2019t know what they were getting into. \u201cThe organisers seemed to just only care about white Americans coming out on top. And as long as that happened, it didn\u2019t really matter what that took.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the story of Felix Carvajal \u2013 a Cuban who wasn\u2019t invited to the race, but travelled to St Louis of his own accord to take part \u2013 resonates with him most. \u201cFor me, when I read the story, he is the heart of it, and that\u2019s what really made me go, \u2018Oh, I\u2019d love to do this as a show\u2019, because clearly there\u2019s villains and there\u2019s heroes and underdogs and evil … It\u2019s just a fantastic story which is made a lot better by the fact that it really happened.\u201d <\/p>\n

After getting support from frequent collaborator Rose Matafeo, Sampson dived into the project. When Covid cancelled the Fringe, he tried to turn the story into a screenplay, before he realised it would be \u201cunfilmable\u201d without a massive budget. He went back to the solo show format and took it to the Fringe post-pandemic, where it garnered glowing reviews from the Daily Mail and the Telegraph, earning \u201ccult-hit\u201d status.<\/p>\n

\" Reviews for Nic Sampson’s show MARATHON, 1904. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Despite making a big splash, it wasn\u2019t an easy experience for Sampson. \u201cIt was just me just running on the spot for an hour in this tiny little room. I got Covid halfway through the season, and then when you\u2019re recovering from Covid and doing a show where you\u2019re running, you just drip buckets of sweat.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was enough of a hit to earn him a run at London\u2019s prestigious Soho Theatre \u2013 before picking up attention back home when Silo got in touch to turn it into a play. Sampson used elements from the abandoned screenplay to flesh out the story to multiple characters, but since he is UK-based, he has left it to the creative team and performers to bring it to the stage. It\u2019s the first theatrical work Sampson has written, but the latest move in a packed career. <\/p>\n

After starring as a Power Ranger as a teenager, Sampson went on to stand-up, becoming a core original member of improv group Snort alongside Matafeo, Chris Parker, Laura Daniel and Eli Matthewson. Earning a Billy T Award nomination in 2015, Sampson also served as head writer on Jono and Ben and worked on sketch show Funny Girls, with much of the Snort crew working on both shows. <\/p>\n

\"NicNic Sampson and fellow members of the comedy improv troupe Snort in 2020. <\/p>\n

Reflecting on the immense success the Snort alumni have had, Sampson said hanging out weekly with the same people allowed them all to thrive. \u201cI think once we all found each other and started doing the shows, it just became a sort of self-fulfilling machine of encouraging each other and learning from each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I mean, we were just kids, man,\u201d he jokes. \u201cIt sounds like one of those BBC music documentaries, and they\u2019re like, \u2018We didn\u2019t really know what we were doing.\u2019 We were just hanging out in the Basement every Friday, just f***ing around, you know?\u201d <\/p>\n

Since moving to the UK with his wife pre-Covid, Sampson has endeavoured to maintain links to New Zealand. A regular on the first six seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries, Sampson said he\u2019d likely have kept returning to film the drama if Covid hadn\u2019t meant he was written out. <\/p>\n

His Aotearoa connections proved beneficial in finding his feet in London. After a brief role in the first season of Matafeo\u2019s BBC sitcom, Starstruck, Sampson joined her and Alice Snedden in the writers\u2019 room for the final two seasons. \u201cIt just felt like we were working on Jono and Ben or Funny Girls but, like, with a budget,\u201d Sampson said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a very different show, but the working relationship is the same.\u201d <\/p>\n

He remains busy. At the time he spoke with Canvas, Sampson was working on post-production for the upcoming BBC sitcom Opening Up, which he co-wrote with comedian Amy Gledhill (of Taskmaster and Last One Laughing fame) and again reunited him with Snedden as director. \u201cI\u2019ve never worked on something that\u2019s all my thing from start to finish, and it\u2019s been amazing,\u201d Sampson said. <\/p>\n

\" Nic Sampson performing Yellow Power Ranger at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

His past has also been a source of opportunities (and embarrassing anecdotes) in the UK. In 2006, Sampson played one of the leads on Power Rangers Mystic Force, a wizard-themed season he describes as \u201cweird\u201d even by the standards of the long-running franchise. <\/p>\n

After moving to England, Sampson was invited to his first \u201cComic Con\u201d type event in Coventry. \u201cI got picked up from the train station, and the other guy in the car was the voice actor of the robot dog from Doctor Who. They took us to the Travelodge where we were staying, and there was a TGI Fridays attached to the Travelodge. <\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Do you want to go get some dinner\u2019, and he wanted to go to bed. So, I went to the TGI Fridays and ate alone. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day, I went to the convention, and as soon as I walked in the door, someone was like, \u2018I recognise you\u2019. And I was like, \u2018Yeah, Power Rangers\u2019, and he was like, \u2018No, you were eating alone at the TGI Fridays last night\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

\" Nic Sampson at a convention for Power Rangers. <\/p>\n

Awkward interactions aside, Sampson said conventions and meeting fans have been wholesome, and he\u2019s always surprised by how much the show means to fans. \u201cIt\u2019s so cool to be passionate about anything, you know? I wish I was. The marathon is probably the closest I get. If I was to get to meet Felix Carvajal, I would love to.\u201d <\/p>\n

MARATHON by Nic Sampson will show at Q Theatre, Auckland from November 12 to December 6. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes after six years of writing about and researching the story. Sampson learned about the 1904 marathon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[313447,24752,15408,3952,313448,18920,104738,3276,142013,156,22263,4508,8454,33444,13458,296,194,22050,33031,111,139,1536,162117,69,25292,17472,10538,313446,202116,11420,5433,89387,49026,7069,28066,32951,73426,686,102,1530],"class_list":["post-639569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-313447","tag-ago","tag-almost","tag-aucklands","tag-brynley","tag-cast","tag-chaotic","tag-chris","tag-comic","tag-entertainment","tag-happened","tag-hits","tag-including","tag-insane","tag-inspired","tag-into","tag-kiwi","tag-louis","tag-marathon","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nic","tag-nz","tag-olympic","tag-parker","tag-play","tag-sampson","tag-silo","tag-st","tag-stage","tag-stent","tag-tale","tag-theatre","tag-true","tag-turns","tag-upon","tag-week","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}