In 1926 the iconic red telephone box which was designed by British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott Sir first appeared in the UK making communication between individuals easier.
Now 100 years later as part of the Auckland Arts Festival telephone users can enter a modern telephone booth as participants in an art event which breaks down the boundary between artist and audience.
For the next three days on Level 3 of the Aotea Centre, you can be part of an art event where you become the actor in scenarios which you create.
Pick up your phone and you are connected to another random audience member or friend. You are confronted with a teleprompter which provides you a collection of scripts, including one by New Zealand playwright Victor Rodger.
You become part of an evolving dialogue which is part theatre and part social intervention. You become both performer and spectator, creating unique dialogues which will surprise, embarrass and entertain you.
Jay Dodge, one of the creators of Red Phone“When this project started, we had five or six local writers, and now we have representation from dozens of countries.
“We asked writers to connect and think about what they love about performance but in a creative way where they can be free and not obliged to reflect what is happening right now,” said Sherry Yoon another creator. “There is so much now going on right now, that we will see artists being both reflective and relevant to now, but also to engage in work that can continue on past our global pandemic. What really resonated with us and the presenters and artists we have engaged is to give audiences a work that isn’t here to replace theatre but is in essence of what we love about live performance — the emotional ride, the intimacy, etc.”
This free installation by Canadian interdisciplinary theatre company Boca del Lupo has toured Canada, Norway, and Latin America to critical acclaim. Now it is presented in Auckland for a strictly limited season.
With (alphabetical) Laura Bird, Haley Flaherty, James Bisp, Kristian Lavercombe, Ryan Carter-Wilson, Daisy Steer, Stephen Webb, Morgan Jackson, Edward Bullingham, Jesse Chidera, Nathan Zach Johnson, Tyla Dee Nurden, Bethany Amber Perrins
Civic Theatre, Auckland 26 Feb – 9 Mar 2026
Then Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
St James Theatre, Wellington
Reviewer Malcolm Calder
27 Feb 2026
Many words have been spilled detailing the Rocky Horror story, some with a little licence, so I won’t reiterate them here. Rather, what follows are a couple of more personal anecdotal recollections. Well, maybe a couple of reflections towards the end.
When in my early teens I joined a bikie gang hooning around the streets of Hamilton and haunting bars on weekends. A pushbike gang. In milk bars. And most Saturdays we would go to the ‘pitchers’ at the Embassy ‘pitcher’ Theatre – especially for the b&w serials which updated and changed weekly. The Phantom, The Lone Ranger, The Roy Rogers Show with Trigger, etc. Our parents were not exactly supportive of our adventures but tolerated them mainly after trotting out the usual parental missives of the day … you know, smarten yourself up son, wash your face, get a haircut, and taking the mudguards off does NOT necessarily make your bike go faster! But we did. And maybe even managed the very occasional haircut from the apprentice barber next to the Embassy (remember, these were pre- Beatles days.
Fast forward a dozen or more years, by which time I was living in the UK and had developed something of an interest in ‘legit’ theatre. A friend convinced me to accompany him to the ‘veddy, veddy proper’ Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea’s Sloan Square. Apparently a budding youngish Australian theatrical tyro named Jim Sharman, already with productions of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar to his name, was putting together an experimental and very avant garde piece called They Came from Denton High. It had been originally devised by an actor no one had heard of called Richard O’Brien, and was planned as only a very brief season at the tiny, semi-round, and recently-renovated roof space of the Royal Court known affectionately as simply ’The Upstairs’.
There were heaps of improvisation, script changes, musical variations, some additions, some deletions and, just prior to opening, Sharman felt that Rocky Horror Show better aligned with its intermeshed themes of transvestism, a satirical take on horror movies and science fiction all built around a full-on rock score. My friend and I were both becoming enamoured of the new, the daring and the provocatively different and to say we were blown away would be an understatement. This show ventured where theatre had rarely been before. It was rough, raw and totally outrageous. I remember being particularly enthralled by the pure power and presence of Tim Curry and a by the omnipresence of a rather scrawny little bloke playing Riff Raff. Richard O’Brien we discovered later.
Many others were similarly excited of course. Rocky Horror Show had somehow struck exactly the right chord at exactly the right time in 1970s Britain. Fairly rapidly, various eminent British producers saw its commercial potential, it was upscaled to a more proscenium-arch staging and the rest, as they say, is history.
Subsequently I moved onto various humble roles in the industry and have been fortunate to have either seen, or hosted, many productions of the Rocky Horror Show across the US, Australia and New Zealand as well as Europe. In several different languages.
Fast forward a few more years and I even recall convincing a couple of rather cynical American friends to accompany me to the recently-released Rocky Horror Picture Show at a drive-in near Philadelphia in 1976. Unfortunately, that particular screening cooincided with a rather heavy snowstorm and both wipers and the plug-in heater-on-a-pole had to work overtime. Needless to say, the car bounced up and down more than a bit and my American friends enrolled on the spot as members of the international Rocky Horror Show cheer squad.
Or, a few years on again, an Australian colleague’s costume hire business in Adelaide avoided bankruptcy only as a direct result of seemingly endless late-night, dress-up singalongs at the Goodwood (‘pitcher’) Theatre.
I even recall seeing a stage production in Barcelona where the audience knew all the words. In English!
Anyway, I digress. Fast forward quite a few more years and I returned to Hamilton where, celebrating Rocky Horror’s 50th anniversary, the Hamilton Operatic Society staged a remarkably workmanlike pro-am production under the capable guidance of David Sidwell. Initially I felt the bronze statue of Riff Raff in Victoria Street sort of acknowledged this and I thought how kind of the city fathers to allow some well-made street art. However, a little research revealed, only then, that Richard O’Brien hailed from Hamilton. I had previously known of him only as an actor chasing his dream in London and had always presumed him to be English. I had no idea.
However … there’s more. The Embassy Theatre is now long gone and so is part of the block adjacent – which used to be a barbershop. That is where statue stood … on the very spot where the apprentice barber had cut my hair, and that of the entire bikie gang, all those years ago!
Today my understanding is that Richard is now a Patron of HOS and the statue has been relocated to the recently- opened new BNZ Waikato Regional Theatre. How appropriate.
This Rocky Horror Show has a crispness and a professionalism that will linger. It extended from before the house lights went down, right through to when they went up again.
This was a cast of strong experienced actors rather than one padded out with soap stars, rock singers and ‘personalities’ as has sometimes been the case elsewhere.
Laura Bird’s opening Science Fiction – Double Feature. backed by a strong, tight and semi-visible band under Adam Smith, sets the scene and made one immediately sit up and think ‘wow this is serious stuff’. She was followed by the Brad and Janet’s Damnit Janet with a Janet (Haley Lafferty) who bore an uncanny (if unintentional) resemblance to a certain Deputy Mayor!
From there it … well it just flowed. James Bisp gave us a surprisingly strong Brad, Stephen Webb an even stronger Frank N Furter, and Kristian Lavercombe (Welsh-born but we’ll claim him as ‘ours’) a Narrator that was deliciously nuanced, through to the dynamically scene-stealing Eddie (Edward Bullingham) and a truly professional ensemble. That showed everywhere. In spades.
This current production of Rocky Horror Show goes on to Christchurch and Wellington after its Auckland season and that is to be applauded. In fact the Civic, and perhaps other venues too, has been looking and feeling a little forlorn of late and to see a full-on high-calibre British music-theatre production on its stage is something to be savoured. So congratulations to the producers on this venture. Let’s hope there’s more to come.
A delightful ending to the evening too when elder statesman Richard O’Brien was introduced to the stage post-curtain to rapturous applause, and who then brought on Little Nell Campbell, the original Columbine back in 1973.
The Testaments of Ann Lee comes with excellent credentials having been written by Mona Fastvold and her partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote The Brutalist which was based on the life of émigré architect Marcel Breuer. That film was a metaphor for the struggles of an artist in post-war America. Testament follows the life of Shaker founder Ann Lee and is a metaphor for religious and social change in pre and post Revolutionary America
It is an earnest attempt to give Ann Lee her place in history as a major religious figure who endured religious persecution in 18th-century England for her position as a female preacher as well as in America where she and the Shaker movement were seen as unpatriotic pacifists.
The early American Shakers were known for their skill in what is now seen as stylish, minimalist furniture and their approach to simple architecture and there are sequences of constructing buildings and simple objects but not much about the tenets of the religion
Lee is played by Amanda Seyfried, with Lewis Pullman as her brother William and Christopher Abbott as her husband Abraham, who fathers her four children, all of whom die in infancy. Their deaths probably affected her, contributing to her aversion to marriage and sexual activity, influencing the subsequent Shaker celibacy doctrine.
Director Mona Fastvold is great at meaningful close-ups and handles the dance sequences as if they were only part of this religion/cult which has any merit or meaning. In these dramatic Broadway musical – like sequences there is lot of shaking, shivering, hand clapping and foot stomping ranging from some ecstatic dancing in her early Manchester days where the dancers look to be on acid trips to the more sedate Shaker dances the groups still perform
While the film has obvious good intentions, illuminating the history of Ann Lee and her contribution to American religious history it can also seen a cautionary tale about the dangers of being captured by religious leaders and ideology. The dangers of believing what self -declared prophets tell you, believing in visions and biblical interpretations. The film demonstrates how people can be sucked into religions or cults based on false information and interpretations.
Maybe audiences know about the revolt and reforms of religion in eighteenth century. Europe and the growth of alternative faiths and religious leaders such the Methodist Movement with John Wesley and early feminists like Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, but the film provides little about what Ann Lee was reacting against.
While we see Ann Lee commanding groups of people we don’t get a sense of her charisma or oratory skills and her occasional visions of deities and paradise make her out to be more of a charlatan than prophet.
The big unanswered question looms over all the intense close-ups and hectic dance sequences is What is Ann Lee’s testament? What is her way to save souls. – celibacy, public acknowledgment of sins and misdeeds as well as dancing – I could go with the dancing.
The Testaments of Ann Lee comes with excellent credentials having been written by Mona Fastvold and her partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote The Brutalist which was based on the life of émigré architect Marcel Breuer. That film was a metaphor for the struggles of an artist in post-war America. Testament follows the life of Shaker founder Ann Lee and is a metaphor for religious and social change in pre and post Revolutionary America
It is an earnest attempt to give Ann Lee her place in history as a major religious figure who endured religious persecution in 18th-century England for her position as a female preacher as well as in America where she and the Shaker movement were seen as unpatriotic pacifists.
The early American Shakers were known for their skill in what is now seen as stylish, minimalist furniture and their approach to simple architecture and there are sequences of constructing buildings and simple objects but not much about the tenets of the religion
Lee is played by Amanda Seyfried, with Lewis Pullman as her brother William and Christopher Abbott as her husband Abraham, who fathers her four children, all of whom die in infancy. Their deaths probably affected her, contributing to her aversion to marriage and sexual activity, influencing the subsequent Shaker celibacy doctrine.
Director Mona Fastvold is great at meaningful close-ups and handles the dance sequences as if they were only part of this religion/cult which has any merit or meaning. In these dramatic Broadway musical – like sequences there is lot of shaking, shivering, hand clapping and foot stomping ranging from some ecstatic dancing in her early Manchester days where the dancers look to be on acid trips to the more sedate Shaker dances the groups still perform
While the film has obvious good intentions, illuminating the history of Ann Lee and her contribution to American religious history it can also seen a cautionary tale about the dangers of being captured by religious leaders and ideology. The dangers of believing what self -declared prophets tell you, believing in visions and biblical interpretations. The film demonstrates how people can be sucked into religions or cults based on false information and interpretations.
Maybe audiences know about the revolt and reforms of religion in eighteenth century. Europe and the growth of alternative faiths and religious leaders such the Methodist Movement with John Wesley and early feminists like Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, but the film provides little about what Ann Lee was reacting against.
While we see Ann Lee commanding groups of people we don’t get a sense of her charisma or oratory skills and her occasional visions of deities and paradise make her out to be more of a charlatan than prophet.
The big unanswered question looms over all the intense close-ups and hectic dance sequences is What is Ann Lee’s testament? What is her way to save souls. – celibacy, public acknowledgment of sins and misdeeds as well as dancing – I could go with the dancing.
John Daly-Peoples Arts Writer / Arts Consultant Arts Editor, NZ Arts Review
Well the hype was certainly great and I’m sure the vast majority went home blissfully sated with the sound of pipes.
In its 75th anniversary year, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, regarded by many kiwis of clan ancestry (and there are a surprising number of us in New Zealand) as ‘ours’, arrived in Auckland this week, hot on the heels of success in Brisbane. Over those 75 years many New Zealanders have travelled to Edinburgh, many, many more have seen one of its various iterations on television (they change each year), and thousands were on the edge of their seats before the Tattoo hit Auckland. And they weren’t disappointed.
Originally a relatively simple parade ground musical gathering on The Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle, this annual event has grown considerably gaining a momentum all its own and spawning several similar events particularly in Europe. The event has gained an international stature ever since and, through both the sourcing, invitation and participation of military musicians from many parts of the world, and through attracting and growing an international audience which has hardly harmed the tourist trade of Edinburgh. The late Queen Elizabeth granted the Tattoo royal assent in 2010.
In more recent years, some have criticised the Tattoo as departing a little too far from its musical and military origins and pays obeisance more to Disney rather than to Scotland’s own heritage. But these were not apparent in what Creative Director Alan Lane brought to Eden Park.
Themed as ‘The Heroes Who Made Us’ this 2026 edition and originally conceived for Edinburgh last year, paid tribute to military music, to parade ground excellence and to the contributions of many in every sector of society. Everyday people. Just like you and me. And, although far from preponderant, to military history too. Sort of an early Pride Week you might say. In tartan.And for those who feared the pipes might dominate, well they did. But, following an initial and culturally appropriate welcome from Ngati Whatua Orakei, there was also rather a lot of brass, a delightful string and woodwind section a range of vocalists of varying capabilities and some fairly unique percussion culminating in delightful all-in crescendos. Much of the audience around me was in singalong mode when the massed bands got to’500 Miles’ and the best of the Eurythmics. There was plenty to delight the visualists among us too. Flagwork, calisthenics, highland dancing and even a powerful kapahaka.But all built around there was a musical crispness and grandeur built around the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland with a Drum Major who commanded about a dozen others heading the several other bands from south of the border and multiple army, police, civilian and school bands from Australia, Norway, Japan, Switzerland and the US.
I happened to be seated behind a Tongan family who, not only unfurled their own Tongan flag when the King of Tonga’s Armed Forces Royal Corps of Musicians stepped onto the arena, but oozed delight and pride in their boys. They knew the words to all the songs too.
Singing guardsmen with musical instruments I hear you ask ?. In a word. Yes. There were many highlights but for me the Japan Air Self Defence Force Central Band was a standout. Their vocalist sent shivers of delight down my spine in what looked like a shimmering military gown.
Plenty of New Zealand accents evident too featuring our three top pipe bands, and bands from the NZ Police and two top-rate school bands. Rather sadly, I cannot say the same about the NZ Army Band which, despite its outstanding reputation gathered ever since pink-panthering their way into the hearts of every kiwi at the Christchurch Commonwealth Gemes Opening all those years ago, just felt a bit flat and even off-key in places.
The US Marines were a bit underwhelming too and, although the tattoo is far from a competitive thing, were easily outpointed by the Norwegian King’s Guard Band and Drill Team. Likewise the Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps provided a highly technical routine
Given that this is largely the same lineup that performed in Brisbane last week there was a heavy representation from across the ditch. They were was musically tight, had an energy and a couple of more than able vocalists who did NOT sing ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
As a proud kiwi with some scots blood myself, I must admit it a little piece of me was hoping there would be a lone piper atop the grandstand at Eden Park playing ‘Flower of Scotland’ echoing what happens at Murrayfield. – I could even know the words. No rugby this time but that’s what both venues are best known for, They have a synergy. Besides, the timing was perfect as ‘we’ beat ‘them’ only last weekend so why not celebrate it.
Well, there WAS a lone piper atop the grandstand playing “Flower of Scotland” echoing what happens at Murrayfield and inducing the crowd to join in…I even know the words. No rugby this time but that’s what both venues have in common. Besides, the timing was perfect as “we” beat “them” only last week end. So why not celebrate it.
During the rest of the show it occurred to me that it must have been awkwardly difficult to march on grass – not to mention dance. Anyone who was at school cadets will know that marching on a hard surface is a lot easier, and provides an audible marching rhythm. As for the dancers, well none tripped over so well done.
And on a final note, and while congratulating the Eden Park staff I encountered who were pleasant, helpful and courteous, I wondered whether this was the right venue for something like this Tattoo. Eden Park is BIG as rugby grounds go, but at a cost of intimacy that parts of this Tattoo required. At times it approached theatre-like blocking in some of its presentation. Several times I wished the performers were a little closer. Perhaps Mt Smart (Go Media) for whatever the future holds? Or maybe I am still wishing to see a Tattoo on The Esplanade in Edinburgh.
Bridgeway Cinemas, Auckland Thu 19 Feb – Wed 4 March
John Daly-Peoples
The Europa Film Festival opens with Testament of Ann Lee, an ambitious musical drama that premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, earning one of the festival’s longest standing ovations.
Featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance from Amanda Seyfried, the film presents a portrait of Ann Lee, founder of the religious Shakers movement, reimagining female leadership, faith and rebellion through unconventional cinematic and musical forms.
The program spotlights new works from some of Europe’s most critically acclaimed filmmakers, whose influence continues to shape contemporary cinema.
Lav Diaz’s Magellan
Locarno Leopard of Honour recipient Lav Diaz presents Magellan, a historical epic tracing the Portuguese explorer’s final voyage while interrogating the moral cost of colonial ambition, starring Gael García Bernal.
French provocateur QuentinDupieux returns with The Piano Accident, a satire on digital fame and spectacle, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) as an influencer famed for performing outrageous stunt videos because she cannot feel pain.
Academy Award–winner László Nemes presents Orphan, a historical drama set in post-1956 Hungary that explores intergenerational trauma and patriarchal power, following a teenage boy confronting a violent surrogate father.
Several of the films look at artists, shifting focus from public myth to private experience.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland presents Franz, a kaleidoscopic portrait of surrealist writer Franz Kafka, moving between eras to examine his enduring cultural legacy. It is a biopic of the author described as, non-linear, and free-wheeling film with a strong visual style.
Chopin, a Sonata in Paris, directed by MichałKwieciński, follows composer Frédéric Chopin’s formative years after his move to Paris in the 1830s.
Directed by Fabienne Godet, The One I Loved recounts the tumultuous true love story of Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, a relationship shaped by artistic ambition, public scrutiny and Montand’s notorious affair with Marilyn Monroe.
Damiano Michieletto presents Primavera, set within Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, where music, discipline and desire intersect under the mentorship of Antonio Vivaldi. This is the same venue for the New Zealand National Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale featuring works by New Zealand artist Fiona Pardington.
From acclaimed director Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), comes CalleMálaga, a touching and life-affirming drama about age, independence and unexpected romance starring Almodóvar veteran Carmen Maura.
Produced by Natalie Portman, Arco is a spectacular Golden Globe nominated animated adventure set in the year 2075 follows a young girl named Iris who discovers a boy in a rainbow suit has crash-landed near her home from a far-distant future.
Karoline Herfurth’s Wunderschöner interrogates beauty standards, ageing and personal autonomy. Five women in Berlin: Frauke (Martina Gedeck) is approaching 60 and feels bored in her marriage. Julie (Emilia Schüle) is just under 25 and has spent the last few years working successfully as a model until her «look» suddenly falls out of favour. After Sonja’s (Karoline Herfurth) third pregnancy, it no longer looks the way she would like it to. Vicky (Nora Tschirner), a German teacher, does not want to commit to a relationship, and student Leyla (Dilara Aylin Ziem) is bullied because of her weight.
Set against the backdrop of a Transylvanian wedding in 1980, Hungarian Wedding combines romance and social satire, richly infused with traditional Hungarian folk music and dance.
Brazilian born Roberta Queiroga’s training as an architect appears to inform her art practice, bringing a nuanced understanding of space, rhythm, and materiality. Her architectural sensibility links gesture, energy, and spatial awareness.
Her works are connected to Eastern artists such as Sengai Gibon the nineteenth Japanese Zen artist known for his simple, and profound ink paintings which employed minimal brushstrokes to convey deep spiritual truths. There are a couple of Queiroga’s small gestural work on paper such as “Today 1” ($480) which are reminiscent of the Japanese artist.
Roberta Queiroga. Today 1
The paintings also connect with the work of Max Gimblett, entwining Eastern spirituality and modernism. Like Gimblett’s work Queiroga’s has a sense of capturing the instant, when emotion is realised and intuition is revealed.
“Tidal Composition – Ripple” ($4800) is a simple gestural work with a single sweeping stroke with small ink splatters, capturing the instance of creation. Like the title of the work several of the paintings are derived from the tides, their motion, their drama, their moments of calm and their intricate patterns of movement.
The two panel “Tidal Composition – Pulse” ($8000) extends the notion of surf and tides with a suggestion of curling breakers, the energy of the waves pulsing along a shoreline.
Roberta Queiroga. Tidal Composition: Pulse
Some of the works have titles related to another energy, that of fire with some titled ”Brasa” which is Portuguese for embers while others are titled “Charcoal and Fire” and “Glow of Embers”. In “Charcoal and Fire” a small slash of red enlivens the work like a bloody mark.
The predominant colour for these works is a bold orange which provides a sense of energy, heat and light. With “Charcoal and Fire” ($3800) there are also traces of red which adds a sense of danger. With the “Glow of Embers” ($3800) where black encroaches on the orange it is like the colours of a dying fire.
Roberta Queiroga, Glow of Embers 1
There are some more subtle, gestural works in the show among them “Midnight” ($4800) where the black gestural strokes are laid over a black background giving a sense of the shapes emerging from the velvety darkness of the night.
Roberta Queiroga, Midnight
There is also a display of her” Kaleidoscope Series”, twelve small panels ($150 each, 3 for $300) where black painterly gestures are made on a black background, the various marks seeming like a secret form of calligraphy.
Slow Burn Ahi Tāmau presents a range of photography by women and non-binary artists from Aotearoa New Zealand focussed on the1960’s to the present along with a few from the early part of the twentieth century. The works are all from Te Papa’s collections and explores several themes through a feminist lens. The 150 works by 50 artists, are accompanied by a catalogue by curator, Lissa Mitchell.
The book includes major photographer such as Anne Noble, Fiona Pardington, Ans Westra and Lisa Reihana. The accompanying essay and biographies by Mitchell of the photographers provide a valuable research resource.
Many of the photographs by our well-established photographers provide the core of the book along with several newer photographers who demonstrate new ways of looking. However, there are examples of the well-known photographers who show a freshness and inventiveness as in the case of Ans Westra whose “Highbury Road” shows aspects of her distinctive vision.
32 Highbury Road, Ans Westra, 2001. Pigment print, 1112 x 1119 mm. Purchased 2013. Te Papa).
Mitchell writes “Contributions by women to photography in Aotearoa have been consistently concerned with identity, whānau/family, place, and connections across time – themes that are intertwined with the ways women have been able, and unable, to conduct their lives and make photography. Although women have contributed to all aspects of photographic culture, this selection of works is focused on the use of photography – as archival, documentary and creative expression – to record and express experiences and challenge systems of governance and the perspectives of audiences. Central too is the question of what legacies first- and second-wave feminisms have left within photography being made now, as well as the impact of a ‘historical turn’ in contemporary photographic practice to using obsolete analogue photographic processes. Gathered, all these approaches to making are realised as photography that operates across time and space and acknowledges the spirit of sharing and cooperation that enabled its creation – whether with other people, the land, or artists from the past. “
Among the photographers included are Ruth Watson who has worked across sculpture, photography, installation, video and painting, and has long engaged with cartography and the way maps represent our world, along with issues pertaining to global politics and the environment.
Lingua Geographica, Ruth Watson, 1996. Ilfachrome print, metal pins and metal plaque, which reads: ‘Lingua Geographica, or Geographic Tongue, is the medical name for the cracked and fissured surface of a tongue[.] It is a condition of no clinical significance’, 1977 x 1981 x 87 mm. Purchased 2009. Te Papa
Mitchell has also included works by Martini Friedlander whose simply composed works, often more like snapshots managed to capture the essence of landscapes, individuals and events in a way which makes them both timeless and very much of their time.
Larks in a paradise – New Zealand portraits, Marti Friedlander with text by James McNeish, Collins Publishers, 1974. Photobook page spread, 292 x 223 x 24 mm. Te Papa
There are very few early photographs apart from those of Makereti Papakura and Daisy Tinney but the works of Stella Brennan have used 120-year-old glass-plate photographic negatives made by Brennan’s great-great aunt Louise Laurent, a student at Elam School of Art in the late 1890s.
Threads VI, from the series ‘Thread Between Darkness and Light’, Stella Brennan, 2023–24. Pigment prints, 656 x 849 mm, 849 x 658 mm. Purchased 2024. Te Papa
The mixture of well-known and rarely seen, the descriptive and the enigmatic, the personal and the public make this collection intriguing and valuable in exploring the various ways in which photographers explore their environments as well as themselves.
One criticism relates to the design of the book. Several photographs are given a two-page spread which means that these images are compromised by the use of the limp binding technique which distorts the images.
The exhibition “Slow Burn” opens at Te Papa from February 28
Learning from Venice: A Workshop for Early-Career Artists, Curators and Writers, 25-29 May 2026, Venice Italy
John Daly-Peoples
The Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa (OCAA) has announced a new initiative “Learning from Venice”, a new professional development opportunity for seven early-career Aotearoa New Zealand artists, curators and writers to take part in an intensive five-day research workshop at the Venice Biennale, between 25 and 29 May 2026.
Timed to coincide with the 61st Biennale of Venice, “Learning from Venice” will take advantage of the of multiple exhibitions mounted across Venice, including the NZ exhibition, Taharaki Skyside by Fiona Pardington mounted at Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà (La Pietà) the site of Bill Culbert’s Front Door Out Back exhibition in 2013
This immersion in contemporary art will be led by curator, writer, editor and educator, Christina Barton, and Curator Contemporary Art at Te Papa, Hanahiva Rose.
The workshop will consist of readings, conversations, visits, and talks, and there will be opportunities to meet artists, curators and individuals involved in the Biennale’s realisation.
Participants will collaborate to produce a publication reflecting on their findings, which will be published and distributed after the workshop concludes.
This initiative will enable a cohort of committed individuals to gain a sharper understanding of how the art world works in the context of one of its highest[1]profile occasions. Participants will gain a stronger grasp of the key issues at stake in current practice, testing their reactions and impressions with peers, and learning together to catalyse future thinking about Aotearoa’s place in and contribution to the global art world.
Applications will be accepted from early-career artists, curators and writers based in or from Aotearoa New Zealand who can demonstrate their commitment to pursuing a career in the visual arts. Applications will be assessed by a panel including the co-leaders, a representative from Creative New Zealand, and artist Judy Millar.
Selected participants will be fully funded to attend (including flights, accommodation and a per diem).
Partners
The Learning from Venice workshop has been made possible through the generous support of multiple partners, including Creative New Zealand, Te Papa and the Te Papa Foundation, Elam Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Naveya & Sloane, Barbara Blake and the Gow Family Foundation. The Chartwell Trust have generously supported the Aotearoa-based elements of the project.
Branden Reiners (Macbeth), Ana Gallardo Lobaina (Lady Macbeth) Image: Ross Brown
The Royal New Zealand Ballet
Macbeth
Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch
March 2026
John Daly-Peoples
The Royal New Zealand Ballet open its 2026 season with a contemporary reimagining of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most brutal tragedy. Created by internationally acclaimed choreographer Alice Topp (Aurum, Logos, High Tide), the ballet unfolds in a ruthless modern world shaped by political ambition, media manipulation and the fatal seduction of power.
The production will feature Ana Gallardo Lobaina as Lady Macbeth and Branden Reiners as Macbeth.
“Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, exploring themes as current today as they were when first written,” says Alice Topp. “An epic story fuelled by political ambition, passion, desire for power and the burden of guilt, its potency endures. Our Macbeth is set in a hierarchy-hungry, high-society city, where political storms, media frenzy and personal ambition collide.”
While ballet companies across the world regularly perform “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummers Night Dream” based on Shakespeare’s plays very few of his other works are performed. “A Winter’s Tale”, “Hamlet”, “Othello” and “The Tempest” are occasionally performed.
Just in the last couple of years there have been other productions of Macbeth with the National Ballet of Japan performing “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by British choreographer and director Will Tuckett in 2023 and last year the Dutch National Ballet presented a “Lady Macbeth” choreographed by Helen Pickett.
This new co-production with West Australian Ballet will see Macbeth premiere as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington and the Auckland Arts Festival, before touring to Christchurch and Dunedin. Presented in association with Avis, this ambitious new work places Shakespeare’s iconic story of ambition, power and moral collapse into a volatile modern world shaped by political manoeuvring and relentless media scrutiny.
At the centre of the ballet is the rise and fall of Macbeth and his formidable wife – a dazzling power couple whose ascent to influence is as intoxicating as it is catastrophic. Propelled by ambition and fanned by public adulation, the Macbeths scale extraordinary heights, only to find themselves consumed by guilt, paranoia and violence. Through the visceral language of contemporary ballet, their psychological unravelling is laid bare in an explosive portrait of power gained and power lost.
For Topp, the translation of Shakespeare’s dense, language-driven tragedy into movement is not an act of reduction, but of revelation. “Shakespeare’s text might be dense, but it also has movement written into the language,” she says. “The story is a psychological drama, full of behaviours, emotions and atmosphere. All the movement is right there in his words, and my role is to find where those emotions land in the body and let them speak physically.”
Award-winning designer Jon Buswell, a long-time RNZB collaborator, will create both set and lighting, shaping a darkly glamorous world that reflects the ballet’s volatile political landscape. Costumes are by Sydney-based designer Aleisa Jelbart, renowned for her bold contemporary designs across ballet, opera and theatre, bringing a sharp modern aesthetic that underscores the work’s themes of power, status and image.
The production will also feature a newly commissioned contemporary score by composer Christopher Gordon, performed with a live string ensemble from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Layering full orchestral textures with driving, heavy-metal influences, the music provides an unrelenting pulse that mirrors the characters’ accelerating descent.
Ana Gallardo Lobaina (Lady Macbeth) Image: Ross Brown
Ana Gallardo Lobaina has danced numerous roles for the RNZB including Cinderella and Stepmother in Loughlan Prior’s Cinderella. and she featured roles in Alice Topp’s Aurum and Logos.
Branden Reiners joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2023 and his roles to date include Siegfried and Rothbart in Swan Lake, Tybalt and Lord Capulet in Romeo & Juliet, Serenade, the ‘Clay’ pas de deux in Alice Topp’s Logos.
Artistic Director Ty King-Wall says the new production showcases the RNZB at its most daring and expansive. “Macbeth is the Royal New Zealand Ballet as you’ve never seen us before,” says King-Wall. “Alice is bringing a world of bloodshed, betrayal and intrigue to our stages, in a cutting-edge production which draws upon the versatility of our dancers, the skill of our technical team, and demonstrates our incredible artistic range as a company.”
Macbeth stands as one of the most ambitious new works in the company’s recent history. A bold and bloody retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, it promises audiences a searing, high-octane theatrical experience – one that speaks urgently to the contemporary world while honouring the enduring power of the original story.
2026 TOUR DATES Wellington, St James Theatre, 25-28 February
Auckland, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre, 4-7 March
New Zealand Arts Review 