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The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty tours New Zealand

Preview: John Daly-Peoples

The Sleeping Beauty

Royal New Zealand Ballet

Sleeping Beauty

In association with New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT)

29 Oct-Dec 20, 2026

The Royal New Zealand Ballet final ballet of its 2026 series invites audienes to enter a world of fairytale magic as Greg Horsman’s acclaimed production of The Sleeping Beauty returns for a nationwide tour from October to December 2026.

Celebrating the arrival of summer and the festive season, this spectacular production revives one of the Company’s most cherished works. Since its triumphant premiere in 2011, The Sleeping Beauty has become a favourite with audiences across Aotearoa, with more than 42,000 people experiencing its original nationwide tour. 

“It is wonderful for the Royal New Zealand Ballet to return to The Sleeping Beauty to bring our 2026 season to a close,” says Artistic Director Ty King-Wall. “Created for our company, Greg Horsman’s production is an evocative and respectful staging of one of the great ballets of the 19th century. We look forward to a new generation of dancers taking on these coveted roles as this much-loved story awakens once more.”

Set to Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, The Sleeping Beauty tells the timeless story of Princess Aurora, whose destiny is altered by a wicked curse before true love awakens her from an enchanted sleep. Combining exquisite classical choreography with breathtaking theatrical design, this production offers an unforgettable ballet experience for audiences of every generation.

Greg Horsman’s elegant choreography honours the grandeur of the classical tradition while bringing warmth, humour and humanity to one of ballet’s greatest masterpieces. Richly detailed sets and costumes by acclaimed designer and former RNZB Artistic Director Gary Harris transport audiences into a storybook kingdom filled with glittering courts, enchanted forests and unforgettable fairytale characters.

Adding an unmistakably New Zealand touch, the production features magical elements created by Wellington’s Wētā Workshop, whose artistry brings an extra sense of wonder to Aurora’s enchanted world. Together with Jon Buswell’s atmospheric lighting design, the production creates a visually stunning theatrical experience that continues to captivate audiences more than a decade after its premiere.

Following its success with the RNZB in 2011, Horsman’s production travelled across the Tasman after the choreographer joined Queensland Ballet in 2012. Since then, it has been staged there several times to widespread critical and audience acclaim, cementing its reputation as one of the most beautiful contemporary interpretations of this enduring classic.

The 2026 tour will feature live orchestral accompaniment in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, with Hamish McKeich conducting. Performances in Wellington will be accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch performances by Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and Auckland performances by Auckland Philharmonia. Performances in all other touring centres will be accompanied by a recording of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

“We’re proud to support the Royal New Zealand Ballet as it brings this remarkable production to communities around the country,” says NZCT’s GM of Grants, Marketing and Communications, Ben Hodges. “The tour will give thousands of New Zealanders, including many living beyond the country’s main centres, the chance to experience the magic of world-class live ballet.”

Perfect for first-time ballet-goers, devoted dance lovers and families looking to share a magical experience together, The Sleeping Beauty is the ideal pre-Christmas outing. Overflowing with romance, adventure, dazzling dancing and unforgettable music, this much-loved production promises an afternoon or evening of enchantment for audiences of all ages.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Choreography: Greg Horsman
 

Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky
 

Set and Costume Design: Gary Harris
 

Lighting Design: Jon Buswell
 

Conductor: Hamish McKeich

Live Orchestra 

Wellington: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra 

Christchurch: Christchurch Symphony Orchestra 

Auckland: Auckland Philharmonia 

* All other venues: Recorded performance by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

TOUR SCHEDULE

Wellington: St James Theatre
29 October-7 November 2026

Christchurch: Isaac Theatre Royal
11–14 November 2026

Invercargill: Civic Theatre
18 November 2026

Dunedin: Regent Theatre
21-22 November 2026

Hamilton: BNZ Theatre 27-29 November

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Cirque Alice full of elaborate acts and surprises

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Cirque Alice cast take their final bow

Cirque Alice

Civic Theatre, Auckland

August 28 – September 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

 My invitation to Cirque Alice said that the dress code for the event was A Touch of Wonderland, a request which quite a few people had taken up with several sequined jackets and dresses seated close to me and some children wearing their Frozen dresses. The Civic Theatre was at its best as well, with the winking stars and the occasional comet streaking across the ceiling of the theatre.  The theatre itself was flossed up with spotlights and laser light sparkling across the stage and audience, creating the setting for an extravagant evening. Then we were reminded of where we are and who we were to meet when the White Queen commanded us to ensure there was no flash photography or it would be “off with your head”.

Cirque du Soleil shows are always elaborate gymnastic displays, but they are always imbedded with a story or narrative which loosely holds all the characters and the events together.

The advertising for Cirque Alice said it was a reimagined Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of characters and adventures but like a lot of Cirque show after establishing the reason for being there the evening takes on a rather casual approach to the narrative. The characters are all immediately recognisable – Alice, White Rabbit and Mad Hatter but their adventures and exploits take you to another realm.

The show featured a lineup of some of the greatest circus and magic performers on earth – from America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League, and Cirque du Soleil the cast members were among the very best acrobatic, music and dance talent in the world.

The various acts were set to an enthralling soundtrack of newly arranged contemporary takes on some of the world’s favourite classical hits – Lakme, Swan Lake and Flight of the Bumble Bee while the costumes designed by Angele Aaron were stunning.

The March Hare and Alice

Alice (Layla Schillert) is on stage a lot of the time and with her brilliant soprano voice she wowed the audiencia with some captivating singing. There are even has a few sequences which have been taken for the book. So that when she drinks from an unlabelled bottle, she ends up fifteen metres above the stage with a vast train of a dress.

But it is the Mad Hatter (Darren “Dizzy” Partridge) who is the stand-out performer and one of the few characters who speaks to the audience He is the part magician who gets audience members on the stage. We also get quite a lot of The White Rabbit (Raphael Papo) playing his violin.

The various acts are cleverly structured so that there are spectacular acts where the audience holds its collective breath for several minutes along with acts which are just amazing for the dexterity of the performers as they create small, intimate, poetic moments.

The Caterpillar

One of these poetic more acts was The Caterpillar (Munkhjin Tuvd, Bayarmaa Ganbat, Shinechimeg Otgonbayar and Dolgorsuren Ganbold) where the four performers balance and intertwine with each other bodies creating extraordinary patterns and rhythms.

Then there were acts where you can’t really believe what someone is attempting. There have been many cabaret acts where performers balance a short platform on a ball, managing to keep their balance, but when The Dormouse (Daniel Onofre) starts to pile six tubes on top of each other your heart is in your mouth and then while he is wobbling on this pile of tubes, he introduced a couple of hula hoops which he threaded through his legs and body – ridiculously complicated.

The White King and White Queen (Mathieu and Myriam Lessard) wearing roller skates performed a duo, spinning around on top of a small circular stage and it looked a bit inelegant. Roller skating is pretty difficult at the best of times but the balancing and twirling that they engaged in started to seem impossible. Then when they began spinning with the King supporting the Queen with only a strip held between their two mouths the act became unbelievable and dangerous.

There were a couple of acts where the performers strength and skill was obvious. The Knights (Fadhili Rashidi and Ibrahim Mwaimise) walk around, climb steps and ladders all the time balancing each other on their heads. They did it all with such grace and ease that it makes you think it must be easy, until one of them nearly trips and you realise it’s not that easy.

A Cirque du Soleil show is always more than just entertainment. You get to see people whose skills are exceptional and whose acts are refined to the point that they transcend regular circus and acrobatic performances such as we regularly see the at the Auckland Festival. This is what years of practice, concentration and commitment can achieve.

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Simon O’Neill and Pietari Inkinen shine in NZSO’s Radiance

Simon O’Neill Photo: Phoebe Cassidy / NZSO

Radiance

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Pietari Inkinen

Tenor: Simon O’Neill

Auckland Town Hall

August 21

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Normally one has to wait till either the Wellington or Auckland Arts festivals brings together a couple of international stars, but the NZSO Radiance concert brought together conductor Pietari Inkinen and tenor Simon O’Neill provided an exceptional linking of two international stars along with an inspirational NZSO.

Both O’Neill and Inkinen have become international names in concerts hall around the world, regarded as Wagner specialists.

With the eerie green light projected onto the Town Hall’s organ pipes, the vast array of instruments on stage and a sold-out performance the concert promised to be a major event. And it was.

Out of the huge orchestra came the initial light tones of the Tannhauser Overture which slowly increased in volume and within a few minutes came the full force and musical energy of Wagner’s music under the baton of Pietari Inkinen

 Carefully shaping the orchestral sound, revealing the brilliance of the music, he made the audience aware of all the hallmarks of Wagner. Mystery, myth, magical spaces, human sacrifice and redemption. Linking the heroic past to contemporary German nineteenth century German religious ideas and nationalism.

It was several minutes into the music that O’Neil entered, bemoaning his condition. His distinctive voice rising above the sounds of the orchestra.

While the workbegins with the quiet, noble hymn representing redemption and faith it soon erupts into swirling, chromatic agitation depicting sensual temptation.

This was music that followed the ideas of the composer – the total work of art with richly orchestrated music, dramas driven by recurring, psychologically shifting leitmotifs and extreme chromatic harmony. It was music which emphasised the ideas of aspiration, regeneration, hope and nobility.

O’Neill fiercely conveyed the idea of a hero struggling against forces beyond his control, with his sharp angular movements and gestures as well as focussed singing.

Under Inkinen’s direction the NZSO provided a perceptive clarity to the music, sensitive to the singing of O’Neill and providing the emotional depth to the unfolding narrative.

There was drama and violence as well as calm and sweetness to the O’Neill’s voice and he demonstrated his total control, his posture, gestures and all his movements seemed natural and he was the embodiment of the Tannhauser, providing a nuanced depiction of the hero.

A Wagner performance is dependent on the role of the conductor, who needs to understand the music’s structure appreciate the connection between singers and the music and is able to balance the needs of the orchestra and the singers.

Pietari Inkinen Photo: Phoebe Cassidy / NZSO

Central toTannhäuser is the exploration on the deep, conflictbetween carnal desire and spiritual purity which prevents Tannhäuser from achieving a psychological wholeness. Rather than a simple moral tale of sin and repentance, it is also Wagners attempt to reconcile his own attempt to understand his own ego driven life and the fate of German ideas.

O’Neill approached the role with immense commitment, his tenor voice powerful and his projection flawless. He maintained an intense, radiant quality particularly in the lengthy Rome narrative section as well his farewell to Venus.

His singing, from the quiet, noble passages representing redemption and faith, through the swirling chromatic agitation depicting sensual temptation of the Venusberg section was always focussed.

Parsifal opens with an achingly beautiful prelude where out of silence, a simple melody emerges, played by the strings, and seems to hover there creating a sense of otherworldliness and later adding grandeur and nobility.

Many of the work’s motifs notably those associated with the Grail and the Spear as well as abstract ideas like sorrow and faith, shame and torment are revealed in the music — the restless string rhythms and shifting harmonies always searching for resolution.

The success of Parsifal relies heavily on an orchestra and conductor appreciating the needs of the soloist and the way Wagner’s music supports the singer and O’Neill was able to balance heroic aspects of the role along with his anguished search for redemption.

The audience was provided with the German text and a translation but only those near to the stage would have had sufficient illumination to read the words. Providing surtitles has become essential for any opera production and should have been available for the Radiance concert.

Just because Bayreuth doesn’t provide surtitles doesn’t mean audiences around the world have to make do without them as well.

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NZTrio’s Space Jump

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Somi Kim, Amalia Hall and Matthias Balzat

NZ Trio, Space Jump

Auckland Concert Chamber

August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The title of the NZTrio’s latest concert came from the first work on the programme – Fazil Say’s “Space Jump for piano trio”. The Turkish composer, Say wrote the work having witnessed the Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jump from a balloon 39 kilometres above the New Mexico desert. His descent time was 9 minutes and 3 seconds making him the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall without vehicle power.

The work which is like the soundtrack to a film of the event described the action of the ascent, the jump, the descent and the  parachute landing.

Ater a short introduction of several sharp sounds the music took on a free, floating tone suggesting the emptiness and soundlessness of the ascent with the occasional music hint at an inherent danger.

Halfway through the piece the cello and violin suggest an almost spectral sound before the climatic sounds of the descent, dramatic and relentless, Amalia Hall energetically plucking at the strings of her violin and the trilling of the piano captured the idea of the billowing parachute and the stillness of its descent

The trio gave an intense sonic performance which required aggressive attacks, precise harmonising, and rhythmic strength with the piano, violin, and cello cleverly creating the sense of being in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio stems from her Indian immigrant background with the threads of Western and Eastern music blending her interest in Hindustani music as well as that of Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.

Each of the four movements has displayed an element of the classical Indian raga which generally provided a melodic framework for improvisation.

The first movement has a particularly light quality with shimmering sounds from each of the instruments and they each seemed to be chasing an elusive sound. There were shifting dynamics between the three instruments where the subtle textures slowly morphed into raga melodies, integrating with the classical. The music was full of tremolos, slides and taut harmonies which created a sense of timelessness.

There were sparkling and watery sounds with a flowing movement along with some exuberant playing by the violin and cello while Somi Kim produced multiple runs on the piano.

The third movement hints at Mendelssohn and Shostakovich whose has been important to her and in the final movement there is a rising, intricate string melody, shimmering over over the piano work, which the led to a passage where the instruments seem to be at odds with each other before moving into a dreamlike conclusion.

The New Zealand composer Keith Moss write his “Field notes in Autum” about his living in Wellington in Autumn.

This was a truly atmospheric piece conveying many elements of Wellingtons weather and its changing light. There is a flurry of rain in the opening moments of the piece before suggestions of fleeting clouds, rain sweeping across hills along with the creeping chill of a Wellington day.

This is a sombre Wellington, dark and brooding but with flashes of sunlight dancing on the houses and hills.

The final, and major work on the programme was Schumann’s “Piano Trio No 2” which is essentially a love letter to Clara Schumann.

It was passionate and intense from the opening moments with the violin and cello in an ardent and rapid conversation. Light notes from the violin were answered with denser sounds from the cello.

The work is not just a conversation, it also conveyed the passion and drama of the couple’s relationship. With the light quivering of the violin and the richer reflections of the cello.

The second movement was less passionate and more contemplative surrounded by bursts of excitement. It is as though Schumann is seeing the relationship with more depth and understanding.

Throughout the piece violin and cello were well integrated, answering each other’s tentative questions with musing and meditations.

Somi Kim’s piano provided an ideal setting for the two strings as well as adding depth to the instruments. Violin and cello also responded to the piano giving some cheery and frothy accompaniment. Before leading to the climactic finish with some rapid intersections and mingling of voices.

As with all their concerts the trio demonstrated why they are such an innovative group programming a mix of classic and contemporary works along with New Zaland and international compositions which challenge, entertain and surprise.

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South Island Māori Rock Art

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

South Island Māori Rock Art: European interest from the 19th century to the present

Philippa F Graham

Canterbury Museum

RRP $89.99

Publication Date. September 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Rock drawings are one of the oldest forms of art with numerous examples throughout the world. There are also many examples in both the North Island and South Island which have been well documented.

A new publication, South Island Māori Rock Art by Philippa Graham looks at the rock art from some of the South Island sites with numerous maps and photographs and graphic depictions of the artworks which were generally painted onto limestone.

The pale, fine textured limestone provided an ideal surface to draw on with artists using the closest material to hand. The black colour was usually charcoal (burnt stick from fires) while the red colour would have been made from Kokowai (red oxide of iron) mixed with bird or fish oil.  Where there is no limestone, the drawings would have been incised on the smooth surface of grey-wacke rock.

J L Elmore Drawings at Albury Park (Tengawai Gorge)

That the drawings were made with fugitive materials on perishable surfaces it is a wonder that they have lasted so long, exposed to all types of weather. 

The South Island Māori rock drawings, dating back to early Māori occupation, were initially seen as scientific curiosities by many early European explorers and later, museum curators, including Julius von Haast, Alexander Hamilton, Robert
Speight, and H.D. Skinner.

Early on there was the debate in European circles about the artistic merits of the rock drawings, and their value to both local and international collectors. Experts such as Dr. J.L. Elmore a visiting American anthropologist and antiquarian collector documented, controversially damaged and removed portions of Māori rock art from sites in the South Island around 1916 encouraged by a few museum curators.

The scale of the paintings was minimal at some sites while at others they are quite extensive. The ornithologist and botanist W R B Oliver noted that at Weka Pass a portion of the paintings were 66 feet (20m) long with about 80 figures between two and three feet in height.

In the mid twentieth century, the different approaches to the works can be seen in the contrasting attitudes of archaeologist Roger Duff and artist Theo Schoon. Duff was initially dismissive of the rock art seeing the works as “doodles”. Theo Schooh however saw the drawing as having greater aesthetic and spiritual significance.


The book is the culmination of many years of exploring and checking the sites by local farmer Philippa Graham, encouraged by landowners, field staff from the
Department of Lands and Survey and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

There has been little written about the history of these rock art sites since Michael Trotter and Beverley McCulloch’s 1971 publication, Prehistoric Rock Art of New Zealand and now with South Island Māori Rock Art, Graham calls on her in-depth research at all of the major New Zealand institutions, in addition to the Thomas Burke Museum, Seattle. She has uncovered fresh material about the sites, the landowners, the governments of the times, archaeologists’ contributions, museums’ involvement, library records and attitudes towards local Māori in early days.

European Sailing Ship, Takiroa Shelter, North Otago

The nameless artists who first daubed charcoal and red ochre on these walls depicted subjects which were generally close to home. The images range from abstract forms, to bird, animal life and people. The presence of bones from moa and the extinct quail suggest that the people who made these images started early in terms of human habitation in the area. There may have been a long break in continuity, as there are also depictions of European sailing ships and animals suggesting that the practice may have been revived in the late eighteenth or early ninetieth century.

The book details the efforts to preserve and record the drawings at various sites. Among these efforts were the overpainting of works at Weka Pass by the and Thomas Herberley and the more recent drawings by Theo Schoon and Tony Fomision.

The book has more than 350 illustrations and maps, an index and a Māori glossary, as well as a chapter focusing on New Zealand artists who have been inspired by the rock drawings. In producing these images, the artists have often produced more refined images and in the case of the New Zealand postage stamps have brought these images to the wider public.

Matariki Stamps 2012 Designer Dane Burke & advisor Brian Allingham and Nga Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust

The artists who have used the imagery include James Turkington, Cliff Whiting, Selwyn Muru, John Bevan Ford, Tony Fomison, Rua Pick, Theo Schoon, Denis Knight Turner and Gordon Walters.

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Ōtepoti Dunedin Architecture: A Walking Guide

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Ōtepoti Dunedin Architecture

A walking guide

John Walsh and photographer Patrick Reynolds, 

Massey University Press

$39.99

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Ōtepoti Dunedin Architecture, a walking guide is the fourth book in the series of handy pocket guides to New Zealand city architecture and is the most extensive yet. It features more than 130 Dunedin buildings in seven, self-guiding walks that range from the university district right across the city to the southern cemetery area and out to Port Chalmers.

With easy-to-follow maps, a well informed and engaging text by well-known architecture writer John Walsh and images by architectural photographer Patrick Reynolds, 

The three previous books (Wellington. Auckland and Christchurch architecture) have proven to be invaluable and have all gone into second editions which is a major achievement for such niche publications.

The Dunedin book follows the outline of the previous books with a brief history of the city, its growth and the development of its architecture. As with previous books Walsh writes clearly about the buildings, placing them clearly with in the history of architecture in New Zealand.

R A Lawton is given considerable space in the book as the architect of the First Church of Otago and Trinity Methodist Church as well as numerous other buildings including Larnach Castle making him an architect of great significant in the Dunedin area. He designed an estimated 46 church buildings, 21 banks, 134 houses, 16 school buildings, 13 hotels, 15 civic and institutional buildings, and 120 commercial and industrial buildings. Virtually all the building were built in the Dunedin area.

Trinity Methodist Church

There are other notable inclusions such as F W Petre who has numerous buildings to his name in the city and he designed three of New Zealand’s cathedrals, each distinguished by a different architectural style: St Joseph’s Cathedral in Dunedin, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Wellington and the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch.

Ted McCoy is one contemporary architect whose work features in the book with several works in the University precinct – the Richardson Building, the Archway Lecture Theatres and University College along with the impressive semicircular apse of St Pauls Cathedral

For the most part these are tours of New Zealand commercial and public buildings but there are a few domestic dwellings as well such Olveston.

In each of the tours we encounter some of the most important architectural gems of the city. So, in the City Centre Tour we encounter the Dunedin Railway Station and the First Church of Otago (“the most impressive of all nineteenth New Zealand churches”).

Toitu. The Josephine Foyer

In the City South tour there is the Warren and Mahoney (with Aukaha) Ōtepoti, Toito Early Settlers Museum (a combination of three architectural styles) and the South City Substation (“one of the best buildings in a city stuffed with Gothic style churches as well as classically ordered banks and Renaissance inspired warehouses.

City West tour features Speight Brewery (Massive without being gaunt, and solid without being drab) and St Dominics Priory (the largest unreinforced mass-concrete building in the Southern Hemisphere) and Olveston (a memento of Dunedin’s Golden Age)

The City Northeast tour includes The University Precinct with its many nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century buildings and the Winter Gardens (first botanic garden building in New Zealand).

The other tours to the east of the city have fewer inclusions but some of the highlights are Larnachs Castle, the Bank of New Zealand in Port Chalmers which was the studio space of Ralph Hotere for many years and the English Gothic style Iona Church overlooking the settlement.

The book emphasises the work of some of the individual architects such as Edmund Anscombe, R A Lawon, Ted McCoy and F W Petre along with the architecture practices of Mandeno & Fraser, Mason, Wales and Miller and White who designed a number of the important building in the city.

There are a couple of instances where major artists are featured with their artworks included as decoration b. These include Jim Allen’s six panel frieze on the Arts Building, Simon Kahn’s dramatic facade on the EBB Hotel and Oliver Gross’s Cenotaph and the frieze on the Hercus building.

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An Enemy of the People: Ibsen’s drama set in rural New Zealand

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter Stockmann (Sam Bunkall), Thomas Stockmaan !Fraser Hofmann. and Katherine !Grace Cullen) Image: Lucie Everett-Brown

An Enemy of the People

By Henrik Ibsen

Flyleaf Theatre Production

Q Theatre

Until 22nd August

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In this new version of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” adapted by Aaron Richardson, Dr Thomas Stockmann (Fraser Hoffman) has discovered that the local spa, Te Wai Puia is poisoned from rural runoff and industry. He attempts to inform the local residents and civic leaders through the local newspaper and its sympathetic editor.

Initially he has some support but then there are attempts to cover it up, and the local people turn against him. However, Stockmann still pursues the truth which leads to him being discredited, losing his job and wife. He is also faced with an interfamily drama as his brother Peter (Sam Bunkall) who is also the mayor is opposed to his comments and opinions.

This modern reimagining relocates the story from nineteenth-century Norway to present-day Aotearoa and our own water crisis. This emphasis on water, the commercial and rural use as well as the concern for safe drinking water becomes a real issue. This is emphasised by the large water pipes surrounding the roof of the stage with water dripping into buckets and a small flood in the final act.

As the sole beacon of truth Fraser Hoffman gives a great performance with speeches which are filled with crusading zeal and inspirational lines – “You can’t ignore the truth” and “the public has to hear the truth even if they don’t believe it”.

While he is the hero of the play, he ultimately becomes the lone voice crying in the wilderness. His standing for truth and his zeal is not sufficient to convince everybody, so even his wife Katherine (Grace Cullen) who gives a fine performance as the conflicted wife is forced to leave him.

There is also a well-judged performance from Sam Bunkall who plays Peter Stockmann the brother of Dr Stockmann. Sam Bunkall and Hoffman complement each other wonderfully as they argue on what is best for the town and their onstage physical fight was wonderfully orchestrated.

Joseph Wycoff as Hobson the editor of the local newspaper gave a polished performance as did Matt Chamberlain as Martin whose Everyman approach to was convincing.

Director Grace Augustine has created nuanced production where the characters take on the subtly of real-life politicians as they take up their positions in their investigations of the truth / facts / opinions. Even the audience is left with conflicting views on who is best at protecting the town and the environment.

The minimal set (also Aaron Richardson) works well especially the final scene where the audience becomes the onlookers at a Town Hall meeting, and we feel we are part of the cast.

The ambient sound designed by Laika Rountree initially seems to add to the plays emotional impact but used throughout becomes something of an irritation, detracting from the emotional power of the play.

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THE VENICE BIENNALE REVIEW OF et al 2005

Review by John Daly-Peoples

This week the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki will be exhibiting et al.’s 2005 Venice installation “the fundamental practice” marking the first time the work has been displayed in its entirety in Aotearoa New Zealand.

First exhibited as New Zealand’s official presentation at the 2005 Venice Biennale, the multisensory installation combines five moving ‘autonomous systems’ with computer-generated voices and sounds in a dystopian orchestra. The work forms a layered exploration of belief systems, extremism and its influence on individual freedom and collective life

In 2005 as the Arts Writer for National Business Review I went to the Venice Biennale to report on et al’s installation “the fundamental practice” marking. The work was presented at the Istituto Provinciale per I’Infanzia Santa Maria della Pietà, (La Pieta), a space behind the church where Fiona Pardington is currently showing her work Taharaki Skyside at the 2026 Biennale.

The overarching theme for the 2005 biennale was Sempre un po più lontano (Always a Little Further) andfor the first time in its history, the exhibition was directed by two Spanish women: María de Corral and Rosa Martínez.

NBR published the following article on June 17th 2005

During the opening days of the Venice Biennale in 2005, the international magazine Frieze had a text campaign to alert people to important exhibitions. On the second day the message read. “Unravel oblique systems of communications at the New Zealand pavilion”.

It was going to make good sense to see the New Zealand work early on in the daunting trek around the 100 exhibition sites as the fundamental practice was a central reference point for much of the work on show at this year’s biennale.

Et al’s“the fundamental practice” marking was a central reference point for much of the work on show at this year’s biennale.

A number of other artists appeared to refer to or build on the ideas around “the fundamental practice” marking, which had a density and intricacy as well as a sense of narrative that were not fully developed in other installations.

The et al show consists of four old port-a-loos that run on tracks within chain mail fence enclosures. Each of the structures has been adapted and contain motors and sound systems, making them like mysterious alien pods.

The sounds which blare out from the four pods includes classical music such as Vivaldi, various sounds, pealing bells along withy spoken texts. There are also occasional shrieks as the modules erupt into action within their enclosures.

The four pods sprawl through the elaborate gothic entrance foyer of a small palace just off the Grand Canal.

The place looks like the set from a B grade movie where we discover the sinister underground lair of the mad scientists or megalomaniac who want tot rule the world – a place full of weirds machines, lights and silly pseudo scientific gabble.

Et al’s work has been investigating systems of mind control and behavior modification for some time and here there was a questioning of the way we receive, comprehend and accept concepts and beliefs.

The installation also built on the notion many have of the notion of secret corporate, religious or political underworlds involved in the great conspiracies to control, via such people as Osama Bin Laden, Brian Tamaki and Bill Gates.

So, the installation can be seen as part of the mechanism employed for creating mass delusion or imparting propaganda.

Another section of the show has large images of a New Zealand lake with drawings of the port-a-loo modules on the horizon as though these are alien invaders or planned developments. They are reminiscent of the present Transpower debacle over new power pylons.

“the fundamental practice” marking can also be seen as an allegorical installation, representing the political, religious and bureaucratic agencies that attempt to tell people what to think.

One can also look at the installation as being part of an elliptical self-referential device, analogous to the art-making process in which the artist attempts to establish an environment within which the viewer can create and reflect on ideas.

The controversy about the artist not speaking to the media and her practice of calling herself by other names are also practices employed by a Belgium artist calling himself Honore d’O.

His installation had similarities to the et al la show, but where she uses wire cages, modules and elaborate texts, his installations are made of plastic tubing used as a drawing medium as well as for sculptural forms.

Honore d’O and et al’s work both have the appearance of chaotic and alien environments but they also seem to hint at the tortuous creative process. Both artists engage in a deliberate obscuring of logic as thought in that there is as much method to the madness as there is madness to the method.

Another of the major works in the Biennale that has resonances with “the fundamental practice” marking is the brain wave measurement work by New York-based Japanese artist Mariko Mori in which people are hooked up with electrodes in a large space pod, in a setting recalling the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to have their brain waves analysed. This combination of pseudo-science, new age hype and technological controlled environment is only a stylish version of et al’s grungy myth-making laboratory.

Others saw that the mesh fences and ageing machines looked like much of Venice, with its crumbling buildings surrounded by protective fences. Another noted that the whole idea of the installation seemed particularly relevant in Venice, which had invented clandestine bureaucracy many centuries before.

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John Pule at Gow Langsford

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

John Pule. The first incision I saw I dreamt no more

John Pule

The first incision I saw I dreamt no more

Gow Langsford, Onehunga

Until September 5

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The catalogue to John Pule’s latest exhibition “The first incision I saw I dreamt no more” has an introductory poem / note by the artist about the exhibition

“my poetry comes from soil

The exertion of ants, the mucus of worms

The last evenings of caterpillars

The froth of centipedes”

It is an acknowledgment that the art works are based on natural forms and his incisions or enquires into the natural world with works such as the eponymous work on paper is like a page from a scientific notebook with drawings of natural forms, the flora and fauna of the artists environment – fish, plants, insects and centipedes. Theses drawings can also be seen as microscopic views and diagrams of biologicals structures.

These references to the natural world and the plant forms that provide shelter also hint at a parallel world of mythological creatures and lands.

Johnh Pule. Tau Po Haaku Tau Aho Haaku

His dramatic approach can be seen in works like “Tau Po Haaku Tau Aho Haaku” ($95,000) where the plant forms which dominate are based on local vegetation but on a larger scale become like a mythological wonderland – somewhere between fantasy and microscopicscans of cellular forms. There are also reference to the natural world with a lake in “Are we able to live here” ($95,000) or a group of Lilliputian scale group of people in “We will always begin here” ($95,000).

The artists work draws on the physical, topographic and historic, merging them, with social, political and personal insights and visions. The work contains much of the artists previous iconography but have a greater immediacy given the artists recent responses to in his ancestral land.

The works are in a sense both a discovery and rediscovery of the land and its mythologies as well as the artists own journeys.

Of his time spent in Niue producing these works he says “I rode my bike each day through the canopy forest from Liku to Alofi, through rain or shine, winds, storm, or calm. The road is bordered with plantations, forests, tracks into the interior. Big blue skies and clouds, shadows of trees stretch across the makatea (limestone) road. Returning to Liku every evening, the sun is warm on my back.  These paintings and drawings are about that particular time.”

His works have previously dealt with his growing up in New Zealand, his discovery of traditional Niuean art, and developing his own iconography. This had led to him dealing with wider issues of colonialism, the impact of Christianity as well as the mythology and spirituality of Niue.

With several of the works in the exhibition the artist has created pathways which reach into the foliage much like the trails that that the artist has ridden on his bike but also the pathways which reach back in time. These pathways and journeys can also be seen as metaphors for the artist’s own physical, spiritual and aesthetic journeys.

They are analogous to the songlines of aboriginal art as well as the lines of musical compositions, imagining the way the sounds evolve, carrying a narrative expressing joy. sorrow and wonderment.

The foliage depicted is at once colourful and local as well as surreal and mythological – a portrayal of Pule’s Niue as well as an imagined paradise.

John Pule. Niu Tilani, Takanoa Okalana

Other works such as “We are waiting for them” ($28,000) “Niu Tilani, Takanoa Okalana” ($28,000) feature plans, grids and designs – locating islands, stars, measuring winds and sea currents, all ways of comprehending the environment

David Eggleton provides an essay to the show which provides an overview of the artist’s work with insights into the artist’s work and perceptive observations such as –

“The paintings are transformative in their poetic intensity, maintained by the deft juxtaposition of various intense hues, which, like lava flows, have pooled and puckered into glossy skeins and skins – the oil-based enamels slathered on in virtuoso fashion, or worked around with brush and pen and rag. Here, in these dense, mirage-like gardens, the shining plants have taken on the powers of sorcery or enchantment. They are part of a fantastic botanical order, not necessarily benign, that over-arches the anonymous, small-scale human figures depicted. And we too as spectators bearing witness are enfolded, or perhaps embraced, by the forking tree limbs, the fleshy leaves, the many-seeded climbing vines.”

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Macbeth: A play of Two Halves

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Mark Mitchinson as Macbeth Photo Andi Crown

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

Auckland Theatre Company

Director Benjamin Kilby Henson

Set Dan Williams

Lighting Rachel Marlow & Bradley Gledhill, Filament 11

Costumes Elizabeth Whiting

Composer and Sound Design Robin Kelly

Engine Room Director Sepelini Mua’au

With Alison Bruce, Keagan Carr Fransch, Travis Graham,
Marianne Infante Khee Choy, Mark Mitchinson, Maaka Pohatu, Robert Pollock, Jeff Szusteman, Amanda Tito, Lauie Tofa, Sara Wiseman and as Coven Lightning Maxwell Andrew, Lucy Goer and Evelyn Towersey

ASB Waterfront Theatre

Ends 22 August

Reviewer Malcolm Calder

Good to see ATC mounting a solid Shakespeare.    Albeit one with a modern twist to an age-old tale.          And good too, to see Benjamin Kilby Henson starting to hit his straps with the company.

No, the script hasn’t been hijacked and Shakespeare’s themes remain extant.    The setting however it something else.    More on that later.

The standout is Mark Mitchinson who gives us a supremely impressive Macbeth.    Not only one which provides a title for the play, but a carefully crafted character around which everyone and everything revolves.    As it should be.    His Macbeth is vocally and emotionally powerful, plumbs enormous depths of physical presence, all the while commanding the stage even when he is not on it.

Yes, of course he goes mad and is eventually disposed of in the internecine warrior-world of Shakespeare’s Scotland, but I expect Mitchinson’s Macbeth to remain with me for some time.

Less so his counterpoint – Sara Wiseman – who struggled with the complexity of Lady Macbeth.    There were flashes of intensity from her, especially when using her lower register, but inconsistently so.       The play just didn’t have a balance for me.    And that was a pity because Lady Macbeth is pivotal and strength is an essential.    As a result the drama that unfolds and the 4th and 5th Acts sometimes felt like a different play … my sinister political drama had somehow become more of a psycho-drama and I felt a tad let down.

Nonetheless, Mr Kilby Henson used his ensemble well with Jeff Szustemann giving us a very capable Banquo and, despite my initial misgivings, the use of children as the witches worked very well indeed.       Perhaps worthy of mention too was the delightful ‘cameo’ from Amanda Tito (Porter), breaking briefly through the fourth wall to reach out into the audience.

Dan Williams’ highly effective post-apocalyptic fantastical engine-room’ and maintained the overall production values and standards now firmly established by ATC.    Robyn Kelly’s growly soundscape underpinned all that Shakespeare conjured and Elizabeth Whiting would surely have relished letting her hair down with the costumes.

So, on balance, this as a more than competent production perhaps worthy of some minor re-casting.    However the standout for me remains Mark Mitchison’s Macbeth.