Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Ans Westra: A life in photography

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Ans Westra: A life in photography

By Paul Moon

Massey University Press

Published May 2024

RRP $49,99

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Ans Westra, who died in 2023 was probably the  most prolific contemporary photographer  who focussed on  recording the life and times of New Zealanders.

With a career spanning over sixty years, she took hundreds of thousands of photographs of people, places and events.

Now a new book “Ans Westra: A life in photography” by cultural historian  Paul Moon documents her life and her contribution to the cultural life of the country.

The book charts her photographic career  from her early involvement with the Wellington Camera Club in the 1960’s and her first sale  of a work to the quarterly journal Te Ao Hou, a publication she would continue to provide images for,

She also gained early recognition in 1961 winning a prize in a photographic competition run by Arts Committee of the Festival of  Wellington.

Much of her work was commissioned for publications originated with the Department of Education and several of her books were for educational publishers as well. One of her earliest publications was ”Viliami of the Friendly Isles” based on her travels to Tonga, Fiji and Samoa in 1962. As well as taking the pictures she wrote the text which describes the dramas, tragedies and excitement of the various locations and events she encountered.

Then there was the controversial booklet “Washday at the Pa”  which was a school bulletin published in 1964 by the Education Department’s School Publications section. Ans Westra wrote the text and took the photographs during a visit to Ruatōria.

Ans Westra, Ruatoria, 1963 (from ‘Washday at the Pa’), courtesy of {Suite} Gallery

The bulletin followed a day in the life of a rural Māori family with nine children. Her images of the family’s living conditions caused enormous controversy, notably from The Māori Women’s Welfare League and the work was subsequently removed from schools and destroyed. Only latterly was the work republished by her Wellington gallery Suite.

Her more substantial publication “Māori” was published by Alistair Taylor in 1967 which was co-produced with James Ritchie and designed by Gordon Walters.

Her motive for participating  in the project was the misguided notion, held by many pakeha writers that Māori were likely to become extinct at some time in the future and their culture needed to be recorded.

She was also involved with another controversial publication “Down Under the Plumtree” published by Alistair Taylor. Published in 1972, the book openly discussed sex, sexuality and drugs at a time when there was very little reliable information on these issues for young people. 

Moon writes about all her major bodies of work such as “Notes on the Country I live in”  and “We Live by a lake” which was written by Noel Hilliard.

He also outlines the rational and impetus for the various projects, the political and social climate at the time and the reactions to them.

The 84 images used to illustrate the book show the various aspect of her photographic  approach which changes over the years. One is conscious of her ability to frame an image, capture the sense of a person or place and find the drama of the moment.

Ans Westra, Wellington, 1974 courtesy of {Suite} Gallery

This ability to capture the sense of place can be seen in her “Wellington” of 1974 with the wet streets of the capital by the cenotaph.

She also shows an understanding  of architectural space with an image of the dam structure in “We Live by a Lake” and she is aware of the possibilities of contrast through light and shade as well as means of creating drama and movement as shown in her image of a policeman and dog confronting a protestor during the anti-Springboks tour campaign.

While she did not photograph all that much in colour, when she did, she was able to use colour to great effect as in her image of a Dutch doll from her Toyland series.

Ans Westra, Dutch Doll, 2004, courtesy of {Suite} Gallery

The book not only documents Westra’s immense contribution to our history in documenting social change but also reveals an enthusiastic and  dedicated  artist.

The book deals with several of the important events in her own life from her move from Holland in her youth, the brief  return to Holland in the late 1960’s and her short-lived affair with the writer Barry Crump  and the resulting son, Erik.

Dr Paul Moon ONZM is professor of history at Auckland University of Technology’s Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Māori Development, where he has taught since 1993. He is the prolific author of many books, including biographies of William Hobson, Robert FitzRoy, and the Ngāpuhi rangatira Hone Heke and Hone Heke Ngapua. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society at University College London and of the Royal Society of Arts.

All Images extracted from Ans Westra: A Life In Photography by Paul Moon, published by Massey University Press,

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(Gen)-X rated Satire

Zoe Triggs, Mika Austin, and Lizzie Buckton in HR The Musical
Photo: Jinki Cambronero (she/they)

HR The Musical

A Performance Revue

Created and directed by Amy Mansfield

Artsense Productions

Part of the 2024 NZ Comedy Festival

With Mika Austin, Zoe Triggs, Lizzie Buckton & Amy Mansfield

SM Simon Todd

Rangatira, Q Theatre

Review by Malcolm Calder

14 May 2024

This delightful little show had an outstanding run in the summer series at Q.  So much so that it has popped up again on the national 2024 Comedy Festival circuit.  HR The Musical has some very, very funny lines and lyrics and confirms Amy Mansfield as genuine talent in the field.  It has now finished its return run at Q in Auckland but Wellington and Christchurch audiences still have something to look forward to.

So if you are in either city, don’t miss it.

Despite the principal title, the subtitle is far more appropriate (and barely hides a satire on itself) –  HR is very much a contemporary and wickedly comedic Performance Revue.  And a good one too.  But you’re looking for a plot or story, then forget it.  This is a series of sketches …and it works.

Set in amorphously non-specific workplaces, the cast of four have a lot of fun with some delightful lyrics, at times bitingly so.  Mansfield has a genuine skill at finding rhymes and rhythms and then delivering them with a scattergun regularity.  Standout for me was undoubtedly the ‘Mansplaining’ scene, but only narrowly losing out to the ‘Coalition of Chaos’.

She takes aim at the meaninglessness that enshrouds many of today’s workplace practices.  Y’know … the term for ‘personnel’ (which used to be about employment) soon became ‘people operations’ in the cyborg workplaces that seem to have flowered in our endemic post neo-liberal economic era.  The audience got it, and got it well, as the term was morphed into ‘human resources’, ‘recruitment and selection’, ‘performance management’, ‘learning and development’, ‘succession planning’, ‘onboarding’ and a myriad of other clichaic terms – don’t get me started on teams and team-building.  Each is instantly recognisable to its target audience.  Couple that with a close familiarity with the attitudes and processes that underpin employment and you have an audience that relates to many of the painfully recognisable and satirically drawn characters, and they get it even more. And therein lies the principal reason for this production’s success.   Audiences relate.

In keeping with this, Mansfield’s music covers a range of styles, necessarily scattergun at times, but none are inappropriate.  It is held together by a keyboard supported by a couple of guitars and even a plastic flute or two.

It would seem to me that the southern venues for HR The Musical may be a tad on the small side.  In Wellington particularly !

However, it also struck me that HR The Musical is something of a work in progress.  Its final scene starts to hint at querying why the workplace is the way it is.  It would be fascinating to see Mansfield explore this further.

Christchurch 16-18 May, Little Andromeda

Wellington 21-22 May, Te Auaha

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My Brilliant Divorce

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Jackie Clarke in My Brilliant Divorce                     Photo: Darren Meredith

My Brilliant Divorce

By Geraldine Aron

Dir Janice Finn

With Jackie Clarke

Tadpole Productions

Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna

to 25 May

Review by Malcolm Calder

16 May 2024

As a mere male, I feel something of a fraud attempting to review something that tackles its subject entirely from a woman’s perspective.  But, rest assured, I have sought the opinions of female friends, so plough on (in truth ARE thoughts for menfolk in the work too).

Geraldine Aron’s play tracks one woman’s three-year path through a pending divorce after 20 or so years of marriage.  It is ripe for many emotional, social and potentially dangerous situations and that’s no bad thing.  In fact Aron’s script largely treats them as a self-deprecatingly comedic and the twinkling sparkle and dry self-observations of Jackie Clarke helps ensure this is the case – although not without some truly heart-rending moments along the way.

There is occasional recognition of Aron’s truths, but the laughter flows, there are giggles galore and  it is these spoonfuls of sugar that help ease the shock, the pain, the anxiety and the self-doubt – embarrassingly so at times. 

While Aron’s stereotypically deserted wife reflects with shredded self-esteem, loneliness and self-induced neuroses, she finds little support around her.  Older family members prefer to look to their own future with generational glee, children don’t look back too hard because they are focussed on other things, while men wish to pursue their new path clearly preferring glitz and glam (and youth of course, now THERE’S a stereotype).  And when the loyalty of her hitherto best friend the delightful Dexter wavers, she hits rock bottom.

In sum, My Brilliant Divorce portrays a women who has thought of herself as ‘provided for’ until she isn’t.  And then discovers her own future right in front of her.

Initially Jackie Clarke’s Angela Kennedy Lipsky came across as a little tense and a tad overly-quick with her delivery on Opening Night, but she soon grew into the character, quickly found her comic timing and really started to make the most of some of Aron’s delicious lines.  In fact, the way her girl-koala demolished her boy-koala (both longtime gifts from her ex), there was real venom behind it and even Dexter looked startled.  Even the audience lapped it up when she crawled off-stage looking for the bits.

Self-doubt is at the core of this play.  In one or two places it seemed a little dated and some of the localisations didn’t quite work, but that didn’t matter.  The audience intuitively knew it would all work out for the best in the long run.  Far be it for me provide a spoiler alert though.

Finally, congratulations once again to Tadpole, a company that knows and understands its audience rather well, and keeps coming up with productions to which they can relate.  That’s not to suggest the opening night audience for My Brilliant Career was stacked with divorcees.  Far from it.  In fact I have a feeling that many were there largely because of Jackie Clarke’s presence on stage.

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Swan Lake: A Warm Glow Inside

Image Stephen A’Court

Swan Lake

Royal New Zealand Ballet in association with AVIS

Choreography: Russell Kerr ONZM QSM after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Staging: Turid Revfeim

Set & Costume Design: Kristian Fredrikson

Lighting: Jon Buswell

Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Auckland Philharmonia, Conductor Hamish McKeich

Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland until 12 May

Review by Malcolm Calder

Swan Lake is a classic. And rightly so.


This production, originally choreographed by the legendary late Russell Kerr, lives on and will continue to remain something of a benchmark for the company.


Swan Lake is a work of staggering beauty and power. The magic of the swans, the sumptuous costuming and the elaborately subtle set changes continue to captivate.


Mesmeric and somehow timeless, it truly suspends disbelief, draws on both imagination and
emotion and eventually ushers its audience homeward shrouded in an inner warmth and secure in the knowledge that tradition is something to be both valued and prized.


The work itself is as familiar as old boots, is far removed from the concept of a ‘hackneyed standby’ as occasionally perceived by some, and showcases the traditions, skills and techniques that are such an essential part of the artform.
Drawing on sets and costumes nearly 30 years old, this RNZB Swan Lake remains lush, vibrant and very, very satisfying. Assiduous attention to detail has resulted in a restoration job to be applauded,

giving Wardrobe a more than gentle workout and Staging with a restoration that is far from counterfeit.


Other commitments prevented this reviewer from attending Opening Night in Auckland, and I was delighted to be able to see the second night cast with the alternate principals and some shuffles in the corp.


Under maestro Hamish McKeich, the Auckland Philharmonia brought the much-loved and thoroughly familiar Tchaikovsky score to life establishing and maintaining the atmospheric and at times mesmeric tone that marries brilliantly well with Turid Revfeim’s staging. Special mention too to the work of harpist Ingrid Bauer.


I found Joshue Guillemot-Rodgerson to be rivettingly imperious as Prince Siegfried in Act 1 – outstanding control and very much a Prince among his subjects. Then I delighted further as he smoothly grew into the smitten and then the confused, before finally leaving us with a feeling of hope for the future. It was a remarkably well-conveyed journey of maturation and growth perhaps drawing from his own journey from the one I first saw in Romeo and Juliet a couple of years back.


However, I found Ana Gallardo Lobaina initially a little aloof, daunting and even ice-like at times as Odette. Her technique was flawlessly detailed and her control immaculate but her connection with
Siegfried only really flowered for me after she had slid seamlessly into her alter ego of Odile. However I soon stopped fretting as the two came breathtakingly together in their two pas de deux in Act 3.


Dane Head was delightfully cheeky as the athletic Jester and Zacharie Dun gave us a sleek and
demonically insidious Rothbart we all love to hate.
But Swan Lake is about swans after all. At a lake. And swans, being swans, are something of pack
animals. In turn it follows that they move in unison, think in unison and breathe in unison. And these swans did so with only the slightest of occasional nerves from newcomers, conjuring images
that personify Swan Lake.
My only disappointment was that, despite their three multi-cultural scenes and significant overall contribution, for some reason the boys did no final bow at the performance I attended. What a pity – I would have applauded them too.


This Swan Lake is a rather mammoth production and RNZB is to be congratulated. It has an enormous energy, is fabulously presented and attracted an audience representing pretty much every age-group. It presents few intellectual challenges, only aesthetic ones and has many, many talking points.


As more than one writer has suggested, this alone may be responsible for drawing more children into dance than any other. That this work will tour regionally will no doubt assist this process.

RNZB Touring to:

Napier, Municipal Theatre, May 17-18
Christchurch, Isaac Theatre Royal, May 23-26
Dunedin, Regent Theatre, May 30
Invercargill, Civic Theatre, June 2

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Bach & Bruckner in Contrast

Review by Peter Simpson

David Fray

Bach & Bruckner

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

May 2

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

The APO’s recent Bach & Bruckner concert was a study in extraordinary contrasts. The Bach pieces: the Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F
Minor, BWV 1056 and, Harpsichord Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055, date from his Leipzig years, probably around 1740. Bruckner’s unfinished last Symphony No. 9 dates from the 1890s – a 150 year gap between them into which almost all classical and Romantic music falls.


The first contrast was one of scale. For the Bach, a dozen or so stringed instruments clustered around not an antiquated harpsichord, for which the music was written and first performed on, but a shiny black concert grand, looking vast and sleek, like an elephant on the stage surrounded by pygmies.

For the Bruckner after the interval the stage filled up with a crowd of
musicians; I’m not sure exactly how many; my attempts to count them always broke down, but it must have been close to 100, certainly at least 80. In the numerous climaxes – Bruckner’s music often seems composed almost entirely of crescendos and decrescendos – they made the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in a concert hall (at least since Bruce Springsteen’s E-
Streetband drove me out of the Arts Centre in Ottawa fifty years ago); it left me with ringing ears for some time after the finale.

Then there is the matter of time. The concert began at 7.30 with the two Bach concerti. By 8 o’clock, they were all over; all six movements (three for each piece) together with pauses, applause and encore, took less than half an hour (9 minutes 17 second, and 13 minutes, 40 seconds, respectively, according to one recording). By contrast, the Bruckner stretches out to well over an hour in most recordings (Bernard Haitink’s is 67 minutes long), with each of the outer movements taking almost half-an-hour and about 10 minutes for the intervening scherzo.


French soloist, David Fray, born in 1981, has recorded much of Bach’s keyboard music including the concerti. BBC Music described one such recording: ‘Fray’s command of colour and imaginative highlighting is intoxicating, and there is a freshness which makes for indisputably
rewarding listening’. I couldn’t have said it better myself. His playing was as lean and elegant as his person, especially in the lovely melody over pizzicato strings in the slow movement of BWV 1056.


The Bruckner 9th Symphony is sometimes described as a ‘magnificent torso’ of a work, in that it remains uncompleted, the composer having left only sketches of the fourth movement. Even so it seems a shapely structure – I found myself thinking of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona – with the two vast evenly balanced outer movements joined by the comparatively brief and frenetic scherzo. In my notes I scribbled ‘glorious and sonorous horns suspended over shimmering beds of strings’ and ‘the sensation of bathing in an ocean of sound’.

Replacement conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens, who stood in for the previously advertised Johannes Fritzsch, who was forced to withdraw because of an injury, appeared in total command of music and musicians and had the APO sounding magnificent.

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A warm endearing night out

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By Deborah Moggach
Director, Lucy Waterhouse
Producers, Stewart and Tricia Macpherson, Ben MacDonald
With
Rula Lenska, Harmage Singh Kalirai, Shaan Kesha, Sudeepta Vyas, Dhiya Redding, Georgina Monro,
Helen Moulder, Edward Newborn, Cathy Downes, Annie Ruth, Paul Barrett, Ravi Gurunathan, Alvin Maharaj, Tiahli Martyn, Kate Jasonsmith

Civic Theatre, Auckland until 5 May
then St James, Wellington and James Hay, Christchurch


Review by Malcolm Calder

I simply cannot remember when I last saw a large-scale commercial theatre production in this country. Music theatre and countless concerts yes, but not a straight play. In fact hardly ever!
Marigold Hotel is a huge commercial undertaking fraught with risk and a mammoth achievement.


So, first off, congratulations to the Macphersons and to Ben McDonald.

There’s always something about entering a big theatre that takes me back. Viscerally. Especially for something like this. Maybe it’s the deliciously faux theatrical decor, perhaps that unique smell or even just the sense of occasion that can never be replicated in smaller, newer venues. As such, I cannot even suggest a more apt stage for this production than Auckland’s Civic and its Wellington counterpart – I can only presume Christchurch’s Royal is unavailable.

Although she did not write the screenplay for the movie, Marigold Hotel is Deborah Moggach’s stage adaptation and is largely based on her original novel These Foolish Things. It was first produced in the UK a couple of years back and toured extensively before a run on the West End.

This New Zealand production brings in only the revered Harmage Singh Kalirai and the popular Rula Lenska from London to reprise the roles they created in the UK, and surrounds with a local cast overseen by Lucy Waterhouse to ensure consistency.

Put briefly, Marigold Hotel is hardly a serious drama. Rather it is a comedy that is endearing and loveable tale about a group of English retirees who, for diverse reasons, find themselves in a rundown
hotel in India. While not just a retread of the film, it presumes some familiarity with that source.


Miss Lenska’s Madge is a central role, and she is rightly billed as the star, Marigold Hotel is essentially an ensemble piece (supported with some backup) and provides ample opportunity for
each of the key characters to deliver from their immense experience. Many are recognisable, even for non-theatre afficionados, and it is a joy to see such on-point timing, situational awareness and
even improvisation around a couple of minor technical hitches with nary a blink.

There is not a weak link amongst them and some will remain memorable – Cathy Downes’ Dorothy being but one example.
Conversely, Moggach’s script provides only two-dimensional roles for most of the Indian characters. Harmage Singh Kalirai is a standout as the omnipresent Jimmy, but it was the near line-less Tikal
(Ravi Gurunathan) who captures with a rivetting on-stage presence, along with Sudeepta Vyas who wheedles and manipulates her Mrs Kapoor as only some mothers can.

However, it is also true to concede that Moggach’s first act might have benefitted more from tighter editing and the opposite in the second where the final denouement is a bit brisk.

On balance though, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a warm and heartfelt story with a joyous finale that assures audiences of a good night out. It is an undertaking that is far from small for its
producers, and a welcome opportunity for some of our finest character actors. All are to be congratulated.

I wallowed.

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Mansfield Park: The Future Looks Bright

Review by Malcolm Calder

Ashlyn Tymms (Fanny Price in Mansfield Park) Photo Lewis Ferris

Mansfield Park
Music by Jonathan Dove
Libretto by Alasdair Middleton
Based on the novel Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Director, Rebecca Meltzer
Maestro Concertatore, Brad Cohen
A New Zealand Opera production
Settlers Country Manor, Waimauku
Sunday, 21 April
With
Ashlyn Tymms (Fanny Price)
Kristin Darragh (Lady Bertram)
Robert Tucker (Sir Thomas Bertram)
Sarah Mileham (Maria Bertram)
Michaela Cadwgan (Julia Bertram)
Joel Amosa (Edmund Bertram)
Andrea Creighton (Aunt Norris)
Joanna Foote (Mary Crawford)
Taylor Wallbank (Henry Crawford)
Andrew Grenon (Mr Rushworth)
And
Soomin Kim and David Kelly (piano for four hands)

The incoming General Director of New Zealand Opera Brad Cohen has described Mansfield Park as a touchstone for the future. And judging by this offering of Mansfield Park, opera-lovers have a rather
fascinating future to look forward to.

Jonathan Dove’s score is contemporary, which may prove difficult for some but it points to an operatic future that is to be lauded and, unlike last year’s perhaps controversial Unruly Tourists, retains some links to literary tradition.


Mansfield Park is a two-act, 18 chapters adaptation of Jane Austen’s early 19th century novel. It takes a few liberties with the original but retains the essential context of the Crawford family and their grand old country pile in which familial mores, social positioning and aspirations are played out. Alasdair Middleton’s libretto deftly and succinctly summarises these in the very first chapter as being about ‘profit, pride, position, posterity and prestige’.


Remote niece, Fanny Price, is recently fostered into this social setting ‘for her betterment’ before patriarch Sir Henry soon departs for the family’s sugar plantation in Antigua. It soon becomes apparent that a simmering undercurrent of familial disputes, bad-mouthing, marital intrigues and
backstabbing are revealed before eventual resolution is reached. Through all this the quiet, reserved and subservient Fanny, grows with increasing maturity to become a shining example of all that is good, honest and true.


Mounted in semi-rural splendour of the main reception room at Settlers Country Manor at Waimauku near Kumeu, this initial offering is a chamber opera in the true sense of the word. There is no purpose-built stage as such and it is performed on and around a tiny elevated space measuring
perhaps 5m x 4m. Importantly for the future, this production is readily portable, relatively inexpensive to produce and could be easily mounted in a wide range of suitable spaces all over the
country.


Director Rebecca Meltzer copes with the questionable acoustics and difficult shape of the room by tossing out any hint of grand opera and uses the tiny performance space to elicit performances of nuance and subtlety from a 10-strong ensemble supported only by a single piano played by four hands. The entire reception hall (set up with rows of chairs for about 300) is used for entrances, exits and even voices from the rear of the room. Meltzer even allows more than just hints of that
actor’s stock in-trade – improvisation.


The effect is to offer a new and vibrantly different connection for audiences who are almost invited to become a part of the Crawford family either as flies on the wall, or perhaps imagining themselves as auxiliary staff or even just as close observers. Proximity to the performers induces intimacy and connection, something hammered home at one point when an audience member becomes part of the action on the stage.


This is a genuine and uniformly strong ensemble cast that feeds off, balances and enhances each other so it is no surprise that, as a unit, it was genuinely strong. Some of the lyrics were occasionally lost in the acoustics but these were readily overcome through the availability of a QR code enabling the audience to read them if required.


But it was Sydney-based mezzo Ashlyn Tymms who captured the room especially when Fanny’s low-key presence in the first act grows to increasing prominence in the second. Tymm’s delivered two strong arias at the top of the second act and then seemed to go from strength to strength leaving us in no doubt whatsoever that Fanny Price was unquestionably good, honest and true.

As such, it certainly affords NZ Opera opportunity to connect with new audiences in new ways and perhaps in new locations.

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The Insane and the Sane-for-Now

Zoë Robins (Connie Hall) and Jayden Daniels (Tristan Frey) Photo: Andi Crown

The Effect
By Lucy Prebble
Director, Benjamin Kilby-Henson
An Auckland Theatre Company Production
With Jayden Daniels, Jarod Rawiri, Zoë Robins, Sara Wiseman


Production Design, Dan Williams
Lighting Design, Jane Hakaraia
Sound Design, Chelsea Jade


ASB Waterfront Theatre
Until 11 May
Review by Malcolm Calder

Suggested in some quarters as a revival, Lucy Prebble’s The Effect could almost be described as a work in progress.

Its context is the clinical trial of a new anti-depressant drug featuring two young people. Very simply, the two fall in quite-possibly dopamine-fuelled love and this play tracks the development of their relationship while questioning the role of psychopharmacology and the intricate relationship between the heart and the brain. Is their love a meaningful long-term thing, or mere drug-inspired infatuation? All of this is observed through the eyes of a supervising psychologist and is overseen by a singularly focussed psychiatrist whose self-espoused objectivity is on the process and on the future.

But The Effect is more than this. While studying (what may be) his heart surgeon father’s brain, Dr Toby Sealey (Jarrod Rawiri) reflects that while traditional medical practices may have once referred to ‘the sane and the insane’, more recent treatment might instead refer to ‘the insane and the sane-for-now’! And therein lies the nub of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect.

Now 12 years old this play has been adapted and updated by its author taking on board increasingly complex and debateable practices about depression within the medical profession and the impact of Big Pharma and chemical treatments. Quite simply, it is about medical ethics. One wonders where this play may go to in another 12 years time.

Nonetheless, Prebble’s script is script-heavy, delightfully structured and demands close attention from its audience. It has light and shade, appropriate localisations and even unexpected flashes of comedy allowing director Ben Kilby-Henson to give full reign to an exceptionally strong cast.

Two ATC newcomers provide standout performances on their respective emotional roller coasters. Both Zoë Robins (Connie Hall) and Jayden Daniels (Tristan Frey) are driven with energy showing us blinding flashes of brilliance at times, while being riven with uncertainty at others. They are a wonderful example of younger actors coming to our stages.

Sara Wiseman (Dr Lorna James) and Jarod Rawiri (Dr Toby Sealey) counter balance them with assuredness and maturity and their respective disintegrations are handled with sensitivity, subtlety and a deftness that comes with experience. They watch and listen to each others’ arguments, articulate the core sense of The Effect with both passion and logic and leave the audience questioning – well, everything really.

No doubt echoing the somewhat scrambled state of its characters brains, Dan Williams’ set and presentation is high tech and another good example of the high production values we expect from ATC. At times this could almost have been a distraction but, on the other hand, it could also be a quite deliberate choice. Even when the younger actors struggled to find a light at times – they were struggling to find themselves.

So does The Effect work ? Emphatically yes

Prebble uses the situation to explore some big questions. It is contemporary. It is dynamic. And I resolutely agree with her ultimate truism – the future is unfinished.

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The NZSO’s Mahler 5

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Gemma New

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Mahler 5

Auckland Town Hall

April 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The opening work on the Mahler  programme was Salina Fisher’s “Kintsugi” which was originally commissioned  by the NZ trio. This augmented work relates to the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery and dusting the new work with gold.

The music focussed on the gaps in the pottery and the broken fragments of the pieces, highlighting the delicacy of the process as the pieces were slowly assembled.

The music seemed to describe the colours, textures and contours of the bowl or vase with Bridget Douglas’s flute describing curvaceous shapes. The orchestra then picked out the seams of the material bonding the broken shards and the shimmering gold.

While describing the physical changes in the pottery the work with its delicate, brittle sounds acted as a metaphor the ability of humans to mends broken bodies and damaged minds.

The American composer Adam Schoenberg’s Percussion Concerto “Losing Earth” was a dazzling  work inspired the climate catastrophe threatening our natural world with musical images of cities being inundated by rising oceans.

Jacob Nissly Image NZSO/Jono Tucker

The work opened with the sounds of gunshots from drums which were placed around the auditorium. These sporadic salvos, warnings of a present danger were followed by subterranean groaning of the horns which also suggested looming disaster. This was followed by collisions of the strings and horns against the percussion section.

The audiences was then treated  to a remarkable display from Jacob Nissly the soloist who is the San Francisco Symphony’s Principal Percussionist. From  his first appearance at the front  of the hall playing a snare drum he combined the style of a professional percussion player and that of an outlandish rock band drummer.

At his disposal was an array of instruments; drums, gongs marimba, wood blocks and cymbals with which he and the orchestra created the images of an encroaching ocean with the murmuring strings and brass backgrounding Nissly’s s sonic wonderland. This all ended with his making one final display using a spinning Roto Sound cymbal which emitted an eerie sound as the earth-like globe spun to its whispering end.

Where “Losing Earth” addressed a crucial time in the physical nature of our world , Mahler’s Fifth Symphony addressed a crucial time in the composer’s personal world. The work was written at time when he had  a near death experience, his career was blossoming but there many detractors and it was also the time he met future wife.  It is these personal and psychological issues the fears, anxieties and pleasures of his life which form the basis of the work and we were presented with the man and his attempts to understand and explore his inner psychological struggles, endeavourimg to express himself through his music in a way few other composers have  managed to achieve.

While it is an autobiographical work exploring the composer’s personality, there are parallel themes as he depicts narratives, landscapes and other emotion states.

The measure of a great performance is the way in which these aspects of the composer’s life are realized by the conductor and the orchestra. Conductor Gemma New and the NZSO certainly achieved it with an intelligent and emotional performance.

From the opening trumpet blast to the final triumphant conclusion New was firmly in control of the orchestra, understanding the drama, inventions and contrasts of the music. She seemed by turns, a battling duellist, a lithe dancers and meticulous guide. Subtle nuances were made evident and individual instruments were allowed to shine. Even the long silences between the movements became part of the music, allowing the audience to reflect on each of the previous movements.

New managed to give the blaring, brass opening funereal march a sense of desolation while the singing strings provided a sense of optimism. This  romantic reflective mood depicted the man trapped between despair and hope.

In the second movement New seemed to be battling the ferocious sounds of the orchestra and the nightmarish, reckless drama of the music before it morphed into quiet reverie, bringing out nuances and subtleties that seemed to explore the tragedy and triumphs of human and personal history and she allowed the interweaving of the solo violin, the brass and the strings to give the work an intense melancholy.

The final two movements, which included the famous adagio for strings which is considered to be something of a love letter to his wife Alma Schindler, were delivered perfectly filled with an aching sense of love and loss.

The final movement was filled with changing moods, alive with bright woodwinds and brass. New led the orchestra  in a brilliantly controlled finale where the doors of perception open and the funeral tones of much of the work are replaced by more exultant sounds offering hope and renewal.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Auckland Museum

April 11 – September

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Auckland University Press

RRP $65.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Opening at the Auckland Museum this month is the exhibition “A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa” which will also see the launch of the book “A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa” published by Auckland University Press.

The exhibition is groundbreaking in bringing together work from some of the most extensive photographic collections in the country – Auckland Museum, The Alexander Turnbull Library, The Hocken Collection and The National Library.

While early artists had recorded aspects of life in New Zealand through paintings, drawings and engravings it was the photograph which enabled them to record the full range of people, events, landscapes and the built environment.

The full range of such photographs can be seen in the exhibition and the accompanying new book  

The first recorded use of photography in Aotearoa was in 1848, less than a decade after it became commercially available in Europe. Over the second half of the 19th century, professionals and amateurs alike experimented with the new technology and set in motion an image revolution that changed the way our lives were recorded.

These first photographs reveal important individuals as well as ordinary people, imposing landscapes and the  New Zealand bush. There are example of Māori architecture and the fledgling townships. In those towns, there are examples of the most imposing of buildings which speak of government and wealth as well as the rudimentary dwellings of settlers.

Cold Water Baths White Terrace; circa 1880s; Charles Spencer; Auckland Museum Collection

The famous Pink and White terraces were photographed by numerous photographers including John Kinder, George Valentine  and Josiah Martin. In the book/exhibition there is one by Charles Spencer  “Cold Water Baths, White Terraces”. It has been printed as a cyanotype which gives the image a Prussian Blue colour. Another of Spencer’s cyanotypes is of Auckland Harbour which has an eerie appearance.

There are images which help give us an understanding of our past such as Francis Coxhead/ William Meluish’s photograph which shows Gabriels Gully in 1862 with its collection of tents dotted over the barren valley.

Maori King, Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero Tawhiao Auckland Museum Collection

There are a couple of images of Auckland by Hartley Webster including what is probably the earliest depiction of the town along with several other views of the town. There are also images of other towns in their infancy including Dunedin, Wellington, Hokitika and Lyttleton.

Two wāhine; circa 1887-1890 Harriet Cobb.  Alexander Turnbull Library

From the very first there were images of Māori such “Two Wahine” by Harriet Cobb and many images were printed commercially. One of the most widely distributed was of Wiremu Tamihana te Waharoa who was known as the “king maker”. At one point there was even court action over the plagiarised of images of him.

Other important figures represented in the exhibition include Sir George Grey,  Tamati Waka Nene and Gustav von Tempsky.

” The Native Earthworks at Rangiriri partially destroyed. ” Photo: M. Higginson, Auckland Museum

References are also found to the Land Wars  with Monatague Higginson’s “The Native earthworks at Rangariri” which was taken after the decisive battle for the Waikato fought in November 1863. There are aspects of cultural exchange to be seen in the dual portrait of Tom Adamson and Wiremu Mutu Mutu where styles of dress and fabrics are  merged.

The exhibition provides information on the development of the photographic processes from the  expensive, silver-coated daguerreotype portraits to the gelatine silver process, which when paired with a fast-shutter, could capture Victorian-era subjects in action for the first time.

Tom Adamson and Wiremu Mutumutu, Wanganui; circa 1867–1874; Batt & Richards; Hocken

With this growth in understanding of the technical aspects of the photograph came experimentation as can be seen in the double exposure image of John Buchanan, the noted botanist in “Spirit photograph of John Buchanan” by McGregor and Company.

David Reeves, Auckland Museum Tumu Whakarae Chief Executive, says,  “The advent of photography in the mid-19th century was a remarkable technological event which had significant impacts on society at the time. This exhibition gives us a chance to reflect on that and more recent changes in the way images are captured and shared and what that means for identity, privacy, and connection with each other.”

The exhibition travels to the Adam Art Gallery (Wellington) in  February 2025  and the Hocken Collections (Dunedin)  September 2025.

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