Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Lycra and Life

Review: Malcolm Calder

.Te Ao O Hinepehinga (Natalie Te Rehua) and Tāwhai Pātai (Kruze Tangira)
Photo: Andi Crown

Hyperspace

By Albert Belz

A Te Pou Theatre production

In collaboration with

Auckland Theatre Company

Director Tainui Tukiwaho

Choreography Jack Gray

Production Design Filament 11, Rachel Marlow

Costume Design Alison Reid

Sound Design Crescendo Studio, David Atai

ASB Waterfront Theatre

Until 24 February

Review by Malcolm Calder

9 February 2024

I wasn’t living in New Zealand in the nineties. But I’m told the social scene and context here was pretty international in flavour and that Wellington echoed what was happening in Sydney, Singapore or Saskatchewan – albeit with a touch of local flavour.

However, it’s important to remember that the 1990s are now 30 years ago. Back then our coffee obsession was only just beginning, there was no internet in everyone’s pocket and jazzercise was an important social interaction for many. In lots of ways this era summed up the golden years of a then youthful gen-X’s attitudes, its focus on lifestyle and, to some extent, its sense of entitlement.

Alex Belz’s new play Hyperspace is perhaps set in 1990 or thereabouts and opens with huge energy, some great aerobics moves and a thumping soundtrack filled with music and popular culture references that many will recall 30 years later. It also evokes an incessant and subtle awareness of the onward march of American socio-cultural, habits and pastimes with an Aotearoa twist.

But, as the first act meandered along, I wondered what ATC and Te Pou were doing presenting something that was little more than a trite and self-indulgent dance party – almost a rather one-dimensional follow up to Belz’s earlier and well-received prequel Astroman. It seemed little more than a gen-X take on the nineties with a bit of familial debate thrown in and loads of dance party atmosphere. Sure there was a little character development, the music got my feet tapping and the lycra was very colourful, but each of the characters seemed fairly shallow and obsessed with themselves and with trivia – perhaps because they were. It was all a bit indulgent, a bit long, and didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Until we got to Belz’s hook. He uses a potentially life-threatening physical issue to do so, and his play swiftly morphs into something that sympathetically and realistically addresses a whole range of societal and emotional issues. The hook starts out as an almost unnoticed gentle left feint in the first act, shifts to a gentle right jab in the second, and grows from there to ultimately become a crushing hook that lands as a solid knockout blow.

Key to everything is Natalie Te Rehua (Te Ao O Hinepehinga), an aspiring dancer, who has inherited a serious heart condition. Natalie partners with haka queen Kruze Tangira (Tāwhai Pātai) intent on winning a $10,000 prize and together they chuckout the tried and true and devise a never-before-seen dance form – haka-fusion.

Belz uses Natalie’s potentially life-threatening physical issue to morph into addressing a whole range of societal and emotional issues and Hyperspace suddenly becomes more interesting, more serious and more enjoyable on a completely different level. This is what Belz’s play is ultimately about.

Natalie’s bestie Hiona (Mele Toli) provides her with some assured support and advice on occasions and her brother Sonny Te Rehua (Kauri Williams) some musical accompaniment before eventually securing Hiona’s hand in a hilarious proposal scene.

However, the firm hand of director Tainui Tukiwaho is everywhere in this production. He underscore’s the humour in Belz’s script and makes the most of the many idiomatic references before ensuring that it is about much more than mere comedy. Or music. Or dance for that matter. It is about whanau, care, love, responsibility and actualisation. In some ways it might even be likened to a coming of age play for gen-X.

His universally strong cast can both sing and dance. Standouts for me included Edward Clendon as a ganglingly awkward Jason and Pamela Sidhu as the contortionistic Crystal.

But it is the overall choreography of Jack Gray that both establishes and goes a long way towards sustaining Hyperspace. Jack has certainly ‘dusted off his old aerobic shoes’. Haka-fusion indeed!

Sure Natalie and Kruze don’t win the dance comp, and Kapa and Sonny’s wedding rather cutely rounds things out in a well-developed stage setting, but this work is about a whole lot of other stuff that ultimately opens windows to issues that have a contemporary relevance.

Without some clear pointers to cultural idiosyncrasy, this play is probably too parochial for international audiences but it’s not meant to be. So congratulations to ATC and Te Pou on an interesting and well-crafted collaboration for local consumption.

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“Beyond Words” : music to promote unity and peace

John Daly-Peoples

John Psathas

Auckland Arts Festival

Beyond Words

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

March 10

John Daly-Peoples

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra joins with Aotearoa New Zealand’s Muslim communities and acclaimed international artists to present a unique concert experience at the  Auckland Arts Festival in March.

“Beyond Words” is a special collaboration to promote unity and peace through music and to honour the lives lost and changed forever in Ōtautahi Christchurch on 15 March 2019.

Conducted by Fawzi Haimor featuring powerful Moroccan vocalist OUM and Cypriot/Greek oud virtuoso Kyriakos Tapakis, the NZSO performs the New Zealand premieres of works from American Valerie Coleman, Iranian Reza Vali,  Estonian Arvo Pärt and the world premiere of a new work from renowned Aotearoa New Zealand composer John Psathas.

Psathas’ Ahlan wa Sahlan, composed in collaboration with OUM and Tapakis, uses the Arabic welcome to let people know they are in a place where they belong. Finding inspiration in a quote promoting peace, love and forgiveness from terror attack survivor Farid Ahmed’s memoir Husna’s Story, Psathas, OUM and Tapakis have fused together musical styles from Eastern and Western cultures in Ahlan wa Sahlan.

Psathas has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations in New Zealand and overseas including  fanfares and other music at the  opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympics.

This work has been created with guidance from The Central Iqra Trust and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Vali combines Western orchestration with Persian style for the New Zealand premiere of Funèbre. Coleman’s Umoja, Swahili for ‘unity’, was the first work by a living African American woman premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Pärt’s Silouan’s Song is a powerfully spiritual and meditative work.

Vocalist Abdelilah Rharrabti, vocalist and daf musician Esmail Fathi, and saz player Liam Oliver from Ōtautahi Christchurch’s Simurgh Music School, also join the Orchestra to perform traditional music of the Middle East.

“It is not often one has the opportunity to offer a message of solidarity, love, and compassion through one’s artistic work,” says Psathas.

“This is a rare gift from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and I am even more fortunate to be able to share this creative journey with two fellow artists: OUM and one of Greece’s most celebrated oud performers, Kyriakos Tapakis. Together we are creating a musical message of welcoming – Ahlan wa Sahlan – a greeting used to tell someone that they’re where they belong, that they’re a part of this place and they are welcome here. It’s a way of saying ‘You’re with your people’.”

Alongside the concerts are a series of free community engagement events in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in collaboration with Muslim communities and Unity Week, the official commemoration to be held from 15 March.

In each city there will be a community panel discussion with Beyond Words artists about the project. In Christchurch the events include a workshop by the Simurgh Music School, where the public can experience traditional instruments from the Middle East and Islamic world, a spoken word workshop and Share Kai Share Culture, run by InCommon and Mahia te Aroha, both founded in Christchurch in response to 15 March 2019.

In Auckland Town Hall a special calligraphy exhibition will feature works created by distinguished calligraphy artist Janna Ezat. In the Islamic world, Arabic calligraphy is both an art form and an expression of devotion, identity, and cultural heritage. The exhibition includes a powerful piece dedicated to Janna’s son Hussein Al-Umari, commemorating his bravery, and honouring his legacy in the aftermath of the tragic attack.

Beyond Word also performed in Wellington in association with the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts (March 9) and at Christchurch (March 7).

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Multi-million dollar gift goes on show at the Auckland Art Gallery

John Daly-Peoples

Pablo Picasso, Mère aux enfants à l’orange (Mother and children with an orange), 1951, 
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

The Robertson Gift: Paths through Modernity

Auckland Art Gallery

February 9 – February 2026

Opening at the Auckland Art Gallery on 9 February and running for two years will be the exhibition “The Robertson Gift: Paths through Modernity” comprising fifteen major artworks valued in excess of $250million. The works are a long-promised gift from the collection of New York philanthropists Julian (1932– 2022) and Josie Robertson (1943–2010).

The collection features influential modern European artists, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dalí, André Derain, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso.

Director of Auckland Art Gallery, Kirsten Lacy says that the Gallery could not realise such a selection of artworks without Julian and Josie’s vision.

“Patronage of this scale is unprecedented, and the collection of modern masterpieces is unique. The Robertson’s gift is unquestionably the most transformative bequest of international art to the country in the past century,” says Lacy.

The couple divided their lives between New York and Aotearoa New Zealand ever since their first visit to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 1978–1979. The Robertson’s extraordinary gift acknowledges the lasting connections the couple formed with Aotearoa New Zealand and their passion for modern art. Robertson was an investor and developer in the US and New Zealand. He owned three lodges including  Kauri Cliffs Lodge and several wineries. He was also one of the few non-New Zealanders to receive a knighthood.

Beginning with post-Impressionist works of the late 19th century and ending with a monumental colour-field painting from the 1960s, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the major art movements of the modern era, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, and post-war abstraction.

Henri Matisse, Espagnole (buste). (The Spanish Woman), 1922. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Included in the 23 mainly works on paper  by Matisse is “Espagnole (buste) [The Spanish Woman]” painted in  1922. The work was purchased at Sotheby’s in 2007 for between  USD 12,000,000 – 16,000,000 .

The auction house described the work as one of the finest portraits from Matisse’s Nice period of the 1920s, when his skills as a colourist were at their most expressive.   This is one of his more intimate compositions that allows for a close engagement with the young model, who is dressed in the exotic costume of a Spanish women.  Matisse’s best pictures of this period focused on light-filled, and often profusely decorated interiors, with seductive models.

The work is very similar to “Espagnole: Harmonie en bleu (Spanish Woman: Harmony in Blue)” of the same period which is in the collection of the MET in New York.

André Derain, Paysage à l’Estaque (Estaque Landscape), 1906, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Derain’s  “Estaque Landscape” of 1906 was painted when the artist and Henri Matisse, spent the transformative summer of 1905 in Collioure in the south of France. Together, they painted similar views of the coastal village, encouraging one another to adopt brighter colours, bolder brushstrokes, and flatter compositions in their depictions of the surrounding landscape. This style of painting, became known as Fauvism

A recent Christies Auction featured a similar work which sold for USD $5,580,000

Georges Braque, Le Guéridon (Vase Gris et Palette). Pedestal table (Grey vase and palette), 1938, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Georges Braque, said of works such as  “Le Guéridon (Vase Gris et Palette). Pedestal table (Grey vase and palette)”, “No object can be tied down to any one sort of reality. Everything, I realized, is subject to metamorphosis; everything changes according to the circumstances. So when you ask me whether a particular form in one of my paintings depicts a woman’s head, a fish, a vase, a bird, or all four at once, I can’t give you a categorical answer, for this ‘metamorphic’ confusion is fundamental to what I am out to express”

Fernand Léger, Les Pistons (The Pistons), 1918, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Fernand Léger’s, Les Pistons (The Pistons), of 1918, is from a series  which references  contemporary urban life and features many abstract shapes including mechanical, tubular forms, discs, vertical, horizontal and diagonal bands of colour as well as other less clearly definable shapes that coexist with glimpses of modern urban architecture and the anonymous citizens who animate it.

Salvador Dalí, Instrument masochiste (Masochistic Instrument), circa 1934, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Salvador Dalí’s, “Instrument masochiste (Masochistic Instrument)’ shows a nude woman shedding a part of her skin in the form of a violin. The violin is the protagonist and the woman is an antagonist in the painting. Symbolically, it identifies Dali’s strong resistance towards music. The bow hitting the cypress tree adds his imagination of equating music with mortality and despair. It also represents Dali’s impotence obsession and overall neurosis. The cypress trees reminded him of the Pitchot estate, where he would spend long, happy hours in erotic daydreams.

Another of the works from this series sold recently 2019 for GBP 611,250

Paul Gauguin, Cow in Meadow, Rouen, 1884, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Paul Gauguin’s “Cow in meadow Rouen” is part of a group of interrelated paintings, where he focused his attention on rural views such as a stream where cows came to water, selecting a different vantage point for each composition
Three or four canvases from this experimental group were among the nineteen paintings that Gauguin showed at the eighth and final Impressionist Exhibition in 1886.

A similar work from the period sold in 2019  for USD 783,750

Pablo Picasso, Femme à la résille (Woman in a hairnet), 1938, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Pablo Picasso painted “Femme à la résille (Woman in a hairnet)” in 1938, at the height of his relationship with the photographer Dora Maar

A similar work from the series but twice the size of the Robertson work sold at Christies in 2015 for USD67million.

The other Pablo Picasso in the collection, his “Mere Aux Enfants A L’Orange” was sold at Sotheby’s November 2002. for USD 3,639,500

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In The Zone of Interest don’t mention The Jews

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) in his backyard zone

The Zone of Interest

Directed by Jonathan Glazer,

In cinemas from February 22

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

“The Zone of Interest” is based on the Martin Amis novel of the same name. Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, the movie focusses on the daily life  of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) the S.S. commandant of  Auschwitz, his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller)  and their children. 

It’s a story about The Holocaust but one which is just out of sight and mind. Kept at a distance by  closed walls and closed minds.

Höss, who admitted at his trial of being responsible  for the death of at least a million and a half people at Auschwitz was not named in the Amis book which used three fictional characters to create a wide-ranging narrative about the camp and The Final Solution.

If you didn’t know about Höss  or The Holocaust, Glazer’s film might appear to be enigmatic or mystifying. We do not really see the camp only the surrounding wall which is capped with barbed wire, the roofs of the barracks, a watch tower, the occasional smokestack and smoke. We see no inmates, guards or dogs.

We do hear the distant rumblings of the camp, the low sounds of voices, occasional shouts, and barks as well as random shots.

This distancing from the horrors on the other side of the wall is emphasised with much of the filming in long shot and the film features the Höss’ lush garden where Hedwig spends her time and the backyard swimming pool with the frolicking children.

The film is full of contrasts between the two environments – the camp and the house. But that contrast is generated by the viewers knowledge. So, we know the food that the family eat is sumptuous compared with what those on the other side of the wall eat. That the clothes they wear are better, that the environment is calm and relaxing. That their life is simple and ordered.

In one long sequence the camera follows Höss as he tours the house at night, turning off the light, closing doors checking on the sleeping children, bringing the day to a peaceful close.

One of the few sequences set inside the camp is of Höss supervising the unloading of people from a train. All we are shown is a low shot of Höss framed against the smoke-filled sky with the sounds of barked commands, whips cracking, crying and confusion.

One of the other dramatic intrusions of the camp into the idyllic life of the family is seen in a sequence where Höss and his children are swimming in  river. The tranquillity is abruptly cut short when Hoss discovers a bone fragment floating in the water and sees a scum floating towards them – the result of ash from the crematorium scattered deposited upriver. The children are them vigorously scrubbed free of the physical and racial taint.

In another scene Höss’ wife swans around her bedroom in an expensive fur coat which she insists needs to be cleaned, without stating why.

When the business of extermination is talked about it is in euphemisms or oblique language. In a meeting Höss has with engineers to discuss the new crematorium no mention is made of the number bodies which could be incinerated rather they refer to the possible “load” the ovens are capable of dealing with.

While there is no reaction by the family to the horrors over the wall, one of the young girls in the family appears to do into catatonic state as though blotting out her reactions. This psychological denial is then represented by some thermal imaging black and white sequences of a young girl placing food around the camp, seemingly at night, in a dream.

The reality of The Holocaust and of Auschwitz is made clear in the final moments of the film where Höss wanders through the silent corridors, his gaze seeming to be drawn to other activities. Then the film cuts to the  present-day museum at Auschwitz and we see the piles of suitcase, the stacks of crutches and mounds of shoes, all that remains of extinguished lives.

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Measure for Measure: intrigue, sex and plenty of laughs

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Nick Milnes (Angelo), Stuart Tupp (Duke), Stephen Ellis (Escalus) and Āria Harrison-Sparke (Isabella)

Auckland Shakespeare in the Park 2024

Measure for Measure

By William Shakespeare

A Shoreside Theatre production

Pumphouse Amphitheatre

(if wet – Pumphouse Theatre)

Jan 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, Feb 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Measure for Measure is one of the comedies that’s billed as a play for today.  Peopled by a typically diverse cast, it’s hilarious and increasingly convoluted mundane day-to-day content provides context and plenty of laughs.  Some of Shakespeare’s characters simply fill space but a core soon emerges and, with them, the not uncommon Shakespearean themes of intrigue, manipulation and resolution are revealed.

For openers, the rather wearisome Duke of Vienna (Stephen Tupp) decides to take an extended timeout leaving his deputy Angelo (Nick Milnes) in charge.  And that’s where things get interesting because Angelo takes a more hardline view of both public morals and the law, before revealing a worldview that is essentially flawed.  In particular, he is concerned about sex outside of marriage.  So he sets about closing all Vienna’s brothels and heavily penalising anyone who dares fornicate privately – with the penalty being death of course.

One of the first to feel his ire is a likeable young chap called Claudio (Chis Raven) who has very few words in the playscript, but whose situation and fate quickly become something of a fulcrum for what follows.  He must have been a sweet-talker in private though because he has somehow managed to impregnate his publicly mute fiancée Juliet (Alice Dibble). 

However, when Claudio’s sister, the novice nun Isabella (Āria Harrison-Sparke), learns of this she is outraged and thereby hangs the nub of Shakespeare’s play.  Echoing social mores that are sometimes as prevalent today as they were 400 years ago, Angelo says he’ll only do it if Isabella yields her own virginity to him.  The cad!

Thus comedy becomes context, and hypocracy, truthfulness and justice are revealed as what this play is about. 

Rather than a strong Duke who eventually returns from his sojourn as a Friar and comes up with a Plan B that sees Angelo’s jilted fiancée Mariana (Terri Mellender) substitute for Isabella, the key protagonist is revealed instead to be Isabella herself. 

Āria Harrison-Sparke handles this with aplomb, assuredness and maturity.  In particular her command of Shakespearean dialogue is of a considerable order.

Nick Milnes ties himself in knots at times as Angelo and Terri Mellender makes a delightful, if giggly, wronged fiancée.  Escalus, ever the civil servant is played very straight by Stephen Ellis and the lesser character-roles provide some big laughs.  Perhaps of note was Michelle Atkinson (Provost) who introduced both subtlety and nuance to her Provost.

The set is fairly stark and simple, as are the props.  Of particularly ghoulish note was the severed head of not-Claudio and brought directly from his beheading and I could swear it as still dripping blood!

Eventually the good Duke shucks off his Friar mantle, resumes his Duke-ness, sentences Angelo to wed Mariana, then threatens to kill him as well. But Mariana and Isabella plead for Angelo’s life, reveal that Claudio is alive, the Duke pardons Angelo and proposes to Isabella, while Claudio and Juliet presumably live happily ever after – even if their newborn bites Claudio’s finger.

As I said, very convoluted, but also very Shakespearean.

Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
“An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.”
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.

Unlike last year’s Shakespeare-in-the-Park season where winds blew and cheeks cracked, Shoreside Theatre is looking forward to better weather this summer.   Nonetheless, the white noise created by even the gentlest breeze in the trees surrounding this outdoor venue makes it sometimes difficult for a cast to project beyond it so seating in the forwards rows is recommended.  Rather surprisingly it got a tad chilly as the evening wore on and a good jacket, or even a blanket, is suggested.

This annual two-play season (although not reviewed here, the other is A Midsummer Night’s Dream) is now firmly established on the Auckland theatrical calendar in this, its 28th season.

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DakhaBrakha explores the rich past and the future of Ukraine

John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Arts Festival

DakhaBrakha

Auckland Town Hall

March 14

The Ukrainian performance group DakhaBrakha which is having one performance at the Auckland Arts Festival  is known for playing Ukrainian songs which display the traditional polyphonic harmonies of their traditional music. However, they give this music  a contemporary, transformation referencing hip-hop, punk and contemporary dance sounds. While using traditional Ukrainian instruments their performances also  derive from the indigenous instrumentation of Africa, the Middle East, India and Russia.

Their more recent music though has taken on a much more political edges as they try to counter the Russian propaganda which tries to obliterate  the culture, history, and language of Ukraine.

A recent New York Times review of the group references Maria Sonevytsky an ethnomusicologist who says,

“I think one of the most powerful things that DakhaBrakha can offer is that they show both that there is a very rich past in Ukraine, and they show this by bringing together a diversity of musical practices from different regions of Ukraine, from different ethnic groups within Ukraine,” Sonevytsky says. “And they fuse them together in a beautiful way that also suggests a future for Ukraine. It gives the lie to Putin’s propaganda that Ukraine has no culture or history of its own.”

“In fact,” Sonevytsky continues, “what we see in DakhaBrakha’s artistry is a deeply heterogeneous and complex history, the inheritance of multiple imperial experiences, the long history of attempts for Ukrainian sovereignty, and they blend together these kind of fractured pasts into a beautiful whole that is not simple, and it can’t be simply reduced down to a story of one nation that is occupied by one people, but instead suggests a vibrant, if imperfect, democracy.”

A US review enthused about the performance – “How to describe the sound?  A drum kit, djembe, and darbuka were all used together and individually.  A cello, a couple of accordions, and harmonica, along with the varieties of sounds made by the voice – words and sounds.

It was the voices that were so phenomenal – not just used for singing.  How do they get those sounds?  Often high, keeping sounds.  But, and this was my favourite – animal sounds.  Some were made with small tools, but what about the cats?  The owls?  And then, to close out the song, the piercing “CAW”!

Throughout the evening, as an accompaniment, an artistic slide show.  Animation, mesmerizing designs (reminiscent of folk embroidery), background photos of the war and its damage.“ 

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An immersive Tales of an Urban Indian experience

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Nolan Moberly (Simon) in Tales of an Urban Indian

Tales of an Urban Indian

An immersive TIFT experience

By Darrell Dennis

Director Herbie Barnes

With Nolan Moberly (Simon) and Dean Deffett (Stage Manager)

Jan 11 to 14 2024

The Bus Stop, Corbans Estate Art Centre

Review by Malcolm Calder

11 January 2024

I went for a 90 minute ride today.  With others.  On an AT bus.  In and around some of Auckland’s western suburbs.  And an actor called Nolan Moberley told us a story. 

I’m glad I did.  Because it left me drained.  Exhausted.  And not a lot of theatre does that to me.

Moberley gave us bus passengers a character named Simon Douglas, an indigenous Canadian born on an Indian reservation in British Columbia perhaps 50 years ago.  He is a product of the Canadian Indian Residential School system. Tales of an Urban Indian focusses on his struggles with self, on family and heritage and on the world in which he lives during childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, moving into an ever-increasingly urban lifestyle. 

His issues are shared by a cohort that is international.  But the context of each is unique.

This story is moving and painful at times.  It tells of segregation, alienation and rejection.  It tells of aspiration and maybe even – hope.  As Simon says, “it’s a story I need to tell, not because it’s extraordinary, but because it’s common. Too common, and it’s not told enough. It’s a story about my people …”.

In this country we have some awareness of our own socio-historical context and, to some extent, we like to think we comprehend something of the Australian terrain too.  Or perhaps we only think we do. 

For some reason however, Canada is not imprinted on our national consciousness in the same way.  Hardly at all in fact.  And that is what made this performance so strikingly different for me.  The issues may not be dissimilar.  But the context certainly is.

Nolan Moberley gives a bravura performance, somehow keeping his footing as our big blue bus as it lurched over traffic humps and narrow turnarounds.  I’m not sure if the itinerary was random or carefully programmed but there was something deliciously ironic as we passed smashed up deserted and graffitied houses that somehow echoed the words of the script.  Or how Simon’s vain attempts to get work in films, fancying himself to be James Bond, came just as we passed some of the giant sound stages that encircle this part of Auckland.

Accolades to our driver who found his way into and through some impossibly teensy streets and to stage manager Dean Deffett who revealed stage management skills delivered by sign-language.

After 90 minutes I was starting to wonder how director Herbie Barnes would round it all off – or get Simon off the bus, to coin a phrase.  He did.  But no spoiler alerts from me.  You will just have to take your own ride to discover how.  It is fitting, apt.

First Nations theatre has developed an ever-increasing international voice over the last few decades and Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) is to be congratulated for sharing thus Canadian story with other parts of the world, for finding commonality there and for such a breathtakingly exhaustive bus ride.

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An Arts Festival show which has the reviewers wondering

John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Arts Festival

Scott Silven “Wonders”  

March 19 – 24

One of the more intriguing acts on at the Auckland Arts Festival this year will be Scott Silven’s Wonders.  The clairvoyant, mentalist, and performance artist has dedicated his career to unique form of theatrical  illusionism which fascinates audiences.

He studied hypnosis in Milan at 15, gained recognition from the American illusionist David Blaine at 19, and headlined one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious theatres at 21.

In Wonders, Silven invites the audience on a journey through his childhood memories in the lowlands of Scotland, connecting his participants with the myth and mystery of the landscapes that shaped him. This show is said to go beyond the traditional theatre experience, offering an interactive, audience led, performance that explores the power of connection through illusions.

What is extraordinary about his show is the response of reviewers who grapple with trying to explain what they have witnessed in seeing one of his shows

A Melbourne Time Out reviewer said of Silven, who talks to the audience about his early exploration of the family attic –  “he also explored the corners of his own mind, and he claims that he began to discover his ability to make mental connections to the world around him in weird and wonderful ways. Interspersed in this narrative are demonstrations of Silven’s extraordinary skill as a mentalist, which involves audience members at every turn. His ability to convince that he’s reading minds – and that random audience members are able to perform similar feats under his instruction – is absolutely dazzling. The complexity of his work is spectacular, and he draws together the threads of just about every “ta-dah” moment in the final moments of the show. Even non-believers, like myself, will be blown away by the artistry.”

A Sydney reviewer was also baffled  “Silven does not perform your typical brand of magic, using visual illusions and tricks to stun the audiences. Instead, he uses the power of language and of the imagination to draw the audience in, fostering magic out of the power of human connection. One by one, he brought members of the audience up and seemed to be reading their minds. In reality, a lot of the time he was actually guiding them as to what to think. That prepared monologue at the start that felt out of place was actually an ingenious way of planting motifs and ideas in the audience’s mind that they would bring back to him later. Every little bit of speech had a purpose.

Some moments felt scarcely believable. When an audience member said their prize possession as a child was a “Snoopy” dog, Silven reached under his chair and pulled out a billboard he had written earlier predicting that the prize possession of the audience member he called upon would be a “Snoopy” dog. Is this too much of a coincidence? Did he have plants in the audience? Did he have an assistant furiously typing up a billboard backstage and slipping it under the stage curtain to his chair when we weren’t watching?”

And The Guardian reviewer said of another of his shows  “Silven’s use of storytelling and setting creates something genuinely magical, and it’s a joy to willingly suspend disbelief and slide into a sense of wonder not experienced since childhood.

And with that comes connection. Not the psychic kind Silven suggests, but the kind forged by a shared sense of discovery. Across the table, eyes are shining, guards are down, and there’s the odd report of goosebumps. The childhood game of Chinese whispers, further confounded by whisky, brings things to a delightfully silly finish.

I emerge still a sceptic, but certainly not a cynic.”

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Opera Australia’s memorable Brisbane Ring Cycle

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Brunnhilde and Siegfried on her Walkure platform   Image – Wallis Media

The Ring Cycle

Opera Australia

Lyric Theatre, Brisbane

8 – 14  December 2023

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Opera Australia’s  fully digital Ring Cycle opened in Brisbane last month to critical acclaim and huge audience responses. Three separate seasons of the four-work opera were presented at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre. The production was originally scheduled for 2020, but postponed twice due to the COVID pandemic,

The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes and several mythical creatures over a magic ring which has been forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens. It is a ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of the final opera, “Götterdämmerung”.

Director Chen Shi-Zheng drew on the best of the best talent from Australia, New Zealand and around the globe creating a futuristic version of the Norse mythology into which he wove weave Chinese mythology into the production.

Along with some of the sculptural design features the production will be remembered for the digital staging. Designed by, Leigh Sachwitz, it made use of LED screens with AI auto-generated graphics, audiovisual projections and 3D printed set pieces.

Throughout the operas  abstract patterns and colours were used as motifs for various characters as well as being used  to represent the emotions and the internal struggles of the main characters. 

These design elements were dramatically used in the opening scene of “Das Rheingold” featuring the three Rhine Maidens who were perched on a huge chunk of coral / gold.

The Rhine Maidens              Image – Wallis Media

Above and behind them were their three doubles, who swam and cavorted in the projected waters, waves and bubbles of the Rhine as though in a huge aquarium.

Later we entered the  underground Nibelung, home to the dwarves, with its digitally created atmospheric, dark cave with accompanying brooding music.

At the opening of “Die Walkure” the stage was dominated by a large icy white, bonsai tree which featured the sword Nothung embedded by Wotan in its trunk – the sword which Siegmund later  releases. This is one of Wagner’s many nods to other mythologies in this case Excalibur, the mythical sword of King Arthur which had magical powers related to  the rightful sovereignty of Britain.

Siegmund, Nothung and the tree   Image – Wallis Media

At the conclusion of “Die Walkure” Brunnhilde (Lisa Lindstrom) ascended  a platform/ fortress  which was supported on Walkure spears. At this point as she and her father Wotan (Daniel Sumegi)  engage in an emotive duet about their parting a huge metallic Chinese dragon encircles the  platform to protect Brunnhilde, erupting with flames  from its body.

In “Siegfried” when the hero forges the broken sword, Nothung  after the failure of Mime to do so the digital screens pulsed with giant images of the sword and  flashing flames all accompanied by dancers  rushing around stage trailing ribbons.

When Siegfried enters the forest, the labyrinth he encounters is one of dramatic images, puzzling shapes and symbols while his encounter with Fafner  has him slicing into the dragon-like figure as he progresses from one realm to another though a series of grotesque images.

The final scene of Gotterdammerung     Image – Wallis Media

The conclusion of “Götterdämmerung” featured a pyramidal shape representing  a sacrificial pyre for Siegfried as well as symbolising the ancient notions of life, death and rebirth.

In the final as moments as Brunnhilde mounted the pyramid it blazed with colour while various screen images came alive with bursts of colour and ring images. Then the images which had previously been used throughout the operas were displayed in reverse order as the memories of the gods were replayed in their final moments.

Here the Rhine maidens again appeared, swimming down to retrieve the  ring from Brunnhilde before she was consumed by fire.

There were several  stand out performers in this Ring. Lise Lindstrom was a remarkable Brunnhilde, investing the role with emotional clout. Her presence on stage showed a well-honed acting ability in her various encounters with her lover Siegfried, her husband Gunther as well as her father, Wotan. Throughout her voice was sharp and she conveyed the emotional relationships with both the notions of a  demigod as well as those of a passionate human.

As Wotan Daniel Sumegi was a powerful presence on stage conveying a real sense of a god with his strange godly flaws and weird relationship with wife and daughter.

Warwick Fyfe’s Alberich was a careful mixture of the malevolent and the comic, a menacing presence in the cave of the Nibelung contrasting with his bumbling tussle with the Rhine maidens.

Stefan Vinke as Siegfried had some huge passages to sing and he dealt with them brilliantly both with his macho duet with Luke Gabbedy (Gunther) and his passionate duet with Lise Lindstrom (Brunnhilde).

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Phillipe Augin was probably the most impressive part of the four operas, playing for  fifteen and a half hours and never once seeming to flag.

Opera Australia’s 2024 season offers some spectacular operas performances including.

Verdi, La Traviata

2 January – 14 March 2024

Glamour, riches and a tragic secret: La Traviata is the story of a courtesan falling in love. Classic opera with stunning costumes, outstanding music and a fresh perspective.

Gluck, Orpheus & Eurydice

12 – 31 January 2024

Journey to the underworld and back with the grieving Orpheus. Awe-inspiring acrobatics meet Gluck’s exquisite music in this genre-busting production.

Mozart, The Magic Flute

1 February – 16 March 2024, Sydney Opera House
9 – 16 November 2024, Geelong Arts Centre

Embark on an enchanting adventure and meet a host of wondrous characters in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. This production in sung in English.

Bernstein, West Side Story

22 March – 21 April 2024
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

A musical masterpiece returns to Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in a thrilling, larger-than-life staging. Dynamic dance numbers along with fireworks above the harbour.

Puccini, Tosca

24 – 30 May 2024, Margaret Court Arena
25 June – 16 August 2024, Sydney Opera House

A thriller with sensational music, opera’s best villain and an unforgettable ending, Tosca will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Auckland Choral’s exhilarating performance of Handel’s Messiah

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Choral and Pipers Sinfonia           Image Randy Weaver

Handel’s Messiah
Auckland Choral and Pipers Sinfonia
Auckland Town Hall
December 17

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Choral has been singing the Messiah every year at Christmastime since 1856 but despite this long history, each year Auckland Choral manages to bring a fresh interpretation with new singers.

Although it is immensely popular, with great tunes the Messiah can be a challenge to make it a truly great experience.

The work has aspects of an opera but does not have an opera’s dramatic form.  There are no characters as such and no direct speech. Instead, the text provides insights into the spiritual, emotional and psychological dimensions of Christ’s life as well as the joys and struggles of mankind. Part I deals with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation and the shepherds, the only “scene” taken from the Gospels. Part II concentrates on the Passion of Jesus ending  with the Hallelujah Chorus. Part III   covers the resurrection and Christ’s glorification in Heaven. 

A great performance of the Messiah needs to have soloists who convey the various narrative lines and psychological nuances of the work, expressing aspects of the life of Christ as well as that of the common man. It also requires an orchestra of exceptional quality to provide the emotional content and drama of the work.

With this year’s Messiah Auckland Choral and Pipers Sinfonia conducted by Uve Grodd achieved all that was necessary with an exhilarating display along with the four soloists: Kristin Darragh (mezzo-soprano), Anna Leese (soprano), Simon O’Neill (tenor) and Wade Kernot (bass).

Conductor Uve Grodd with Anna Leese (soprano), Kristin Darragh (mezzo-soprano), Simon O’Neill (tenor) and Wade Kernot (bass).        Image Randy Weaver

The bass has some of best tunes to sing in the Messiah and Wade Kernot gave them a fresh interpretation making him the stand-out appearance of the concert. His singing of “The people that walked in darkness”, exposed the dark and eerie quality of the oratorio and his “Why do the nations” sounded like a powerful revolutionary call to arms.

Simon O’Neill’s “Comfort ye” was well modulated showing a superbly controlled voice making his opening recitative a moving description. His dynamism extended throughout his singing and his second half “Thou shalt break them” which was delivered with strength and precision was filled with a mix of anger and aggression.

Kristin Darragh lacked power in some of her early arias, but later on the richness of her voice allowed her to give an affecting performance notably with her anguished account of “He was despised and rejected of men” which she imbued with sorrow and despair. In the second part of the that Air she changed tempo and intensity brilliantly; Throughout she used her voice to effectively create an interplay with the orchestra which provided emotional refrains to her lines.

Anna Leese had a great stage presence with a bright, incisive voice full of drama  and feeling. She excelled in some of her singing notably in the duet “He Shall feed his His flock”, while her singing “I know my redeemer livith” showed her ability to project and to use her luxurious voice to create an intimacy with the audience,

Conductor Uwe Grodd proved himself to be a conductor who thinks through the music. There was a balance between the various parts of the orchestra and between choir and orchestra which brought out the best in the music and the singers. The choir as usual turned on a polished performance in which individual voices surfaced and merged providing an opulence and majesty to the work. The choir was electrifying in some of its choruses, producing sounds which ranged from the light and sweet to the vibrant and dark.

Their singing of the Hallelujah Chorus was a highlight while their singing of “All we like sheep” was particularly thrilling and expressive.

Trumpeter Josh Rogan gave a sensational performance in his “The trumpet will sound” ‘duet’ with Stephen Bemelman This section which ends with the words “we shall be changed” seemed to be a more appropriate ending to the whole oratorio given the power of the two performers.

Organist John Wells gave an inspiring accompaniment with some thrilling, burnished sounds which heightened the drama of many of the choruses. At times it seemed he created a cloud of sound which hovered above the choir  while at other times he produced tidal waves of sound which rolled into the audience.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

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