John Miltons lines at the beginning of Paradise Lost provide a succinct description of Grace Wrights suite of paintings in her show Grand Illusions. Equally the description of Charles Albury’s who was an observer of the effects of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima are also applicable – “We watched that cloud rise. It had every colour of the world up there, beautiful colours. To me it looked like salmon colours, blues, greens.”
Theses impressions of shape, design and colour are something we also see in the images of the heavens taken by NASA revealing what appears to be chaos in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Grace Wright, The Causes of Seeds, Plants and Fruit
Wright’s paintings conjure up a range of associations, from the of cosmic to the microscopic with some of her images linked to brain scans and the flares of neurological synapses as in her “The Causes of Seeds Plants and Fruit”.
As with her previous work the artist explores the confluence between abstraction, symbolism and realism with a colour palette echoing the renaissance masters as well as the great Impressionist.
Grace Wright, On the Disposition which Characterizes the Wise
With a lot of her work she appears to have a contemporary take on the Baroque with images such as “On the Disposition which Characterise the Wise)” with its drama and exuberance. Here the brush strokes suggesting the writhing bodies of baroque paintings in the paintings of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, at the Il Gesu church in Rome.
With “Cosmology” there is a sense of floating diaphanous fabrics in pastel colours while works like “The Causes of Atmospheric Phenomena provide a sense of dramatic skies after a storm .
Grace Wright, Cosmology
The small lively brushstrokes in several of the works suggest small birds in flight (On the Beauty of Song” or carefully described shell forms (Projections). These lively brushstrokes also make the viewer aware of following the mark making of the artist, both the small tentative marks as well as the grand gestures.
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It is rare for a New Zealand orchestra to perform the same concert twice in a week, something which is common with European orchestras and even Australian ones. However, this week the Auckland Philharmonia performed its Beethoven programme on a Wednesday and Thursday, both to sold out audiences.
The orchestra’s “Beethoven 5” concert opened and closed with two very different compositions composed within ten years of each other. The first, Rossini’s Overture to La Cenerentola, composed in 1817 is an effervescent work based on a fairy / folk story while Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 of 1808 is a dramatic work reflecting the composers view of the political climate of the time as well as a growing awareness of his own fate.
Between those two pieces was an elegant display of violin playing by Arabella Steinbacher
The Rossini opened with an engaging display by the woodwinds and brass evolving into a dance-like piece.
The woodwinds held much of this musical adventure together which captures the essence of the opera, its comedy and convoluted storyline.
The Auckland Philharmonia manages to attract some of the world’s great soloists and with the Japanese / German violinist Arabella Steinbacher the audience was treated to a stunning performance of Mozart’s “Violon Concerto No 5”.
She opened the work with some silky playing, slowly revealing the intricacies of the work. At times her playing flowed along with the orchestra while at other times she appeared to add new musical themes to which the orchestra responded.
With the cadenza she showed a skill and insistence which gave the work a very contemporary and adventurous sound.
Throughout the piece she seemed to be perfectly in control of her playing, never trying to outdo the orchestra preferring to let her exquisite, often restrained playing shine. In the second movement some of her playing was almost ethereal while at other times her deft and refined.
In the third movement as the orchestra became more dynamic, she seemed to revel in their playing adding an urgency to her own playing.
Having heard Beethoven’s “Symphony No 5” several times it is still rewarding to hear another orchestral performance. The drama, the nuance, the intensity of the conductor and the players, all add the spectacle. As well as appreciating the music there is also a sense of the composer himself grasping for musical ideas, responding to the momentous events of his times and seeing his own political and spiritual condition connected to those events.
No section of the work is irrelevant or unnecessary, it can can be loud and dramatic with rousing sequences but also gentle, soothing. delicate and sprightly. Beethoven certainly knew how to create drama, mystery and atmosphere.
Apart from the symphony’s well-known dynamic opening and other dramatic sequence the symphony also has superb moments provided by individual instruments such as the clarinet and flutes in the opening minutes or the mass pizzicato of the strings.
Conductor Bellincampi guided the orchestra brilliantly showing his ability to reveal the drama, tension, and revolution within the work. He also highlighted the nuances of the work, emphasising the contrasts and moods of the piece.
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Great to see you last night. I think we last met when you’d just moved up to Wellington and I was still milking in the ‘naki after our African adventure. Then you moved again. Up north.
After Glenda pretty neatly convinced you both to take that Takapuna joint with a sea view, you never stopped grumbling and grouching about the place. For years. Y’know – its humidity, traffic, its prices, its pretentious people and so on. Not to mention its upsy-downsy football team of course. As for natural disasters, lockdowns, etc … I won’t go on.
But, bluddy hell mate, since then it’s almost like you’ve had what that Ayckbourne mate of yours would call a car-thar-sis. Family disruptions aside, it seems that you’ve stopped moaning and fallen in love with the place. Auckland! Never thought I’d see the day.
Blow me down, you seem to have become an advocate for just about everything and everyone. From Auckland’s buses to its ferries, from its oddball characters to its libraries. To lots of its bits too – from Riverhead to Moolfud even if the grandkids are your excuse to explore lots of Maccas and KFCs.
Quite honestly, mate, it seems like you’ve discovered some sort of extra-special non-energetic energy in your post-Covid life. Part of me thinks you have somehow grown an extra leg. Or at least grown up. And good on ‘yer.
Never even dreamed I’d see such a contented, reflective and accepting Dickie. I can see you now sitting on that playwright feller’s beach gazing contentedly at Rangitoto.
Nice looking apartment too and that ever-helpful sheila deserved the flowers as well.
Probably a few lessons in there for me. Perhaps, after 50 years – yes FIFTY years – it’s time for me to stop getting irate about suss hotel food, Mendela, Pienaar and 747s.
Yes it was pretty definitely good to see you again. Might even visit sometime.
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What are we going to do without Roger Hall? Is this really the end of a theatrical era? Will regional theatre companies collapse?
These are some of the questions which theatre lovers, theatre companies and Creative New Zealand will be addressing over the next few years.
With the retirement of Roger Hall from playwriting New Zealand theatre scene will be dealt something of a body blow.
But those questions and their answers are for next week, next year. In the meantime, we have another Roger Hall play, probably his last production with “End of Summer Time.”
With his latest play Hall gives a nod to one of the important milestones in New Zealand theatre history, Bruce Mason “End of the Golden Weather”. Even the publicity material features images of Rangitoto and Takapuna Beach which was the site of Masons play.
The play charts the problems of older people thrust into a new social environment as well as discovering the joys and drawbacks of living in a new town.
We have met Dickie Hart before in two of Halls plays “C’mon Black” and “You Gotta be Joking”. Hart has moved to the big smoke from Wellington, moving into an apartment on the North Shore.
Dickie (Andrew Grainger) is confronted by a lot of problems in his transition to Auckland and apartment living and Hall has exploited all these situations. Dickie has to manage his wife Glenda’s new interests in the library and yoga and he has to deal with issues around the body corporate and the South African block manager.
He also has to manage more personal issues such as getting a health check from the doctor for his driving license, particularly the cognitive test as well as trying to fill in the census form and its questions on gender. identity
There is a scary account of the Dickie’s-first time visit to inner Auckland, navigating the motorway system, the bridge and the netherworld of the Aotea Centre carpark.
Dickie has moved to Auckland partly to spend time with his grandkids – a task that is which is not all that simple but he manages educational outings to Auckland volcanic cones brilliantly by combining these trips with visits to Auckland’s great dining establishments – MacDonalds, KFC and Subway.
The play is essentially in two halves– pre and post Covid , the second half being a bit more reflective.
Hall has developed a clever approach to his characters and their comments on life politics and relationship, a style somewhere between the misogynistic and woke, it’s a tenuous area but Hall negotiates it skilfully and Andrew Grainger pulls it off with a breezy, nonchalant style.
Hall is able to assemble his string of one-liners into a coherent, monologue which acts as political and social commentary of issues of the present day as well as providing a compelling portrait of a typical New Zealand character.
The play is a brilliant and sustained piece of comedy throughout, But at one point play turns into tragedy with a few lines and some convincing acting which demonstrates Halls consummate writing, Quigan’s directorial skill and Grainger’s intelligent acting.
Much of Dickie’s identity is linked to rugby and throughout the play there are mentions of the Rugby world Cup as well as images of Rugby games on the TV which dominated the apartment. The local library also gets a favourable mention as Dickie manages to find a copy of Brian Turners book on Colin Meads
Grainger takes on Roger Halls monologue with an energetic enthusiasm, the conservative cow cocky only just managing to adjust to a new life as he prowls the pared back apartment-cum-prison set designed by John Parker.
As with all Hall’s work this is an engaging play with sparkling dialogue and consummate acting.
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In her latest exhibition ”Concrete” Ruth Cleland continues her interest in the accurate depiction of her environment along with the use of the grid.
Gridding is a technique that has been used by many artists throughout history using horizontal and vertical lines over drawings or photographs for enlargement and transfer purposes.
Cleland uses a grid to transfer images of concrete floors onto board using either graphite pencil or acrylic. These images such as “Concrete Floor 3” ($12,8000) show the polished concrete surface with imbedded scoria along with signs of previous uses and marks.
The works are akin to the work of the Boyle Family who randomly chose sites or parts of the body which they then recreated, the completed work offering new interpretations of the environment or body.
These images of concrete floors could be of the floor of the gallery with its various sections of ground and polished concrete laid over the years. They are in fact of a supermarket floor that the artist has previously used as subject matter. One image, “Concrete Path” ($12,800) has a more personal connection being the concrete path outside the artist’s home.
These images of concrete are meticulous in their accuracy but the artist shows her skill in the depiction of both ambient light sources as well as overhead lights.
In some cases there is a companion piece to the photorealistic image as with “Concrete Floor 1” and “Grid / Concrete Floor 1” ($12,800 pair). The lines drawn on the grid have been used here to indicate the striations seen in the drawing as well as light intensity. This recording adds to the enigmatic nature of the work suggesting there is an underlying plan or logic inherent in the image itself which the artist has revealed.
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Auguste Renoir, Road at Wargemont, 1879, Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
A Century of Modern Art
Auckland Art Gallery
June 7 – September 28
John Daly-Peoples
A Century of Modern Art which has just opened at the Auckland Art Gallery is one of the most significant exhibitions mounted by the gallery in the last few years. It is on loan from the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, and provides a survey of the major artists who transformed modern art from the mid nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century.
The exhibition features 57 works by 53 artists, including Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Helen Frankenthaler, Édouard Manet, William Merritt Chase, Amedeo Modigliani, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Robert Rauschenberg, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, James McNeill Whistler, among others.
The Toledo Art Museum was established and funded by Edward Drummond Libby and still has a substantial Endowment Trust in his name . The endowment has some $330 million and a budget of more than $20 million a year,. Many of the works in the exhibition were gifted by Libby or acquired through the Libbey Endowment.
Georges Braque, Still Life with Fish, 1941, Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Some of the Impressionist / Post Impressionist works by artists such as Renoir, van Gogh, Morisot and Gauguin are major works whle some of them are of unfamiliar subjects such as Renoir’s ”Road at Wargemont”
Several of the works are excellent examples of their work such as van Gogh’s “Wheat Fields with Reaper, Auvers” and Monet’s Water Lilies of 1922, one of the many images of the flower he created in his later years.
The show also features some unfamiliar names of American artists such as Luther Emerson van Gorder whose “Flower Market, Paris” (late 19ht century) could be mistaken for a Pissarro.
Flower Market, PLuther Emerson, Van Gorder, Flower Market, Paris, late 19th century- early 20th century. Toledo Museum of Art, Gift of the artist
The small Whistler work ”Crepuscule in Opal, Trouville” of 1865 is an interesting inclusion in the show, the landscape with its slash of colour is an almost abstract work
Among the more contemporary work is Helen Frankenthaler “Blue Jay” painted at a transition time between paintings of organic forms and colour field paintings. There is also a Morris Louis whose work has not been seen in Auckland since his large exhibition at the gallery in 1971
Helen Frankenthaler, Blue Jay,1963, Toledo Museum of Art, Gift of The Woodward Foundation
There are also works by artists who we rarely see but whose work shows high level of sophistication such as Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and Gray”, László Moholy-Nagy’s ”Am2”, and Max Beckmann’s “The Trapeze”.
Max Beckmann, German, 1884-1950; The Trapeze; 1923; oil on canvas;H: 77 3/8 in. (196.5 cm); W: 33 1/8 in. (84 cm);Toledo Museum of Art; 1983.20;
There are a few important American artists as Stanton Macdonald-Wright who was one of the early American abstract artists and his “Synchromy, Blue-Green”, of 1916 is an example of the abstraction which developed in America in the early twentieth century.
Other American artists in the show include Gertrude Glass Green who was an important constructivist artist and Grace Hartigan who was a member of the New York School in the 1950’s and 60’s.
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Auckland Philharmonia with The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus
Auckland Town Hall
July 5
John Daly-Peoples
La Travitaa is one of the most popular of Verdi’s operas and the scale is more intimate than much of his output, with no grand historical or political elements. The opera concerns itself with social issues contemporary to Verdi, almost autobiographical in places with regard to his relationship with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi who he had a scandalous relationship with in the 1840’s
It is also the only one of Verdi’s operas to specifically take place in his own time, although, the premiere was censored on moral grounds and he was forced to shift the period, from the contemporary to one hundred years earlier
The opera set in 19th Century Paris features Violetta, a high-class courtesan and the most celebrated figure of the Parisian social scene. She is carefree, attached to no-one, her own woman. But she is also seriously ill.
She meetsAlfredo, a poet who shows Violetta real, unconditional love for the first time. She falls for him and, abandoning her career, the two escape to a country retreat to live in domestic bliss. That is until Alfredo’s father shows up. He is unhappy with how his son’s relationship with a ‘fallen woman’ is damaging the family’s reputation and persuades Violetta to end things with Alfredo via a letter and return to the city.
Much later, Alfredo’s father is remorseful and finally reveals to his son why Violetta left him. He rushes to be with her, but Violetta’s sickness is now much worse
Oliver Sewell (Alfredo) Image Emma Brittenden
In the role of Violetta Valéry, Romanian soprano Luiza Fatyol will make her Australasian debut while Oliver Sewell (tenor) makes a welcome return to Auckland as, Alfredo, following his second season as a member of the principal ensemble at Germany’s Theater Bremen. He will be joined by Phillip Rhodes (baritone) as Alfredo’s father Germont, who reprises this role following his debut with Opera Australia last year.
Phillip Rhodes
Also performing with the Auckland Philharmonia will be acclaimed rising Kiwi stars James Ioelu (bass-baritone) as Marquis D’Obigny, Felicity Tomkins (soprano), winner of the 2024 Herald Sun Aria Competition, as Annina, 2024 Lexus Song Quest winner Katie Trigg (mezzo-soprano) as Flora Bervoix and popular Samoan baritone Joel Amosa as Doctor Grenvil.
The cast will be complemented by The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus.
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Towards Modernism: The Walter Cook Collection at Te Papa
A treasure trove of design.
By Justine Olsen
RRP $75
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
“In 1965 a twenty-four-year-old Bachelor of Arts student named Walter Cook bought an Art Nouveau tea set at the Willis St Wellington secondhand shop Odds & Ends. In the context of mid 1960’s design, with its flat patterns and stainless steel, the Liberty & Co pewter tea set would have seemed totally old fashioned to most but Cook saw it for style”.
This is how a new book on the unlikely art collector, Walter Cook opens. The book Towards Modernism: The Walter Cook Collection at Te Papa celebrates the collection which is a small jewel in Te Papa’s crown. It also acknowledges the Wellington collector’s life and commitment over several decades with the book which illustrates over 200 works from the collection with full page colour illustrations
From that first work Walter Cook went on to amass a highly significant collection of ceramic, glassware and metal work. Apart from the collections importance it also shows how a collection can be built up without having to pay high auction house prices.
This Japanese-inspired jug with a cherry blossom pattern and bamboo handle was bought in Blenheim. Its manufacturer, Pinder, Bourne & Co of Stoke-on-Trent, was taken over by Doulton in 1882. Jug, 1877. Manufacturer: Pinder, Bourne & Co, England. Stoneware, pewter, 210 x 145 x 145mm, CG001804.
For most of Cook’s purchases the book documents the date of acquisition along with the place and price paid. These notes in themselves provide and insight into Cook’s buying. While a number of the works were bought in Wellington there are also purchases made in Auckland and London. There are purchases from department stores, antique shops, secondhand shops, and markets,
One of the earliest works is a Doulton “Jug” by Hannah Barlow (1873) bought from Alma Fosters antique store on Dixon St in 1980. And the latest purchase was of some1979 salt and pepper mills designed by Thygesen & Sorensen from the Danish firm PP Linie
Most of his purchases were from retail stores where he paid the current retail prices of $30 – $100 but he appears to have found many of his works in secondhand stores. So, a Susie Cooper tea set was bought in 1981on the Wakefield Markets at a stall run by Paul Orsman.
There was Pilkington Vase purchased for $30 in 1982, a Watcombe Pottery Palm Pot for $3.00 two “Morris” ware candlesticks for$5 in 1965, , a “Tudric” Vase for $5 and a “Tudric” dish for $2.00.
Two bowls by the Swedish artist Stig Lindberg were purchased in 1985 – “Pungo for $35 and Veckla for $6.00.
This ‘Tudric’ ware vase evokes the tulip form with its rising stem and cup-like flower. It was bought from Joanna Holmes Antiques, Masterton, in 1969 for $5 Tulip vase, ‘Tudric’, c.1905. Commissioner: Liberty & Co. England. Manufacturer: WH Haseler Ltd. Pewter, 220 ×165 ×110mm, GH004284.
The book has full page illustrations of the works from the collection grouped within particular periods – The Arts and Crafts Movement, Aestheticism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and the interwar period and Postwar Modernism.
For each of these chapters Olsen provides descriptions of the history and aesthetic thinking behind the works created. So, we get details about the potteries and the individuals who created the works as well as an indication of how the works in the collection fit within the development of the art form.
Cook also acquired an example of Bretby Art Pottery which was purchased at the New Zealand Exhibition in Christchurch of 1906 / 07 and later purchased from Neale Auld’s Willbank Court Antiques.
In this early period there are also examples of Royal Copenhagen work with some ceramic plates
Along with information on the potteries and artists of the period including a profile of the importance of Christopher Dresser an important artist, designer and promoter English design in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
This ‘Syren’, sometimes referred to as ‘Duveen’, pattern set by Royal Doulton was bought from Alma Foster in 1980. Coffee service, ‘Syren’, c.1932. Manufacturer: Royal Doulton & Co Ltd, England. Ceramic. From Left: Cup, 60 x 75 x 75mm, CG001905; saucer, 15 x 115 x 115mm, CG001905; coffee pot, 205 x 75 x 145mm, CG001903; jug, 75 x 73 ×45mm, CG001904/1. 04
The Art Nouveau section features some of the elaborate work of the time with work from the Minton Pottery, Villeroy & Bosch as well as metalwork from the German company Wurttembergische Metallwarenfabrik.
The Art Deco section features a number of works from the Doulton and Co factory along with biographies of some of the importance female designers including Clarice Cliff, Truda Carter and Susie Cooper.
There is also a substantial entry about Keith Murray who worked for Wedgewood and whose designs influenced Ernest Shufflebotham who had a major impact on New Zealand pottery through Crown Lynn.
The Postwar Modernism section features work by Susie Cooper and Scandinavian Design which includes Rosenthal and designers Nittsjo Keramik, Carl-Harry Stallhane and Stig Lindberg.
This Italian glass ‘Fazzoletto’, or handkerchief, vase expressed the imagination and technical sophistication of the mid-twentieth century Italian glassmakers Venini & Co. Its latticino and pink filagree patterns drew on traditional Murano glass techniques and it was designed by leading Murano glass designer Fulvio Bianconi (1915–1996). The vase was bought from Linley Halliday and David Owens’ Curiosity Shop on Constable Street in Wellington. Vase, ‘Fazzoletto (handkerchief)’, c.1950. Manufacturer: Venini & Co, Italy. Designer: Fulvio Bianconi. Maker/artist: Paolo Venini. Glass, 98 x 135 x 128mm, CG001949.
What the book also reveals is that a collector of any type of artwork needs to have all the qualities Walter Cook had -.an understanding of the market, the history of the objects, a knowledge of aesthetics, dedication and a keen eye
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For Black Grace’s “Rage Rage” the Aotea Centre’s Hunua Room was set up with a high catwalk built through the centre of the space.
Was this nod to Dylan Thomas’s “Rage rage against the dying of the light” or a personal rage of Neil Ieremias. His work has always had an element of the personal and the political with works which are confrontational both between the performers themselves and between performers and audience.
Up to a couple of dozen performers race around the stage, in waves of massed groups, performing a series of linked dances to a range of music from traditional Samoan to contemporary rap.
Like all Ieremia’s shows this was a high energy and relentless performance combining many of the elements of his previous explorations in dance.
There is the hand clapping, foot stomping, the falls / collapses, hand movements like a form of deaf signing and arms used as a kind of semaphore.
The various sequences are introduced by Strictly Brown founders Leki Jackson-Bourke and Saale Ilaua who reminisce about their time at school, favourite TV and films and playground games. These reminiscences lead the company into surges of movement.
The sounds are a mixture of the traditional and the modern as the dancers negotiate issues of the present which are rooted in the past. Some of these are addressed in the latter part – Covid, climate change and the future of Tuvalu.
Many of routines seem based on the schoolyard ‘game’ of Rush, some of which morph into fights or just dissipate.
The final sequence is a mix of despair and celebration danced to a nihilistic vocal soundtrack-
“I don’t belong here
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here”
With the refrain
You don’t belong here
Which encapsulates so .much feeling and emotion focused on the emptiness of contemporary life.
Like much of Black Grace dances there is a tension and drama created by the action and reaction, between rapid movement and calm, between a zombie-like state and intense animation.
Throughout the performances there is an awareness of the beauty and intensity of the dance and the strange conflicting visceral and abstract nature of the dancing which underlines Ieremia’s ability to create dance which is focused and potent
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Headlining Auckland’s Cabaret Festival starting this week is La Clique featuring a range of performers with some of them presenting at a press preview.
La Clique has been performing for many years with their performers changing over the years. It was here at the Auckland Arts Festival in 2007 and while some of the performers have changed the class, innovation and magic is still there.
Performing in the Civic, the show is particularly magical, not just being in the Civic but being on the Civic’s stage. The lights, curtains and apparatus that we never see takes the audience into a very different space and looming over us are the seats of the stalls and balcony and above them the ceiling of the Civic with its twinkling stars of the solar system.
Tara Boon is a foot juggler which sounds like a pretty easy trick to take to the beach later in the year, that is, until you realise that some people can’t even get their shoes on without becoming a contortionist. Boon is as dexterous with her feet as ordinary people are with their hands. Resting on her reclining chair, she initially upends an umbrella which showers the stage with red petals and with her act she is able to manipulate up to four oriental umbrellas – on the handle or on their edges.
It’s a simple slick stylish act performed to the song “Umbrella” by Mechanical Bride and you keep forgetting how difficult it is to manipulate an umbrella, let alone four of them.
Byron Hutton is a juggler who is as clever with his hands as Boon is with her feet. He manages to juggle with his hands as well as other parts of his body, the clubs dancing and cavorting around him in fluid movements.
He showed his consummate skill a couple of times when he lost a club and instantly caught another from his offsider before moving on to the next routine.
Heather Holliday Image: Liam Newth / Auckland LIve
The act which attracted thy most gasps was the fire eating Queen, Heather Holliday. I’ve seen a few fire eaters before but never up close, so close I could feel the heat of the flames. I know they use low combustion fuels which are less dangerous than things like alcohol and petrol but even so it all looks a bit scary, especially when she takes her flaming batons and drags them across her skin
At the end of her performance, her offsider came on with a flute full of what I thought was a celebratory glass of champagne. But no. This was a glass full of her flame throwing fluid. She drank the flute and then spouted out a flaming jet like a flamethrower which had all the audience recoiling .
We saw just three acts but on the night, there will be a dozen. It will be a night full of the sexy, the funny and the dangerous
New Zealand Arts Review 