New Zealand Arts Review

Reviewed by Cecilia Martini

The End of the Golden Weather (Part 3 – Christmas at Te Parenga)

By Bruce Mason

A NZTM Production

Takapuna Beach, Takapuna

25 December 2022 

Reviewed by Cecilia Martini

What an enjoyable Christmas morning celebration.

Returning after a Covid enforced cancellation last year, this Takapuna annual hit the ground running for the 17th time this Christmas. The 5-600 strong audience was in a mood to celebrate and delighted to be back.  The sun was out, the tide that was full and the corks were popping.

Sir Roger Hall conceived this annual event in 2006, determined to create an authentic Takapuna Christmas tradition.  He felt it should be theatrical (of course) and have clearly discernible links to Takapuna.  What better way, he felt, than Bruce Mason’s iconic Golden Weather, set right where Mason grew through childhood.  The main character in his play is a nameless 12-year-old based on the young Mason himself.  Completed in 1959, he went on to perform it more than 1,000 times in theatres, pubs and parks all over New Zealand and overseas with themes that are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.  Part 3 could not be a more perfectly accessible realisation of a kiwi Christmas.

The crowd at Takpuna Beach End of the Golden Weather

At Takapuna Beach there is no stage, just a natural setting that Mason has pre-painted: a green sward ringed by pohutukawa, the guardian rocks at either end of three-quarter mile long beach, the occasional squawking gull and an ever-brooding Rangitoto standing guard over everything.

This year, quietly at first, the plaintive notes of bagpipes could be heard.  Initially wistful, then joyful, and then slowly increasing in tempo and volume.  Suddenly the piper hove into view.  A few quiet murmurs could be heard when the crowd realised that the actor this year was not a boy at all.  No, in 2022 it was a girl.

Perhaps better known for A Traveller’s Guide to Turkish Dogs from earlier in the year, Tess Sullivan quickly discarded the pipes and bounced in as an elfin-like blythe spirit providing the child’s-eye view of Christmas in a 1930s family setting.  She capered and cavorted about, dancing easily from narration and description to an array of characterisations that included parents, their friends, relatives and siblings, simply telling a story and telling it well. She easily captivated her audience and their mindset change from boy to girl was instantaneously accomplished and in no way the risk some may have initially feared.

Part 3 of Mason’s script is timeless, its tone is perfect and its setting is as impeccable as the play itself – a Christmas concert performed by children for their nearest and dearest.  There is a clear expectation, excitement and nervousness among them before the concert begins.  But all goes awry and turns into frustrations and scoldings with the tantrums and idiosyncrasies of the siblings who refuse to take it seriously and do what has been so meticulously planned and prepared.

Tess Sullivan drew out the humour in this and truly owned her interpretation.  The chocolate fish she dealt out to some in the audience may have melted but they loved her nonetheless, and post-performance comments expressed appreciation for the different emphases she brought.  On balance, it was great casting and Tess was loved by everyone at the beach.  The only quibble perhaps related to her tempo which was constantly up, whereas the occasional pause may have enhanced some of the dramatic moments and time-shifts. 

But this was overshadowed by those superb characterisations.  One middle-aged bloke was even overheard saying he had never been to a single play in his life but thought this was pure magic … and he’d definitely be back next year.  And Stephen Lovatt, arguably New Zealand’s definitive Mason interpreter and a long-time actor in this role, was glowing saying ‘Tess owned it’.  

Part of the success of this event lies in its very simplicity and community focus.  There is just one actor and two speakers on stands.  There is neither set nor scenery, no curtain to draw and no props, mood music or special effects.  Everything is outlined in Mason’s original script and the audience itself becomes a part of what he has described.

It is understood the NZ Theatre Month Trust, which produces this event, is not only keen to see it continue, but is keen to establish some type of Endowment Scheme awarded annually to an outstanding early-to-mid career professionl actor, and posing an on-going challenge to both interpret Mason’s words and play the role.  Tess Sullivan took on that challenge this year and clearly won.

So, Sir Roger, take a bow.  You may have been unable to attend this year and missed out on a chocolate fish, but you have well and truly established a Christmas tradition that resonates well beyond Takapuna.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Secrets of Stonehenge 

Auckland War Memorial Museum

Until April 21

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

On June  21^st this year over 6000 people gathered at Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain to witness the Summer Solstice. People from around the world came to gaze, party and marvel as the sun rose behind the Heel Stone in the north-east part of the horizon and its first rays shone into the heart of Stonehenge. They were continuing a tradition which first began thousands of years ago when the local inhabitants of the area would gather to witness the beginning of the new year. Each year prior to Covid over 1.6 million people visited the site every year

Stonehenge was built in six stages between 3000 and 1520 BCE, during the transition from the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) to the Bronze Age. As a prehistoric stone circle, it is unique because of its shaped blocks of sarsen stones, and because of the remote origin of the smaller bluestone rocks.

Why the people of the time actually built the structure, who designed it and why it was built over such as long period has sparked curiosity for centuries.

Now audiences are able to see the international exhibition Secrets of Stonehenge  featuring 300 artefacts from more than 5,000 years ago, scientific and archaeological evidence surrounding the secrets behind one of the world’s most mysterious prehistoric monuments.

Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, is one of the most famous landmarks on the planet. The monument once consisted of rings and horseshoes of standing stones, some topped by horizontal “lintels”. The largest stones are around 7 metres high, nearly 3 metres wide and weigh more than 22,000kg. Scientific analysis has revealed that many of the stones were transported from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, over 240km away.

The Secrets of Stonehenge exhibition was opened last week by the curator Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Professor of British Later Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and Fellow of the British Academy. 

He has been directing research on Stonehenge since 2003 and says “After centuries of speculation, we are finally reaching an understanding of Stonehenge: who built it, when how and why”

The exhibition examines how the stones arrived there to who the builders were and what their intentions might have been as they formed the stone circle. In addition to Stonehenge’s construction, the exhibition also speculates on the monument’s special place in the ancient landscape, its role as a domain of the dead, and how it related to nearby settlement Durrington Walls, the village of the builders in the domain of the living.

As Professor Pearson says, “We now know that Stonehenge did not appear ‘out of the blue’. This part of Salisbury Plain had been considered sacred for hundreds if not thousands of years before the first Stonehenge was built. That first Stonehenge, built around 3000 BCE, looked very different from its second incarnation, built 500 years later, when it took the form in which it broadly appears today. Its story is one of change and evolution—a story we are piecing together for the first time.”

The exhibition features artefacts relating to the construction of the landmark such as  stone tools, antler picks along with items related to the population who lived and worked in the area such as pottery, gold and bronze objects.

There are also  maps of the area, models of the  evolving structure, charts and explanatory panels. Holding all this together are a series of large video screens with Professor Pearson on the Salisbury plain providing informative guides to the development of the complex.

Ultimately it will be the individual viewer who makes connections with what is on display with the questions people have asked for centuries. Who had the original idea of the structure – a priest a farmer or a chief. Was it built as a simple calendar or for religious, cosmological, agricultural or burial purposes.

For many the place has spiritual connections as though once you control or understand the movements of the heavens you have control over your destiny or that of the tribe. It’s these spiritual aspects which tends to interest many people who see it as one of the astral points focussing cosmic energy although this approach is symboklic and mythic rather than offering anything concrete

It does seem unnecessary to build such a huge structure merely to know when the winter and summer solstice will occur – in fact they people who built it knew in advance where the solstices appeared

Then there are the myths such as the Druids and the Celts. It is now known that Druids had nothing to do with the building of Stonehenge, and there is no evidence for supposing that human sacrifice was ever practised there and the various Neolithic peoples who built Stonehenge predated the Celts.

The design and layout of the structure Its design seems to correspond to the observation of many astronomical events such as solstices, eclipses and moon cycles, but it would seem that these simple observations may have evolved into a religious or semi religious cult in a period when ancient Britons switched from the worship of landscape features like hills to some form of solar worship.

This exhibition may make you quite interested in stone axes and the way they were used to shape some of the stone. The Neolithic people did not have iron tools and used various rocks to shape the stones and there is one the axe heads on display  which looks a patu The various digging tools which were used were made of antlers which would mean the people who used them would have been skilled in particular techniques of digging and one gets a sense of the way in which their physical engagement with the land and the stones would have been like.

Like many of the big shows such as The Greeks which was on at the museum, the exhibition is educational and very rewarding. There is a lot of information which answers many of the questions a viewer will have but it also opens up further questions about our early ancestors and how we have changed and adapted over many thousand years.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Choral Image Iain Bremner

Handel’s Messiah

Auckland Choral with Piper Sinfonia

Auckland Town Hall,

December 18

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Last Sunday Auckland Choral returned after a year’s hiatus to present their annual Messiah, one of the great musical treats of the year and two hundred and eighty years after its first performance.

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. 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 ending  with the Hallelujah Chorus. Part III covers the resurrection of the dead 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 of the work.

With this year’s Messiah Auckland Choral and Pipers Sinfonia achieved that with an exhilarating display along with the four soloists: soprano Joanna Foote (replacing Isabella Moore), mezzo-soprano Kate Webber tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono and Baritone James Harrison (replacing Benson Wilson).

The baritone has some of best tunes to sing in the Messiah and James Harrison 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

Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono’s “Comfort ye” was well modulated showing a superbly controlled voice making his opening recitative a moving description. His dynamism did not extend throughout his singing and his second half “He that dwellith in heaven” lacked strength and precision.

Kate Webber lacked power in some of her early arias, but the richness of her voice was able to give an affecting performance notably with her anguished account of “He was despised and rejected of men”.

Joanna Foote had a great stage presence, but her voice was a bit too light in her early arias and in her more dramatic moment she seemed muted. 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.

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

Trumpeter Huw Dann gave a sensational performance in his “The trumpet will sound” ‘duet’ with James Harrison. 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 Michael Bell gave an inspiring accompaniment with some thrilling, burnished sounds which heightened the drama of many of the choruses.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Alexander McQueen: Myth, Mythos, Muse 

 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

December 11 – April 14.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

This year’s summer blockbuster at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is “Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse”  showcasing the work of the extraordinarily talented Alexander McQueen who died by suicide at the age of 40.

It is a stunning exhibition displaying 120 designs along with with 80 additional  paintings, sculptures, drawings and textiles which help contextualise his work It’s a show which provides insights into the creative thinking of one of the great designers of the twenty-first century.

With many fashion designers and collections one can see their creations building on previous designers, dress silhouettes and other fashion trends. McQueen in contrast always wanted to create narratives and explore ideas around historical  events and concepts. He understood that all art and cultures feeds of other.

He is also a visual artist, continually drawing on other visual material. He apparently went to the Victoria and Albert Museum couple of times  a week to look at the costume displays but he would have also seen all the other material in the museum  as well as paintings from the great London collections.  All of this fed into his imagination.

One of collection, “Eye” of 2000 was inspired by Turkish music and the greater Islamic community of London. The collection merges Western fashion with McQueen’s interpretation of Middle Eastern clothing referring to cultural religious dress, belly dancing costumes and soccer uniforms. McQueen conflating the a huge area and diverse populations of the Middle East into a few designs.

On display with one of the works from that show is  a Turkish liturgical veil, a wedding headdress from Palestine adorned with Turkish coins as well as Hapsburg coins depicting Maria Theresa. There is also a portrait by Jean Baptiste Greuze of woman in Turkish dress from 1790 a  time of exoticism in French painting. This small display demonstrates his varied sources of inspiration.

In another display McQueen’s “houndstooth design“ is linked with the artworks of  M C Escher whose designs he used in several creations.

His 2006 collection “Neptune” took inspiration from the Roman god of water and borrowed images of the deity, soldiers, gladiators, marble sculptures and classical architecture. He used these neo-classical images in the presentation along with a soundtrack  including Suzi Quatro, Aretha Franklin and Missy Elliott.

In “Widows of Culloden”, he drew inspiration from his own Scottish heritage and several of the creations used the McQueen tartan. The collection referenced the Battle of Culloden where the English defeated a Scots army which was also the last stand of Bonney Prince Charlie. The aftermath of the battle lead to privation of the Scots. The show also referred back to his previous Highland Rape collection.

His posthumous “Angels and Demons” collection of 2010–11, referenced Christian iconography from the Byzantine Empire as well as the northern and Italian Renaissance. With these works he created a poetic, medieval beauty that dealt with religious iconography using fabric that translated digital photographs of paintings such as Hieronymus  Bosch’s images of  demons.

The Great Depression dance marathon portrayed in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? inspired McQueen’s “Deliverance” which poses the danse macabre as a metaphor for working in fashion. A ‘raven cape’ embodies the film’s sense of foreboding: ravens, like other birds of prey, traditionally represent death. In “Deliverance” even wristwatch-strap sandals, marking McQueen’s 1969 birth year, are a form of memento mori.

There is a lot of ambiguity around  the impulses which drove McQueen’s approach to women and his designs. He can seem to be  misogynistic or trying to empower women. At times he is making real social statements and at others he indulges in  fairy tales.

With all his designs there is a sexual element. McQueen is quoted as  saying “I think there has to be an underlying sexuality. There has to be a perverseness to the clothes. There is a hidden agenda in the fragility of romance. I am not big on women looking naive. There has to be a sinister aspect, whether it’s melancholy or sadomasochist. I think everyone has a deep sexuality, and sometimes it’s good to use a little of it-and sometimes a lot of it like a masquerade”.

As  well as the designs om show throughout the galleries there are videos of previous shows and filmed interview of the McQueen. One of the videos shows the  closing moments of Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 1999 show where supermodel Shalom Harlow stands alone, rotating like a ballerina on a platform while two robots encircled her spraying her white dress in an acidic yellow and black paint.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

HomeGround; The Story of a building that changes lives

Simon Wilson et al

Massey University Press

RRP $65.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

For many years the crowds milling outside the Auckland City Mission on Albert St was one of the obvious signs of the housing and homelessness crisis affecting the country. They were a stark reminder that New Zealand had one of the highest levels of homelessness in the OECD.

But this year has seen the start of what many hope will be a radical change in the way the country addresses the issue of homelessness. The Auckland City Mission opened HomeGround a new multi-story development which directly addresses the problem providing accommodation and support services for eighty residents.

Those who experiences homelessness and living in poverty are normally never able to access affordable housing. This experience may result from loss of a job and income, sickness or short-term disability, needing to leave their home due to violence. For some this will be a temporary period in their lives but others may have a number of these episodes over their lifetime.

There are a number of ways that permanent supportive housing can be created and managed but the major way is the ‘high density’ models such as HomeGround which involves people living in one apartment complex, with some of the support services they need to sustain their tenancies provided on-site. 

The new building designed by Stevens Lawson Architects has 80 residential units each with their own kitchen and bathroom. The complex also has extensive support elements – a detox centre, medical centre, food bank, a roof top terrace as well as several lounges and meeting rooms.

The genesis and development of the project has been documented in a new book “HomeGround, The Story of a building that changes lives” written largely by Simon Wilson.

It records the key steps and individuals that brought the building and the work done thereinto existence – a visionary social services agency, a committed architecture practice, courageous funders, and skilled construction specialists.

From the plans the building looks very much like a hotel with individual guest room and various facilities but the thinking behind it and the consultation around its design was very different. For HomeGround consultation was focused on the eventual inhabitants and their particular needs. What was being built was not just a building but a community and that was at the centre of the design thinking. While the building creates a village for the inhabitants it has been designed as a part of the wider community and there is a walkway which allows members of the public to move from one street to another through the complex so they connect with the inhabitants rather than merely passing by.

The acknowledgement of the inhabitants is central to the book and Simon Wilson includes a section where he has interviewed two of the residents who talk of their depressing and harrowing lives which have brought them to this place, through bad parenting, ill health, drug taking, social isolation. HomeGround offers a retreat, a new beginning, possibly even a paradise.

Simon Wilson has written the book along with Professor Deidre Brown and Dr Karamia Muller and there is a foreword by Richard Didsbury. Photographer Mark Smith has photographed the building as though for an architectural publication but has also documented the people who have made the building possible as well as the people who live there and the people who work there.

The book weaves together the various threads of creative architecture and planning acute social problems along with the power of individuals and organisations to effect social change.

Simon Wilson is one of New Zealand’s best-known journalists. The former editor of Cuisine and Metro magazines and Auckland editor for The Spinoff, he is now a senior writer at The New Zealand Herald. He is a regular writer on urban and social issues.

Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is an art historian and architectural lecturer. She is head of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland and a governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Dr Karamia Muller is a Pacific academic who lectures at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland. Her research specialises in the meaningful ‘indigenisation’ of creative practices and design methodologies invested in building futures resistant to inequality.

HomeGround, Entrance from Hobson Street

HomeGround book extract

For the Mission team charged with populating HomeGround, it was clear that one of the key issues would be how to choose who would get to live there. There are an estimated 20,000 homelesspeople in Auckland, hundreds, if not thousands, of whom, the Mission knew, would like to live in HomeGround. And they had spaces for 80.

The advice from overseas was to populate the building in stages, taking a year if necessary. They were building a community and taking the time to choose well now would, they decided, pay off later. But going slow is hard when the need is so pressing.

Some things were already decided. The apartments would all go to people on the social housing register run by the Ministry of Social Development. Following the Australian Common Ground model, the Housing First programme mandated that half of them would be for people who were ‘chronically homeless’, defined as having spent at least a full year on the street, or having had four episodes of sleeping rough in the previous three years, and having at least two comorbidities, which can include mental illness, physical illness, trauma or acquired brain injury (ABI). The rest of the apartments would be for people who might still be in acute need, but were not facing such complex health or wellbeing issues.

There were other factors, too. Chris Farrelly says it was always important to make it a diverse community. ‘That means gender diverse, so half the people living in HomeGround will be women.

And there will be younger people, older people, sexual diversity. It’s not just for the old male streeties. And yes, there are a lot of them, so the Mission has to find other ways to help them, too.’

The small apartments these new tenants call home are smart and attractive. Would anyone dare to say that they are too good? ‘It’s an act of justice. It’s about the dignity of an experience,’ says Helen Robinson of the quality they sought and have achieved. ‘Every person who walks through that door should know they matter.’

‘The building is impressive,’ says Chris Farrelly. ‘We wanted to make it part of Auckland, not something in a dark alley. It links to the whole city and it says, “This is Auckland, be proud of it, come in yourself.” If you look at the apartments, they’re comfortable, but they’re relatively plain and they’re smallish.’

To those who would question the standard, Jacqui Dillon would say, ‘You’re saying we should do the work out of a tin shed? This is a tangible manifestation of our commitment to equity.’

‘We deserve to be properly resourced,’ says Helen Robinson. ‘We want to be neither poor nor excessive. We just need what we need. We’re not being ostentatious here — it’s beautiful but it’snot flashy.’

‘Everyone has a sense of home, it’s a nurturing thing,’ adds Joanne Reidy. ‘Doesn’t everyone deserve a home?’ ‘Nothing like this has been done anywhere in the world,’ says Chris Farrelly. ‘All the Common Grounds are apartment complexes. They use the Housing First model but they don’t have food facilities, medical centres, all those other things on site. The support staff come in, but that’s it.

We’re doing something really special here, for the people among us in the greatest need. Isn’t that good?’

At the function the Mission held for Sir Chris on the day of his investiture in 2022, Liz Sosaia, one of the Mission’s peer support workers, was first on her feet to make a speech. She said she’d been sleeping rough when Farrelly was appointed. First time she saw him, she thought, ‘Oh yeah, who’s this old white guy? That’s ridiculous, what’s he gonna do?’ Farrelly sat down and talked to her. Later, she was in prison, and Farrelly and Helen Robinson went to visit her. She cried at that, because they’d taken the time to care.

‘Liz was amazing,’ remembers Joanna Pidgeon. ‘All these “important” people were there, and she stood up and spoke so eloquently and movingly. That’s why we do it. You want to give people the opportunity to realise their potential. You’ve got to have hope. And if they’re seen and valued, they will respond to that. That’s why we didn’t want to build a second-rate place.’

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Christian Li and the MSO Image Laura Manariti

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Mendelssohn and Brahms

Conductor,  Sir Andrew Davis

Violin Soloist, Christian Li

Hamer Hall, Arts Centre , Melbourne

December 3

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Earlier this year the young Chinese violinist Christian Li played works by Saint Saen’s and Ravel with the Auckland Philharmonia. The then fourteen year old giving an impressive performance. I noted at the time that it was as though this fourteen year old  had been taken over by a violinist ten years older and that his every movement and expression seemed to be channelling the  emotional energy and technical brilliance  of a mature  musician.

In that concert he performed technically challenging but rather short pieces which showed his ability to produce sounds which were truly capricious with sudden changes of mood and style which resulted in an electrifying performance.

Last week the now fifteen year old appeared with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis playing a much more substantial work, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Mendelssohn had spent nearly ten years writing the concerto adhering to the classical style of Beethoven while combining much of  the romantic ethos which leads on to the music of Brahms. In several ways he broke with tradition such as having the violin make an instant introduction to the work . Then there is no break between the first and second movements, with a bassoon note held between the two sections and the work also calls on the soloist to function as an accompanist to the orchestra for extended periods.

Li  opened the turbulent first movement with a  relentless vigour  responding urgently to the orchestra and conductor . At times his playing was raw, almost visceral revealing the passionate aspect of the work  while at other times he exposed the delicate and sensual elements of the music with his playing being little more than a whisper.

He seemed very much in control tackling the work with lively self-confidence, even the passages which Mendelssohn must have written to technically challenge the performer were effortlessly disposed of.

The dynamic energy he put into the playing  showed that he not only had an understanding of the technical aspects of the works  but also an appreciation of the works emotional impact.

In the second movement with its more restful mood there were passages where he was dominated by the orchestra as though sinking under the weight of the music but this changed when he erupted like a blossoming flower with an exuberant intensity

In the third movement in which many of the motifs of the first movement were restated he displayed  a playful jousting  engagement with the orchestra in a very physical manner.

Throughout he managed to conjure up some graceful unforced tones with crisp articulation heightening the romantic sweep of the music, discovering its emotional depths

The opening work on the programme was  Carl Vine’s “MicroSymphony” which in twelve minutes creates a compact abstraction of a symphonic work allowing each of the sections of the orchestra to demonstrate their strengths.

It opened with a percussion onslaught followed by waves of gentle strings along interspersed brass and woodwinds. The overall impression was of some giant mechanical machine, at times roaring at other times purring, slowly evolving and resolving -a metaphor for the creative process and the evolution of a creative work.

The major work on the programme was Brahms’s Symphony No 4. Like all the composers works there is a strong personal element. to the work and one is conscious of the composer using the music to reflect on his physical and emotional journey through life. The tensions and contrasts of the music  reflect the composers intellectual and musical refinement of the work, as well as his attempts to express the delights as well as the tragedies of life in a sort of pre-Mahler emotional and psychological landscape.

Sir Andrew Davis realised the  depth of the work, ensuring that each of the complex musical sections flowed seamlessly into the other.  Thereas the impassioned intensity of the opening movement through the earthy sounds of the  pizzicato strings  sounds in the second movement  and on to the final movement which takes one of Bach’s Cantatas as a starting point turning it into a  pursuit of darkness and drama. These all combined to create a momentous journey and we followed the composer; drifting, buffeted, cheered and saddened by event and encounter. Even though the composer had more than a decade to live the symphony seems like a contemplation of his own mortality.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra 2023

Next year’s MSO programme offers other appearances of Christian Li including playing the Sibelius Violon Concerto

The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon rattle will be performing May 5 & 6 with works by John Adams, Debussy and Ravel along with Mahler’s Symphony No 7.

Among the big symphonies on offer will be Mahler’s Symphony No 5, Dvorak Symphonies No 5  6, Beethoven’s Symphony No 8

There are also  Violin concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Beethoven on the programme.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Marian Maguire, Ko wai koe? Who are you?

Who Are You?: Athens, Aotearoa & the Art of Marian Maguire

Hellenic Museum, Melbourne

Until May 2023

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The New Zealand artist Marian Maguire is currently showing a set of lithographs and etchings at Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum which combine British, Māori and ancient Greek culture and history to create a visual conversation that touches on colonialism, memory, cultural interaction, history and myth.

The works are  from several of the artist’s series, including “The Odyssey of Captain Cook”, “The Labours of Herakles”, “Titokowaru’s Dilemma” and “A Taranaki Dialogue”.

​

Herakles, whom we tend to refer to as Hercules, was a Greek hero of extraordinary strength, who roamed the ancient world performing extraordinary feats and founding many cities. He stands as symbol for the colonial endeavours of Greece whose empire encompassed much of the Mediterranean. In these works Hercules, Captain Cook and Britain are conflated into complex notions about colonialism as well as the impact of European civilization which has Greek culture at its institution.

In the exhibition Hercules has arrived in New Zealand to continue his activities, integrating himself into the world of 19th century New Zealand. This ancient world traveller is depicted in the style of an Athenian red and black figure bearing  his attributes , the wooden club and the lion skin. He, along with Queen Victoria are seen signing the Treaty of Waitangi but it is Hercules who is doing the actual signing rather than Victoria indicating the continuing impact of a colonial mindset. We also see Hercules as the coloniser/farmer in “Herakles Dreams of Arcadia” where he is depicted digging in the ravaged forest lands. He is also depicted as the coloniser./ intellectual in “Herakles writes home” sitting in his study which has various books of Western culture including The Bible, a Māori/ Greek Dictionary, Anne Salmond’s “The Trial of the Cannibal Dog”, Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and books about Cook’s voyages.

Marian Maguire, Herakles writes home”

Hercules becomes a mixture of the mythic Greek hero, 18th century European navigator and 19th century colonist, his New Zealand exploits paralleling the colonial ambitions of classical Greece.

The artist has depicted scenes from early New Zealand’s history including works from  “The Odyssey of Captain Cook” series which features an Attic vase with images  of sailors disembarking from a Greek trireme, Joseph Banks  bartering with a Māori for a lobster (an image based on the drawing by Tupaia) and the death of Captain Cook shown in the style of a Grecian frieze. Another image features Cook landing on a beach holding a palm frond in one hand and a musket in the other. In the boat with him is a large Greek vase depicting soldiers fighting and behind that, a partial view of the Endeavour firing its cannons.

Marian Maguire, Captain Cook makes his approach from the West

One of the images, which was widely used to publicise the exhibition, featured a Māori face confronting a masked Athenian figure, with the designs on the helmet resembling the whorls of the Māori’s tattooed face.

Many of the works make use of early images of encounter including Heaphy’s view of Mt Taranaki while “Te Whiti and Titokowaru discuss the question what is peace” is modelled on a vase painting by the Greek artist Exekias depicting Ajax and Achilles hunched over a board game during a lull in the fighting of the Trojan War. The discussion around the nature of peace references dialogues around the concept from the ancient times of Plato and Socrates and is alluded to in other images such as “Socrates asks the Mountain, What is Wisdom”. These works also emphasis the attempts at peace-making by Titokowaru  in the nineteenth century. 

Marian Maguire, Te Whiti and Titokowaru discuss the question what is peace”

The exhibition explores some of the issues around the notions of culture and change – the way European culture has been formed by various waves of colonisation, changing religious, and social ideas and concepts. It also touches on the 18th century idea that Māori were a noble race untouched by European civilisation, a notion which was addressed in Lisa Reihana’s video work “In Pursuit of Venus [infected]” as well as the political struggles of Māori over land issues during the nineteenth century.

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Michael Lawrence (Andy) and Clementine Mills (Maya) Image Tatania Harper

Snowflake

By Mike Bartlett

Directed by Paul Gittens

A Plumb Theatre Production

Pitt Street Theatre

Until December 11

By Malcolm Calder

24 November 2022

What an enjoyable little play.  And perfectly timed for Christmas too. 

Mike Bartlett, perhaps best known for winning three Oliviers, has come up with something quite delightful that has plenty for the pondering classes to consume.  And Plumb Productions have placed it perfectly in the pre-Christmas slot at the Pitt Street theatre.

Bartlett’s Snowflake has a generational divide, a language divide, a social divide, a political divide and a whole lot of other divides. No spoilers here but it ultimately ends up not being about division at all. 

Michael Lawrence opens the first Act with a meandering monologue as Andy, a rumpled and slightly disheveled, 50-ish, white-male widower.  He is questioning and over-thinking a three-year estrangement from 21-y-o daughter Maya, after a longstanding family disagreement.  Despite his efforts to understand the estrangement, the issue of blame lurks somewhere in his head.  Could have been his fault, could have been hers.  Yes, a lot hers.  Well maybe just a tiny bit hers.  She is still pretty young after all.  But he doesn’t really understand himself and understands Maya even less.  Ergo, the blame issue becomes a generational one.  That is simpler.  Isn’t it?  So, perhaps irrationally, he has convinced himself that Maya will return for Christmas, and he is making every effort he knows to ensure a welcoming and festive reunion.  He has gone out and hired a rather nondescript hall and made a passing effort to decorate it appropriately with Christmas lights that metaphorically fail to initially light.  What he is aiming for is the restoration of a familial pater-et-fillette unit that never really happened 6 years ago when the wife/mother passed away after a sudden illness.  But, of course, it’s not that simple.

Layla Pitt (Natalie) Image Tatania Harper

Rather unexpectedly, a hip young woman, Natalie (Layla Pitt), who may or may not have also booked the hall, arrives to pack up some crockery.  She is intelligent, smart and pretty articulate.  Despite his better intentions, an initially reticent Andy reveals why he is there.  After some preliminary sparring, so does Natalie – eventually.  And she is not there just to pack crockery

Unfortunately, Andy is irretrievably locked into the past, while Natalie is not.  Just as he is a dithering middle aged white male who works in a museum and takes a lot of things for granted, she is an onto it, well-educated and socially aware darker skinned professional woman.  She is of a totally different generation with a comprehensively different worldview.  Even that is flawed to some extent and some of her viewpoints, while different, carry their own undercurrent of self-righteousness.

It’s not long, however, before things speed up and she becomes the catalyst for an Act 2 discussion (her word) or argument (his word) that challenges their respective values, attitudes and politics on everything from education to racial stereotyping, from lifestyle to dress sense, and Brexit plays a big part too.  But we’re a mature mob in Tamaki Makaurau in 2022 and we can put that context to one side and simply regard it as wallpaper or context.  Far more importantly, Snowflake fairly bristles with the drama and tension that now erupts between the two. 

But that is only a curtain-raiser to the eventual arrival of daughter Maya in Act 3 and the drama ratchets up even further.  Maya (Clementine Mills) quickly confirms herself as the real contrapuntal immoveable object to Andy, and her presence confirms the part Natalie plays as a catalyst between them, ultimately agreeing, disagreeing, supporting, opposing, listening and encouraging.

I could go on to describe where the finale of Act 3 goes, but that would be a spoiler alert.  Suffice say it’s all about two opposing viewpoints, and their catalyst that leads to eventual redemption.

Michael Lawrence gives a bravura performance as Andy – a remarkably well-written character.  He is real.  I know someone just like him.  And so is Layla Pitt – I know someone just like her too.  Both give simply outstanding performances.  It is always difficult coming on towards the end in a critical and briefer role, but Clementine Mills’ Maya sustains the tension director Paul Gittens has crafted.  Ultimately the drama and that tension build wonderfully in Snowflake. It is to be admired, respected and applauded.

Yes, it is an English drama and, yes, it is a tad dated at 4 years old, but the universality of its larger issues stand easily in Aotearoa in 2022.  As a play, Snowflake it is structurally rife with theatrical contrivances you could drive a bus through at times.  But this is theatre after all, and Snowflake asks its audience to suspend any disbelief and simply wallow in the dialogue and let the drama shine through.  It does.  

When the Old Fire Station Theatre at Oxford commissioned this play from Mike Bartlett, their single stipulation was that it have an ending appropriate to Christmas.  They got it.  This cast and its director deliver it.

Clementine Mills (Maya) Image Tatania Harper

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

The Art of Black Grace 1/5

Neil Ieremia

A Black Grace dance installation

Karanga Plaza

Wynyard Quarter

Multiple daily performances

Until 10 December 2022
 

The Art of Black Grace 1/5

Director and Executive Producer Neil Ieremia

Executive Producer Abby Ieremia

Lead Producer James Wasmer

Post Production Delainy Kennedy

Director of Photography Duncan Cole

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

It was wet and rainy Sunday afternoon on the Auckland waterfront.  On one of the open spaces at Wynard Quater a cylindrical tube about 6m long is standing on end, surrounded by lights and carefully fenced off with railings.

Clutching umbrellas, some casual passers-by stop.  Seeing only a kind of round wall with lots of wires and plugs, they become intrigued.  ‘What is it?’ they ask.  “Could be a rocket ship” he says laughing. “Yeah, maybe be a Spacelab thing …” she replied.  Upon learning it is a new Black Grace project they become even more intrigued.  “Yeah, I’ve heard of Black Grace”, he said, “but modern dance just isn’t my thing”. “Why don’t we check it out?” she responded.

So they did.

Inside they found the cylinder is about 15m in diameter and comfortably holds about 100 people.  Standing.  The inside walls are completely clad in a myriad of LED screens.  They are dark.  Black.  Overhead, and also black, a sound and lighting system lurks on a gantry.  Above the gantry they can see only the sky and scudding storm clouds.  But mercifully the rain holds off and their umbrellas remain furled.

On looking around they soon realise they are encircled by dimly lit … darkness.  No, wait.  They are no longer standing on Wynard Quarter concrete.  Underfoot has become a stage floor, edges barely lit, yet revealing traces of people.  Sitting.  And moving. Then standing.  Are they naked?  No, they’re in black leotards.  Phew … they’re dancers.  Slowly, discreetly, the dancers move closer and encircle this large group of people who have never met and do not know each other, but who are about to become a single entity as they share and experience something unique.  They do so with 360-degree vision around the wall-with-no-corners, turning in different directions as new images capture their attention. 

Or so it seems. Now the dancers are doing warmup routines – stretching and arching and breathing.  Their expirations can be heard, globules of sweat run teasingly down well-muscled limbs.  Their feet can be heard.  It is as if the concrete vibrates under them.

Now Neil Ieremia appears from nowhere and the dancers come even closer, encircling him.  This audience is a part of the circle.  He addresses their huddle, eyes locked like a rugby team listening to its coach just before kickoff.  His quiet words reassure them. He exudes a confidence that instils, reminding them what they have achieved in rehearsal and that now is their time to shine.

As an ominously murmuring sound track growls beneath his words, and Vivaldi starts to filter through, his passion passes into each..  Truly motivating them.  “Above all, enjoy”, are his closing words.  Just like that rugby coach, this director and choreographer must now leave it to the team.

What immediately follows is an intermixed semi-documentary that’s almost an aside.  It includes Neil Ieremia’s reflections, with a cross-faded soundscape ranging from hip-hop to old favs that pulse with everything from cultural drumming to electronic sonics.  The images and the storyline start with Neil’s early days in Porirua, move to grappling with the cultural shock of being Samoan in a new country, and then disbelief from his own family upon learning that he wants to become a professional dancer.  His reflections are intermixed with a pastiche of street dancing, some of it inside what looks like a concrete silo, and some with his early work.  At heart Neil Ieremia remains a space cowboy, though dancing his way through life and into the present via snapshots of things and events that have remained with him.  Spread across a 50-year period of recent NZ social and political history (the 1981 Springbok tour, Moruroa, Rainbow Warrior, Bastion Point, to name a few), it is akin to a dash of This Is My Life mixed with events that illustrate an Aotearoa story as much as a Neil Ieremia one.  The impact on him is clear.

The finale however is a reversion to the performance audiences have been warmed up for. 

Now things really get interesting as dancers run, leap, fly and echo a work premiered earlier this year.  It is exciting and exhilarating, is filled with seemingly inexhaustible energy and is pure Black Grace.

And the cylindrical tube works too.  Please remember that the audience is still ‘on stage’ and are almost a part of the performance even though it is never actuality, only a filmed recording of such.  During one sequence where the dancers hurtle over, above and onto a series of large, rounded stage prop rocks, one of the rocks has a tiny wobble.  And someone standing next to me gave a gasp and stepped back very quickly … just in case.  

So, a success?  Yes, for exploring a new medium.  Yes, for bringing world-class contemporary dance to new audiences.  Yes, for creating something of which this country can be proud even though it’s not quite ready for somewhere like Times Square – yet!   However, this is only Room 1 of the Art of Black Grace.  I cannot wait for Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Later I was fortunate to catch up with those initial passers-by and asked how they felt after leaving.  They were thankful they hadn’t used their umbrellas, were staggering just a touch and a little glassy-eyed and then he said, “Man, I am utterly and totally exhausted just from watching”.

Session times every half hour;

Mondays – Tuesdays 6pm – 8.30pm

Wednesdays – Thursdays 6pm – 9.30pm

Fridays – 6pm – 11.30pm

Saturdays – 11am – 11.30pm

Sunday, Nov 27 & Dec 4 – 11am – 8:30pm

Tickets from www.blackgrace.co.nz

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Robin White, This is me at Kaitangata

Robin White: Something is happening Here 

Auckland City Art Gallery\

Until January 30^th 2023

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Robin White: Te Whanaketanga | Something is Happening Here is a marvellous retrospective exhibition of work by contemporary New Zealand artist Dame Robin White.

The works range across fifty years, from her early colourful prints of herself, family, friends and her local environment to the large collaborative works she has undertaken with artists from across the Pacific, including Japanese artists Keiko Iimura and Taeko Ogawa and her large-scale tapa works with Tongan artists, Ruha and Ebonie Fifita, and Fijian artist, Tamari Cabeikanacea.

Robin White. Soon the tide will turn

In “Soon the tide will turn” one of her large collaborative barkcloth works the artist includes a small image based on a painting of hers from fifty years before. It is of the building which dominates “Mangaweka” but without the old Bedford truck sitting outside. The two works illustrate her commitment to recognising place and her links to the land across time. For many artists their work is an expression of and a contemplation of their physical, emotional and spiritual connections, with White the images she has created constitute a visual diary of the places she has lived, the environments she has inhabited and the people she has encountered.

Robin White, Mangaweka

As she has previously said of her work “A consistent thread in my work it that it’s made in response to place and what’s happening around me – physical and social environments provide raw material, the inspiration and the starting point”

This connection with family and community is noticeable in the early works such as images of Sam Hunt, Claudia Pond Eyley, her mother Florence and her son Michael. Then at the end of the exhibition there is the large diptych “Aoi ngairo – This is us” in which she depicts members of her village.

Ronin White. Clouds, Hill and Claudia

The exhibition follows her career from the early successes, selling work to the University of Auckland and The Dowse through to her relocation to Kiribati. It traces out  the development of a personal style and shows the various influences on her work and the similarities related to artists such as Michael Smither and Don Binney.

Her work up till 1982 when she moved to Kiribati is quite distinctive from the latter work she would produce. Her work of the 1970’s includes images of building and landscapes of the places she encountered – Bottle Creek, Porirua,  Mt Eden, Dunedin and Harbour Cone. Some of these paintings recall McCahons line about “a landscapes with too few lovers” but they also hint at Rita Angus’s Cass.

The large portraits of that time set in landscapes seem to link to the portraits and religious depictions of the Renaissance where the backgrounds perform a symbolic function as well as providing a sense of place.

The work after 1982 when she began living in Kiribati, touring the Pacific and the world have a different style and different outlook. As she says about arriving in her new homeland “You look one way and there is the ocean, and the other way and there is more ocean. It’s just the sense of vastness and the nothingness of space.”

A lot of these works focussed on the domestic and everyday life on the island. A series of woodblock prints from the 1990’s was inspired by a young woman with “Nei Tiein goes for  a walk” and  another of The Fisherman loses his way.” The Nei Tiein works are linked to the poems of Yeats and Blake and the Fisherman series look like Pacific reworking of biblical images and narratives.

Many of the  significant works she produced were collaborations. The first of these was with her artist friend Claudia Pond Eyley and their set of woodcuts “Twenty-eight day in Kiribati.” Later collaborations were with female artists of the island as well as artists from Tonga Fiji and New Zealand. Some of these large-scale works were on barkcloth , the images made from earth pigments and natural dyes  featuring a range of stencilled motifs of Western and Pacific art. In “Soon the tide will turn” which featured her own work she also includes Henri Matisse’s shoes and hat, a reference to the time the Frenchman spent in the Pacific.

There are some massive works in the final galleries the most impressive being “Moana Lolotu – The Crimson Sea”, a collaboration with Ruha and Ebonie Fifita. This large  black work is imbued with a depth of history and culture of the Pacific but it links to works by Robert Motherwell and Anselm Kiefer.

Robin White. Moana Lolotu – The Crimson Sea

There is also her collaboration with Keiko Iimura, “Summer Green” which is a reflection on the tragedy which occurred during World War II at the POW camp ibn the Wairarapa. The work which is a more political work brings together White’s imagery along with the symbolism of Iimura.

Accompanying the exhibition is a new book  Robin White: Something is Happening Here, which includes fresh perspectives by 24 writers and interviewees from Aotearoa, Australia and Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific. It offers an insight into the artists multi-layered  life and greatly expands our knowledge and appreciation of her work.

The book contains more than 150 full colour reproduction, numerous photographs. While the main text of the book is  by Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan and Nina Tonga there are also  a number of shorter essays on particular works and aspects of the artist life by other commentators including Peter Brunt  Helen Ennis, Gregory O’Brien, Justin Paton , Linda Tyler and Haare Williams.