Theatre
Feb 24-Mar 1 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

King and Country is a performance of stories from New Zealand's participation in World War One. Covering a variety of participators from a nurse, a naive young soldier from Pahiatua, and two Maori soldiers, the story moves from idealistic young volunteers in 1914 to the aftermath of the war. In amidst their stories, the characters break into war-songs from the time, performed by the New Zealand Army Band.

Theatre
Feb 24-Feb 26 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug

THE EXQUISITELY measured strains of Shostakovich, played by The Mondriaan Quartet, open Eraritjaritjaka and the audience, wholly immersed in the music, surrenders to being enraptured. Dressed in black on an unlit stage, the musicians disappear and stop playing; the music carries on but breaks down into crackles of white noise. A light is cast over the stage, another darkly dressed figure enters, inversely creating a shadow of light on the stage, and the audience wonder if this musical collapse and play on light are merely the first of many surprises.

The National Bank Festival Club
Feb 25-Mar 2 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug

THE SLOW, seductive strumming of a guitar evoked the sounds and mood of the Buena Vista Social Club at the start of the Antonio Forcione Quartet performance at the Festival Club last night. The room was entirely filled with an audience who must have realised immediately that they were in for a stunning performance from a band ready to share a very unique style of music.

Theatre
Feb 25-Mar 19 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

VIEWERS of Dr Buller’s Birds are immediately taken by the play’s special effects. Lights, booming omnipotent sound, and visual imagery combine to stimulate nearly all of ones senses. The waves roar as they roll in over the stage, birds squawk overhead and the soft image of a huia haunts the landscape. These effects are perfectly coordinated with the action on stage, creating a multi-dimensional feel that quickly draws viewers in. The special effects also allow for some imaginary sequences, as, with a very well designed set and a plethora of props, Dr Buller’s Birds is largely naturalistic.

New Zealand Contemporary Dance performance Aarero Stone opens at the New Zealand International Arts Festival next weekend. Consisting of two solo performances, the show draws on mythologies of transformation and examines their significance today. Set against a landscape designed by Dorita Hanna, performance artist Charles Koroneho and London-based Carol Brown will offer audiences two highly individual performances. KIRAN CHUG asks Carol Brown to take us inside her world of dance.

The National Bank Festival Club
Feb 24-26 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

THE OPENING performance of the 2006 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen, embodied just the mix of intrigue, stimulation and out-of-the-ordinary entertainment festival organisers this year are aiming to provide. Melodic, gypsy-style country and western, poetic monologues, crafty lyrics, and classical instrumentals combine to place this show as one of the most bizarre and quirky of the Festival Club’s lineup.

Showing adjacent to Patricia Piccinini's In Another Life at City Gallery Wellington, Michael Smither's The Wonder Years engages dramatically in themes of domesticity, childhood and landscape. KIRAN CHUG quizs Smither on his first major exhibition since 1984.

City Gallery Wellington
Feb 19-June 5 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug

THE ICONIC painting of a little girl eating baked beans has become synonymous with Michael Smither, and those in search of his other infamous paintings that have become such a part of New Zealand life, will not be disappointed by The Wonder Years. Smither’s first major exhibition since 1984 spans the period between 1962 and 1979 during which he was prolific and varied in the paintings he produced. Explaining the time as a “hormonal period” in his life, due to his finishing school, getting married and “being religious”, the artist is modest and practical about the volume and range of works on display.

City Gallery Wellington
Feb 19-June 11 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug

THE SHEER scale of In Another Life is astounding. It spreads across both the West and East Galleries of Wellington’s City Gallery and has been thoughtfully displayed with a serious regard for the positioning of each piece. Patricia Piccinini’s aptly titled exhibition seeks to create, explore and present another world, different from but still recognisable to our own. In this other world, she considers the possibility of our being given another chance at existence and the opportunity to correct our errors. Eloquently, she states that “this show is about good intentions, about doing the wrong thing for the right reason.” Broaching questions regarding genetic engineering, rapid environmental change and the constantly shifting boundaries between mankind and nature, she uses a range of artistic mediums to successfully encourage her audience to ask the very questions that are easier to shy away from.

Black Ice
Pandemonium Theatre | Reviewed by Imogen Neale

THERE ARE three writers behind Pandemonium Theatre’s production Black Ice and at least one of them was once, or perhaps still is, a sociology student. Why? Because the character of the misadventurous adventurer – with her lurid green kayak, farcical safari suit and anthropological ‘just look at all the savages’ phrases, couldn’t have been penned by anyone other than a sociologist. I must admit, given that I have just finished my Sociology MA, I went ahead and had a good chortle at anthropologies expense.

By Alison Wong
Steele Roberts, NZ$20 | Reviewed by Megan Fleming

ALISON WONG’s poetry is deceptively simple. Her first book is a collection of intensely personal poems, filled with imagery crafted in clear language. The subject matter is mostly accessible: there are the details of domestic moments, the wonder of a new child, the falling out of love – but she lends these subjects a humble and attentive form, drawing the reader in, to rest in the space between. Wong’s background in mathematics comes across in her poetry, not as a subject, but in the careful formula of words to white space.

I know I should be writing some passionate (associate) editorial endorsing The New Zealand International Arts Festival 2006, but I am very busy with paid day jobs at the moment. So I’ll have to make do, for the mo, with a 13 Things To See At The Festival list. (There’s no pointing recommending stuff that’s already sold-out.)—AB

    Theatre
    » The Dragon’s Trilogy
    » Rebirth of a Nation

    Music
    » A Capital Celebration—The Phoenix Foundation
    » Orchestra Baobab
    » Parsifal
    » Toyota Picnics in the Park: The Final Fling—Fat Freddy's Drop
    » Tuwhare

    Dance
    » Aterballetto (Omaggio a Bach)

    National Bank Festival Club
    » Ba Cissoko

    Writers and Readers Week
    » Writers International—Michael Cunningham
    » The War Zone

    Visual Arts/Free Events
    » Michael Smither—The Wonder Years
    » Patricia Piccinin—Nature's Little Helpers

Media Release | February 11, 2006
Black Ice (which Lumière will review), a cool new love story developed in partnership by Pandemonium Theatre and THE EDGE® Public Programmes will premiere at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE® at 8pm Saturday, February 11 and run for six performances.

Featuring a cast of hot young actors, dynamic physical performances and inventive illusion, Black Ice is a powerful mix of classic folktale and raging hormones that promises to take audiences into a chilling world of beauty, magic and suspense.

The New Zealand International Arts Festival 2006 – this country's preeminent multi-arts festival – is upon us once again. Held biennially in Wellington, the festival runs from February 24 to March 19. Following on from last year's successful Telecom New Zealand International Film Festival weblog, we're excited to announce that The Lumière Reader will present an ongoing arts festival column over the course of the programme. Be sure to check back daily for event reviews from writers including Associate Editor Alexander Bisley, Melody Nixon, Kiran Chug, Joe Sheppard, Matt Davis, Tom Fitzsimons, Pascal Harris, Brannavan Gnanalingam, and Catherine Bisley. Meantime, all essential festival info can be found online at nzfestival.telecom.co.nz, including ticket, programme and venue details.

See also:
» DJ Mu on Fat Freddy's Drop