Writing and performing fascinating country music that’s difficult to pin down, Edith Frost visits New Zealand in April for two spellbinding concerts. BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM spoke to her as she prepares to tour Down Under.

MARK AMERY trawls the internet in search of New Zealand art criticism.

Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth
March 16-18 | Reviewed by Arjun Harindranath

SET AGAINST a seamless projection of symmetrical tango sequences and equine images, The Gotan Project assured that the horse had not well and truly bolted on tango. Beginning their set with the toe-tapping single Diferente from their latest album Lunatico, sitting down and humming along was never going to be an option. A flawless Mi Confecion elicited a crowd response nothing less than volcanic. The extraordinary aspect of this reaction was that it occurred as a result of the music alone; the musicians themselves devoting their energy to their given instrument with little chatter or movement between or during songs.

BATS Theatre
March 22-31 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

A MAD GIRL, possibly with Asperger's Disorder, possibly just normal and we’re all mad, looks after her dying elderly neighbour while he fondles her breasts. An over easy single mum; desperate for some love and raunch with stereotyping, tries to seduce the mad girl’s brother. The mad girl’s brother calls her a slag while texting women he calls ‘losers’. (Oh and the mad girl’s brother is psychic.) What do exploding cows have to do with all this?

AK07, SKYCITY Theatre
March 21-25 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

Amata, the new all-female production by Black Grace, is a transfixing piece of dance choreography. Unable to avert my gaze, it evoked everything from a set of dolls with strings felt but unseen; a female beast whose multicoloured body writhed, heaved and sighed on stage; or something akin to a pack of wolverines howling at the moon. It was a veritable whirlwind of colour, movement, rhythm, and music.

Circa Theatre
March 17-April 21 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Two Brothers had been described in its promotional material as a “powerful”, “provocative” and “thrilling” drama that had generated controversy during its Australian performances. As somebody with more than a casual interest (and involvement) in refugee and immigration issues and relatively unexposed to contemporary mainstream Australian plays, I was looking forward to seeing this play. Unfortunately it failed to live up to its promise on several grounds, and I left feeling disappointed and more than a little annoyed.

AK07, Silo Theatre
March 20-April 7 | Reviewed by Estevez Bond

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is the second of productions not altogether unsuccessfully attempted by Auckland's ‘The Ensemble Project’. Unlike the first at AK07, Based on Auckland, ‘Tis Pity She's A Whore is a classic piece of writing involving forbidden love and empire which director Michael Hurst has chosen to excavate.

BATS Theatre
March 20-31 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

BILLY BLACK reckons Wellington at night is sexy. He also reckons that girls of fourteen are old enough to have sex with (and says so with one of the most distasteful lines likely to be spoken in Wellington theatres this year); and that car accidents make good anecdotes. Jerk? Yes. Likeable? Well, yes, strangely enough. Black, and indeed all the characters of Smoking Goat’s latest production, Sunset Café, are multi-dimensional enough to be warmly believable. Despite a few shaky production issues, the play successfully entertains.

AK07, Hopetoun Alpha
March 15-April 20 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

Hatch is a production by the Auckland Theatre Company, written by Geoff Chapple and directed by Colin McColl. It is a one man show, the only character being Victorian entrepreneur Joseph Hatch who established a penguin steaming works on Macquarie Island, a remote environment approximately 1500 kilometres from Tasmania’s south-eastern coast.

AK07, Maidment Theatre
March 16-April 1 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

SOMETIMES the simpler things are in theatre, the more depth and scope a work allows itself in the mind of the audience. With simple productions, we are left somewhat more open and free to roam the galleries of our own past, without the pressure of feeling we must interpret ‘high art’. And so with its universal theme of the mother-son relationship, A Lethal Set’s latest production Mother/Whaea Tama/Son creates an immediate and familiar rapport with the audience. If its central theme is not something we can directly identify with, then it is something we know very well, as no doubt we have witnessed the workings of such relationships in people very close to us.

In an ongoing series, The Lumière Reader asks a diverse range of writers and readers about the book that got them into books.

GREGORY O’BRIEN: The ‘books that got me into books’ got me into thinking about a great many other things as well. I’ve always been drawn to books by people who work in other disciplines: notable among them, French composer Erik Satie’s A Mammal’s Notebook (a surreal assemblage of minor brilliances), the sculptor Jean (Hans) Arp’s Collected Writings in French and Paul Klee’s The Thinking Eye.

Gryphon Theatre
March 21-31 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON’s play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, is a marvellously witty adaptation of the eighteenth century novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It is also widely known as Dangerous Liaisons, following a hugely successful 1988 film version. Stagecraft’s presentation of this show manages to put all previous incarnations out of mind. Under the direction of Meredith Dooley, the play crackles and sparks with method and malice.

Via Bryce Galloway’s zine, and the etchings of Julienne Francis and Maree Horner, MARK AMERY finds new dimension in the medium of paper.

Mighty Mighty, Wellington
March 8 | Reviewed by Joe Sheppard

The Berlin Bonanza managed to bottle no shortage of German culture – and beer – and import it to Cuba Street for nearly a fortnight of non-stop adrenaline. In between gigs from top-rate overseas and local groups and games involving vodka and pashing, there was some serious ping-pong to be played and glasses of Schöfferhofer to be toasted. The red-curtain lounge and adjacent bar upstairs at Mighty Mighty was a perfect venue for a classy range of partying – if only the regulars had got the memo to bring their dancing shoes and check their attitudes at the door, because they were just a little too many people there too kuhl for die Schule.

Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth
March 16-18 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

I MIGHT as well say this now. The Bowl of Brooklands is the most beautiful venue for anything. It’s utterly gorgeous, and the amphitheatre works perfectly to capture sound. Admittedly I’ve never been to a New Plymouth concert when it hasn’t rained, but I’d be happy paying a little bit extra to witness any concert at that venue.

AK07, Aotea Centre/Corban Estate
March 14-18/11-16 | Reviewed by Ellen Loui

BRIGHT, light and full of playful enthusiasm, the Ballet Preljocaj offering of Les 4 Saisons is full to tipping with sweet vignettes and salubrious group work. From the rafters an often moving mobile hung with childlike interpretations of meteorological themes – including clouds, lightning and weather balloons – bobs slightly as it cycles over head. This feeling of childlike freshness is echoed in the piece itself, manifesting in the colourful lighting states, lithe humour and tactile imagery. Such images as the lime green velvet suited ninjas, a sponge man, and the large hedgehog like creatures, warmed the audience to the choreographic and performance style most easily described as athletic and quirky. This was delivered fantastically by the dancers, with some real standouts amoungst the cast whose performance quality and skill I was drawn to over and again.

Capital E
March 12-17 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

“UNDIES! UNDIES!” cried scores of elated children as they crowded into Capital E’s Mackenzie theatre this week. These and other acclamations from the mouths of the mostly under 7 crowd opened Java Dance Company’s latest offering for children: The Animal Undie Ball.

BATS Theatre
March 13-16 | Reviewed by Diane Spodarek

Bent Not Broken is a solo performance, based on Lauren Roche’s autobiographical novel of same name. Lauren’s story is about growing up in New Zealand – and for a short time Australia – under extraordinary circumstances: an extreme environment of abuse by alcohol and drug addicted people. These included her own mother, father, friends of the family, relatives, strangers and later boyfriends, husbands and johns. The consequences of this environment are all too common. Some children survive, some do not.

By Bernadette Hall
VUP, NZ$25 | Reviewed by Amy Brown

WHAT IS IT about Antarctica that makes New Zealand send its artists there? The painters return with snow-blue canvasses, the poets with ten more ways of describing ice. Everyone is left with the impression that Antarctica is a mysterious, tapu land – frighteningly blank and dangerous.

AK07, Two Rooms
March 7-April 14 | Reviewed by Evelyn Kiing

TWO IDENTICAL men hold a gun at each other, hesitating with the nervousness at the face of death. They both move in synch with unsteady arms holding the guns. Seconds go by and then BANG! they both hit the back wall with gunshots to the head, blood oozing down the wall. My description of the work Ten Differences downplays its ability to stun and leave the viewer with a slightly puzzled look. Who was the victim and who was the killer? The mirrored video of the artist Rashid Rana challenges our single perception of reality and like the other works in Mirror Worlds, it introduces us to other realms of understanding.

AK07, Aotea Centre
March 9-11 | Reviewed by Ellen Loui

Dark Tourists oscillates in a not quite space, cold and isolated performers shift and transform amongst and as functions of a fluid set, human becoming animal becoming environment becoming human... Textured throughout with cycles and transient patterning, this use of space and craft achieve a cohesion through an inter-penetrative treatment of the mediums used. The work situates itself as 'dance theatre' driven by directive collaborators choreographer Malia Johnston and theatre director Emma Willis. Their selected cast is powerful and varied with outstanding performance by Paul Young, Sean Macdonald and Peter Daube.

Five sizeable acts detour from the hefty V Festival debuting in Australia late March/early April to play four dates in Auckland over four big nights. Original punk/glam trailblazers New York Dolls touch down in New Zealand for the first time on Saturday, March 24; founding band members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain reunite to continue the legacy. Electronica heavyweights Groove Armada make sound waves on Tuesday, March 27; the wildly popular Gnarls Barkley teams with pop-funk New Yorkers The Rapture on Wednesday, March 28; and old dogs the Pet Shop Boys return with some new tricks on Thursday, March 29. All shows at the St. James in Auckland. Tickets available from Ticket Direct.

Courtesy of the festival, The Lumière Reader has one double pass to giveaway to each gig. UPDATED 20/3/07: Congratulations to H. Niu (New York Dolls), D. Tsai (Groove Armada), J. Todd (Gnarls Barkley/The Rapture), and J. Pinker (Pet Shop Boys). Your tickets are in the mail.

Comets on Fire visit our shores this March to play two must-see gigs: Wellington at the San Francisco Bathhouse on Wednesday 14th (alongside highly underrated New Zealander Birchville Cat Motel, and Ginger Brown), and Auckland at the King’s Arms on Thursday 15th. BRANNAVAN GANALINGAM queried band member Noel von Harmonson via email before their two New Zealand dates.

A living legend of drumming, Billy Cobham brings his influential ‘jazz fusion’ to New Zealand this week at WOMAD in New Plymouth on March 16-18. He talks about his artform to Lumière Music Editor BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM.

Fresh New Zealand art swamps the City Gallery Wellington this March and April as part of the Telecom Prospect: New Art New Zealand showcase. MARK AMERY wades through the talent.

San Francisco Bathhouse
March 7 | Reviewed by Beatrice Turner

I MAKE NO apologies; this is a fan’s review. Since coming across Camera Obscura about six months ago, I’ve been steadily drawn in to their wry, infectious world to the point of an obsession outstripped only by my obsession with that other, rather better known Scottish chamber pop group, Belle and Sebastian. After last night’s gig I’d venture to guess their reputation is now firmly cemented in Wellington, but they’ve never enjoyed the strong overseas cult following of Stuart Murdoch and co., and I was surprised to find the San Francisco Bathhouse pretty much jammed. It’s always an interesting experience when you see live for the first time a band you’ve built up a devotion to based entirely on their recorded output. On their three albums, Camera Obscura are crystal clear, with that chiming Sixties-esque production, and the balance between the vocals, guitars and keys very even. It’s often true that live, you can expect to forgive some loss in the sound quality clarity for the live energy, but Camera Obscura had the sharpest mix I’ve heard at the Bathhouse, and none of their records in any way prepares you for the incredible power and raw emotion in Tracyanne’s voice.

Fringe Festival 2007, Queens Wharf
March 1-10 | Reviewed by Justin Gregory

IT’S FAIR to say that you put up with a lot to watch outdoor performances in Wellington. The fact that such large numbers of Wellingtonians do venture out is damn near a miracle. But an even fairer thing to say is that you have to put up with even more to be an outdoor performer in this inclement city. Unpredictable gusts of wind, flying grit, equipment being disturbed and even parts of the set that tried to live up to the theme of the show and fly away – all these things occurred on the opening night of Fuse Productions Gravity and Other Myths, and what was truly miraculous was that they didn’t matter at all, and in no way distracted from what was an exciting night of circus arts.

Fringe Festival 2007, Wgtn Per. Arts Centre
March 2-4 | Reviewed by Diane Spodarek

Skeleton Woman is billed as a performance collaboration. The show is a solo performance by Helen Moran based on an Inuit myth as recounted by Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ in her book, Women Who Run with the Wolves.

The performance begins with Helen Moran, center stage, arms outstretched. On the stage floor is a life size skeleton made of worn wood, a drum and a long polished wood rod. The lights slowly fade up and she says one word: “Listen.” And we do. We listen and we watch a story unfold. The story is about the transformation of a girl to a wise woman. This girl displeased her father. As a result, he throws her over a cliff to be consumed by the sea, all traces of existence gone.

Fringe Festival 2007, Circa Theatre
March 4 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

THE THEATRE Artists Charitable Trust (TACT) sponsored this one-off rehearsed reading of Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s new play Female of the Species. Circa 2 theatre was about three quarters full with an audience consisting mostly of theatre writers, actors and directors. Susan Wilson and six local actors had spent a day and a half rehearsing the play, with some input from Murray-Smith. Production elements were kept to a minimum in order to concentrate attention on the text of the play, whilst still allowing the audience to see it in the context of a performance. This was an introduction to Murray-Smith’s work for me, and I came away with an appreciation of her as an intelligent and witty writer.

Fringe Festival 2007, BATS Theatre
February 27-March 3 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

THIS PLAY for me will be the highlight of the Fringe this year. It was not objectively/technically the “best” play that I saw, but it has stayed with me the most in the following days. I have taken a while to write this review simply because I just cannot make my mind up about this play. In fact, I am still struggling to. My responses to it have been extremely complex and I would say that they’re still unfolding. This may be due in part to the nature of the subject matter presented – it is shocking and a natural defence has been a slow unravelling of thoughts and feelings. This work seems to have generated a vast amount of debate as to its merits. I’ll do my best to capture the point of where I am up to at the moment...

Parihaka
January 5-7 | Reviewed by Ewan Kingston

IT’S THE LAST night of three at the Parihaka Peace Festival. Opensouls are out on the main stage entertaining a tired but high-spirited crowd of young and old, tangata whenua and travellers. With my backstage pass earned by sandwich-making duty in the Green Room, I’m chewing the fat with Weslie, the tall, bearded Stage Manager. The conversation turns to our plans after Parihaka. For him, it’s working on more festivals. I express my envy. “Yeah,” he says, “But they won’t be like this though”.

TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
February 24 | Reviewed by Joe Sheppard

While the rest of Wellington was checking out the booty at the Cuba Street Carnival night parade, Sonic the Hedgehog joined Ash Ketchum and other digital celebrities on the red carpet for some serious cosplay at the inaugural Australasian performance of the Video Games Live concert. The great but simple promise, of a live orchestra playing along to video games, was enough to pull in the crowds, but a lot of consideration had been taken to ensure that nobody left a farrago of lures and attractions without having enjoyed at least something. Crowd participation and competitions were sprinkled throughout the night alongside the wizard light shows and a real range of gaming and musical styles. While this democratic approach to content meant that anyone could enjoy the show, it was also the evening’s kryptonite, because it resulted in a lack of focus and coherence. As entertainment companies begin to realise that video games are not only in the mainstream now but also worth big bucks worldwide, it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing for some competition and specialisation to accompany a growth in what is still a fledgling medium—the video game concert – so that the audience’s expectations can really be blown out of the water.

Brannavan Gnanalingam picks the best upcoming gigs:

» No FX, March 2, Victoria University Hall
Skate-punk veterans play Vic Orientation. Of course, this will be of little interest to people who weren’t teenagers in the mid-1990s, but they’ve maintained a career for over twenty years with their brand of political punk.

» Camera Obscura, March 7, San Francisco Bathhouse
Scottish indie-pop at its best and boasting one of the sweetest voices in contemporary music, Camera Obscura is sure to be a classic gig. They’re on the verge of becoming very big. Also playing Auckland (9/3).

» The Evens, March 7, Katipo Café
Unfortunately clashing with Camera Obscura, music legend Ian MacKaye, the godfather of hardcore and pioneer of emo before emo kids were born, plays at Katipo Café. The guy is a legend having been in Minor Threat and in Fugazi, so it would be well worth a look. Playing most other cities in March.

» Comets on Fire, March 14, San Francisco Bathhouse
Hard to categorise indie rockers, Comets on Fire mix psychedelia with killer guitar riffs, and come with a very, very good reputation for their live shows. Their 2006 album Avatar is also highly recommended. Also playing Auckland (15/3).

» The Clean, March 16, San Francisco Bathhouse
Dunedin Flying-Nun legends reform for a nationwide tour. Their endearing indie-pop has had an immense influence on the New Zealand music scene and overseas indie scenes, yet they still remain one of the more underrated New Zealand musical acts.

» The Lemonheads, March 27, San Francisco Bathhouse
Those who went to Evan Dando’s last concert here (MC5 not included) will never forget his live show complete with audience punching. The Lemonheads were huge in the early 90s, mixing punk, pop and grunge into an irresistible concoction. Probably the most likely gig here to sell-out, so you might want to get in quick. Also playing Auckland (26/3) and Christchurch (28/3).

Concert to go on a roadie for: The Slits, March 16, The Kings Arms. Punk legends The Slits play a once only show in Auckland. They played with the Clash and released classic punk albums in the late 70s, and are highly recommended.