News
Netherwood: A Kiwi film worth seeing
Taken from NZ Herald, by Dominic Corry.
We've been talking about New Zealand movies lately, and I saw one last week that felt like a confident step forward for Kiwi cinema.
It wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, or even the greatest New Zealand movie I've ever seen, but it was pretty good and deserves your attention.
Netherwood is a would-be Coen-esque tale that with any luck from this point forward shall no longer be known as That Movie Those Shortland Street Actors Made.
Lead actor / producer Owen Black (who played the nefarious Dr Ethan Pierce on our revered local medical drama, Shortland Street) is touring the film on the 'Netherwood Rural Roadshow', hosting screenings at various picture houses around the country (next stop: Taihape, further screening details can be found here).
Read the full article here.
ATC waterfront theatre to fail unless $23m raised
Taken from NZ Herald, by Bernard Orsman.
The curtain is set to fall on a $41 million theatre project unless the Auckland Theatre Company can raise $23 million in three months.
Auckland councillors yesterday gave the theatre company a lifeline to raise the money by May after officers reported it had managed to raise only $460,000 and failed to meet a December deadline to meet a series of conditions.
The city's longest-running professional theatre company is planning a 600-seat theatre alongside the new ASB Bank headquarters at the Wynyard Quarter. It wants to build the theatre in conjunction with the development of the bank's headquarters and use the same contractors, in order to save money.
Read the full article here.
Providence
presented by We Should Practice
AOTEA CENTRE, 24 - 25 February
Quietly deafening, raw and ambiguous with multiple characters deflty played by two actors on a minimal set. The structure of the performance emulates the dysfunction of the characters' lives, all the while playfully undermining traditional script writing conventions. This is not just the recreation of stories, Providence is an investigation of the states of homelessness.
Louise Tu'u skillfully crafted script throws away narrative and concentrates on the nonsensical, self-righteous prejudices that people have of the homeless. Spanning nearly three years, Tu'u went undercover, speaking with the homeless, having meals at drop-in centres and spending time in a shelter in central Auckland to get a sense of what it is to be without a home.
This Auckland indie favourite was hailed as one of the top theatre pieces of the year by NZ Herald when premiered in 2010.
featuring Lara Fischel-Chisholm
direction by Louise Tu'u
for more information and to book tickets visit the New Performance Festival website
Preview: Spartacus gets his Vengeance On
Taken from Film.com, by Ashley Warren.
It's been almost two years since Spartacus and his fellow gladiators slaughtered the house of Batiatus and escaped slavery on Starz's hit Spartacus. Season two, subtitled Vengeance, will follow Spartacus as he starts the slave rebellion that will eventually throw Rome into upheaval.
The first episode of season two, Fugitivus, takes place a couple of months after Kill Them All. Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) along with former rival, the Gaul Crixus (Manu Bennett), and Mira (Katrina Law), Aurelia (Brooke Williams), and Agron (Dan Feuerriegel) make up Team Spartacus, which has been terrorizing Capua for weeks and killing as many Romans as possible. The city is in a panic, but Team Spartacus is no closer to figuring out long-term goals, and they're living in the sewers. Spartacus is all for killing Glaber (Craig Parker), newly elected Praetor in the Roman Senate, but Crixus favors leaving Capua to gain larger numbers, and to search for lost love Naevia. Glaber, along with pregnant wife Illythis (Viva Bianca), is dispatched against his will back to Capua to clean up Spartacus' mess, and he brings with him a Roman legion to calm the citizens. He's got a big task ahead of him, because not only in one of them killed violently every five minutes or so, but there's also that niggling doubt in their minds: If Batiatus' slaves can do that, what about mine? (Not a good idea to mistreat the slaves you've spent years teaching to fight and kill, is what I'm saying).
While Team Spartacus scuttles about the sewers, skewering every Roman they can fing and scrounging for food, Illythia is cleaning up the Ludus and the villa. The blood from all those dead Romans still coats the walls (but where are the bodies?) and the place is full of nothing but bad memories for her. Well, that and the crazed, cow-eyed Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), who appears like Gollum from the shadows. Lucretia's appearance solidifies an already great episode. Lucy Lawless' performance of this character is pure genius, and she's such a delightful performer it's a crime she hasn't been recognized for it.
Read the full article here.
Dark Stars
by Arthur Meek
BASEMENT THEATRE, 10 - 11 February
Written and directed by Arthur Meek, one of New Zealand's most celebrated young playwrights, Dark Stars is a solo play starring Jonathan Council, who portrays a version of his own life journey.
In seeking his big acting break, Council is propelled by misfortune to a tiny island in the Pacific where he unearths the forgotten story of Australasia's popular Black Minstrel, Irving Sayles.
Dark Stars weaves together the stories of two African-Americans living a hundred years apart in an examination of racist humour and the price paid for lusting after fame at the expense of dignity.
Sayles was an entertainer with one of the largest minstrel companies in the mid Western US providing audiences with stereotypical presentations of African-American culture. After the Civil War in 1888 and aged just 16, he fled to Australia. He subsequently became a well loved figure on the Australian stage moving to New Zealand to continue his career in vaudeville until his untimely death on a Christchurch street in 1914.
"This work has been a true collaboration with Jonathan," says Meek. "He wanted to bring to life the story of Irving Sayles who was a talented comedic entertainer whose humour was self-deprecating and racist, a product of the segregated world he lived in."
featuring Jonathan Council
directed by Arthur Meek
for more information and to book tickets visit the Basement Theatre website
New Spartacus enters arena
Taken from Stuff.
What a different vision these two stars of Spartacus: Vengeance offer in person.
Here is New Zealander Lucy Lawless: In her Starz adventure-action series she builds on worldwide fame as Xena, Warrior Princess, by playing wily Lucretia, widow of the Roman sports impresario whose "ludus" - an extreme training camp for gladiators - was where Spartacus had been enslaved. Transported from Capua in the first century B.C to modern-day Manhattan, Lawless - in bright sweater and snug jeans - is pretty, girlish and full of laughs.
Alongside her for this recent interview is Liam McIntyre, who is taking over the role of Spartacus as the new season begins.
His personality is far removed from the raging Thracian out to forge an army and topple the Roman Empire. Instead, McIntyre is chipper, affable and ready with wisecracks delivered, at times, in a comic squeal.
"More than all of my dreams come true, in one fell swoop," he declares, though now he's not joking as he describes the thrill of landing this show's title role. "It's almost impossible to fathom."
Read the full article here.
Kiwi actors' starring roles at Sundance
Taken from NZ Herald, by Helen Barlow.
When Sydney-based director Kieran Darcy-Smith auditioned 70 actors in Australia for a pivotal role in his film, Wish You Were Here - which opened the Sundance Film Festival last week - he couldn't go past New Zealander and former Outrageous Fortune star Antony Starr.
"Antony had the natural charisma, the effortless charm, the dark sex appeal we'd written into the script. He was Jeremy."
It's important that in the movie we are on Jeremy's side, and with his gleaming blue eyes and garrulous smile we certainly can see why the gorgeous, blonde Steph (Teresa Palmer) would be attracted to him.
Jeremy's a furniture importer who invites Steph's sister Alice (Felicity Price, co-writer of the screenplay with her husband, Darcy-Smith) and her husband Dave (Joel Edgerton) to join him at a resort in Cambodia where he does a lot of trade.
Read the full article here.
Make My Movie Winner Announced
Taken from TimeOut, NZ Herald.
A romantic-comedy about a creepy stalker trying to meet girls by going through their rubbish has taken out the Make My Movie competition.
How to Meet Girls From a Distance, created by a Wellington team of budding film-makers, will now be filmed and turned into a movie, to premiere later this year.
That's thanks to Make My Movie, a new initiative from the New Zealand Herald, the New Zeaand Film Commission and NZ On Air, that sees novice film-makers get the chance to turn their film dreams into a reality.
With the tagline, "Get to know her, then meet her", How to Meet Girls was one of two finalists, beating out the sci-fi spoof This Papier Mache Boulder is Actually Really Heavy from an Auckland team in today's winner's announcement.
Read the full article here.
Love Your Hair by Richard Kavanagh
Taken from Stuff, by Bronwyn Williams.
Top Kiwi hairdresser Richard Kavanagh is writing a recipe book. But Kavanagh, who is creative director for Rodney Wayne, won't be sharing baking tips or barbecue recipes.
Instead, his book, Love Your Hair, will contain easy-to-use hair 'recipes' to create simple, classic and beautiful hair styles. Each 'recipe' indicates how long the style will take to create along with advice on what tools, products and hair type will be needed.
"Love Your Hair is essentially a recipe book for styling your hair," Kavanagh says. "I've tested all these recipes rigorously at shows and seminars, on unsuspecting punters all over the planet. I've tested them on national television, and they work."
The book, to be published by Random House, will feature 25 images shot by renowned Sydney-based photographer Steven Chee. Each image will be accompanied by a four-step recipe.
To finish the book, Kavanagh needs to raise around $12,000 to cover the cost of the photo shoots. He and his team have put together a light-hearted video to promote the book and have set up a pledge of Pozible - the Australian crowd funding platform for creative ideas and projects.
It's a labour of love for Kavanagh, who started working on the book three years ago.
"The idea of the book began three years ago when I was researching segments for my Good Morning slots. Countless women voiced their desire to know more about styling hair, and many suggested they'd love a coffee table-style 'how-to' hair book.
"It has taken the last two and a half years to write and produce the book, and now all I need is to secure the last bit of funding for the final stage of the production. This is were you come in," he says.
Those who show their support will be acknowledged in the book, and will receive advance copies when it is published. And for those who pledge the most - Kavanagh vows to come to your house and do your hair himself.
To support the project please visit the Love Your Hair website.
Setting the scene for a busy year
Taken from NZ Herald, by Dionne Christian.
They've weathered the maelstrom of recession, survived a drop in audience numbers because of the Rugby World Cup and proved we want to see our stories on stage; now Auckland's theatre-makers are back to work after the summer break.
It is going to be a busy year with much available - from light "fair weather" entertainment to more provocative and avant-garde works.
One of the earliest events is the New Performance Festival (NPF), a first for Auckland. Organisers The Edge say the NPF will stage work that "transcends the gaps of artistic convention". It begins on Friday, February 17, and features 12 international and local artists.
The popularity of last year's Auckland Fringe Festival shows there is a market for more experimental art-house theatre, so it seems sensible to maintain the momentum with an event such as the NPF.
The city's biggest theatre companies have planned eclectic programmes which continue to show their willingness to take risks.
Read the full article here.