What’s On: Our September and October highlights
Events across the motu to bookmark this spring.
Compiled by: Ann Warnock
The Magic Flute in Concert
Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuoimaono.
When: 15 September
Where: Napier Municipal Theatre
Web: nzso.co.nz
A condensed version of Mozart’s opera in a special concert staged in support of Hawke’s Bay’s Festival Opera, forced to cancel its full production of The Magic Flute because of the devastating cyclone in February. It features rising star Samoan tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono and a cast of Aotearoa’s young operatic talent, many with links to Festival Opera’s acclaimed Project Prima Volta programme.
Kanohi Kitea (the seen face)
Kaumātua Jane du Feu (moko kauae — an expression of tīpuna).
When: 16 September to 19 November
Where: The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson
Web: thesuter.org.nz
Moko kanohi (facial markings) are a powerful expression of Māori cultural heritage, worn with pride from time immemorial to today. Bringing together images and objects sharing the journey of moko kanohi within Te Tauihu (Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough), Kanohi Kitea provides a behind-the-scenes understanding of moko kanohi and recounts stories connecting a wearer to their people and place.
Encountering Aotearoa — Cora-Allan
Encountering Aotearoa Toolkit, 2023.
When: To 12 November
Where: Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Web: dunedin.art.museum
New work by multidisciplinary artist Cora-Allan considers the legacy of mapping and recording the whenua (land) from the vantage point of the moana (sea) by early colonial explorers and contemplates the whenua from the perspective of a contemporary practitioner of Māori and Niuean heritage. Encountering Aotearoa features works tracing the artist’s two-week sea voyage from the lower regions of Te Waipounamu to Te Tai Tokerau in the Far North of Aotearoa.
Then and There, Here and Now: Portraits of Sāmoa
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- Greg Semu, Self Portrait — the Fisher of Men — Matthew, Chapter 4:19, 2012.
When: 14 September to 10 December
Where: New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Wellington
Web: nzportraitgallery.org.nz
Considering historical and contemporary photographic portraits of Sāmoans created by New Zealand and Sāmoan photographers over 150 years, this show engages with the Sāmoan muagagana (proverb), “E sui faiga ae tumau faavae” (“Even if practices, methods and approaches in daily life change, the foundations stay the same”). The images create a narrative that helps to link Sāmoan communities in Aotearoa to the past and present in Sāmoa.
Switzerland — Auckland Theatre Company
Photo: Tony Drayton
When: 19 September to 7 October
Where: ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland
Web: atc.co.nz
When celebrated crime writer Patricia Highsmith (the inspiration for the play) is visited in her Swiss hideaway by a youthful emissary from her New York publisher, what appears to be a game of cat and mouse morphs into a dance of death. Will Highsmith’s love of fictional murders become a dangerous reality? By Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith and starring Sarah Peirse and Jarred Blakiston.
Peter Hackett — Recent Works
The Honeymooners’ Bed, 2023.
When: 19 September to 3 October
Where: Parnell Gallery, Auckland
Web: parnellgallery.co.nz
A new body of work by Auckland contemporary painter Peter Hackett showcases the artist’s interest in flora, water and immersive landscapes. Comprising a series of large-scale paintings made with thick impasto oils and merging the abstract and the figurative, Hackett’s new works depict the colour, texture and gloriousness of the natural world.
Dance Nation
Photo: Charlie Rose, Creative, The Court Theatre.
When: 23 September to 21 October
Where: The Court Theatre, Christchurch
Web: courttheatre.org.nz
A preteen troupe of dancers (played by adults) in small-town United States prepares to claw its way to the top of a national competition, and its members are not here to play but to win. American playwright Clare Barron delivers a dark and ferocious comedy conveying the joy of dance alongside the angst, ambition and vulnerability of being on the brink of adulthood.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Photo: Lewis Ferris. Design: William Duignan
When: 7 October to 4 November
Where: Circa Theatre, Wellington
Web: circa.co.nz
A timeless classic is reimagined — Oscar Wilde’s 1895 comedy of wit, mistaken identities and social satire is perfectly at home in 2023. Featuring Wellington comic actors Andrew Paterson, Peter Hambleton and Irene Wood, the production spotlights the modern fixation with appearances versus reality. It is dubbed as “Wilde with his top button undone and false lashes on”.
Lonnie Hutchinson — The Next Episode
Kindly, 2023.
When: 7 to 30 October
Where: Milford Galleries, Dunedin
Web: milfordgalleries.co.nz
A new series of intricate paper cutout works by multidisciplinary artist Lonnie Hutchinson (Ngāti Kurī ki Ngāi Tahu, Sāmoan, Celtic), using builder’s paper and vintage wallpaper to make designs informed by kōwhaiwhai patterns. Hutchinson uses the cutout craft form to comment on indigenous histories and the impact of colonisation in the context of the contemporary world.
Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival
Jessica Hinerangi, aka Māori Mermaid.
When: 13 to 15 October
Where: Central venues
Web: dunedinwritersfestival.co.nz
Dunedin’s biennial celebration boasts a programme with more than 40 writers, poets, authors and illustrators, including Emma Espiner, Barbara Else, Witi Ihimaera, Jessica Hinerangi, Nicky Pellegrino, Bill Morris, Helen Lehndorf, Liv Sisson and Tokerau Brown. The festival features a specially curated kaupapa Māori stream Tauraka Waka, and Deep River Talk, a series of poetry sessions staged by the Hone Tuwhare Trust.
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This article first appeared in NZ Life & Leisure Magazine.
