Next month Wellington's New Zealand Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary with old favourites and some acts bound to become new favourites. Rebecca Fox discovers a a surprising number of Otago connections among the mix.
When the New Zealand Festival kicks off next month there will be a subtle Otago flavour to some acts.
‘‘It's unusual,'' festival artistic director Shelagh Magadza says, to have such a southern connection in the programme.
The most obvious was the Flying Nun Dunedin Double, The Chills and The Verlaines, then there was a play written in Dunedin by ‘‘Dunedinites at heart'' Trick of the Light, a chamber opera by Dunedin poet and writer Vincent O'Sullivan and a large-scale music collaboration which features Dunedin-trained conductor Tecwyn Evans.
To top off the southern touch Professor Terence Dennis of the University of Otago will accompany Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in a one-off recital with the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir.
Ms Magadza said as she was not in New Zealand in the 1980s she did not quite get the ‘‘crazed look'' that came into people's eyes when they talked of Flying Nun and the Dunedin Sound.
But there were members of the team who had spent time in Dunedin and fully appreciated the era. It also fell nicely into the 30th anniversary aspects of the programme, she said.
‘‘It's been really awesome in dealing with them. It's brilliant they are still very much rooted down there.''
Trick of the Light's production Devils Half Acre, was commissioned for the festival and written during a Robert Lord Fellowship in the city.
‘‘It's a beautiful script and they're Dunedin through and through; they're just temporary Wellingtonians.''It was important for New Zealand artists to be seen alongside international acts and for the country's unique talent to be showcased, she said.
One of those acts is Brass Poppies, an opera with music by Ross Harris and libretto by O'Sullivan, who has lived in Dunedin for the past four years.
A ground-breaking new chamber opera, it portrays the struggles of soldiers at World War 1's Chunuk Bair as well as those of wives and families back home.
When O'Sullivan saw a brass poppy made by Dunedin's Stephen Mulqueen out of bullets from the conflict he knew immediately it was the perfect name for the show, he said.
‘‘Something that was used in war and a peacetime symbol turned into something else. It's beautifully done.''
It was important for him that the work was ‘‘totally original'' and not a ‘‘yet another story of heroism'' while still paying respect to those who died for their country, he said.‘‘Neither of us were the least bit interested in that view.''
The work would also be featured at the Auckland Arts Festival.
Ms Magadza said the festival, which brought $70 million into the Wellington economy and had a budget of $13million, had also attracted a great line-up of international acts.
A particular coup for the festival was the visit of the Tanztheater Wuppertal company to perform a work celebrating its founder, German choreographer Pina Bausch.
‘‘I'm not the first person to try and bring that company here. It's always just been out of our reach. So to have it all come together in my time is lucky.''
The timing was right as it had been seven years since the choreographer died.‘‘It's really important now to grab the company while there is still a living memory of her in it.''
Another highlight for her was the return of Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Centre Orchestra for three concerts, including two with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Also the signing of American musician Sufjan Stevens for the festival was incredible timing, as his career had taken off, she said.
‘‘When we booked him we couldn't have seen how big he was going to get. He did this amazing concert in Edinburgh and then sold out in a couple of other places with this show. It's one of those lucky things.''
The NZ Festival's strength was its requirement to attract as many people as it could, she said.
‘‘We are a small city in a small country so to keep volume of people coming through you have to go as broad as can: that is a blessing as well as a curse. Sometimes you do want to go on a narrow pathway of obscure Mongolian theatre but you can't because there is the bigger audience to consider.''
On the positive side, it meant the festival could bring a programme that included free activities and things for children, ‘‘things that animate a city'', she said.
‘‘We always talk about numbers but what is important for me is the diversity of experience. If you think of the arts bettering your life then you want as many people as possible to have that opportunity and not be seen as highbrow or too expensive.''
While there were some performances that would require people to save up, there was also a lot of ‘‘cheap stuff'' and the writers festival tickets were under $20.
‘‘I hope that if interested there is still a way for people to engage.'' One of those ways to animate the city was with the Contact Festival Playground, a fantastical family fairground being set up on Wellington's waterfront.
Arquitectura de Feria is a Catalonian fairground created in "B.A.8 wire-style'' - a merry-go-round made of motorbikes, a Ferris wheel on which kids are propelled around in toilet bowls.
Its selection was the result of a conversation with a local artist connected to the circus scene who saw them in Spain, and confirmed when a staff member saw it in Sweden.
‘‘This has a Wellington feel: handcrafted, bespoke, recycled.''
A group of 20 local actors would drive the circus atmosphere and Wellington on a Plate would be helping out with a food truck. It is just one of many events taking place during the festival, too many to mention here.
• Rebecca Fox was hosted in Wellington courtesy of Wellington Tourism for the launch of the New Zealand Festival programme.
