O TAUTAHI ROUNDUP

O TAUTAHI 2021

BY RUTH AGNEW

The Court Theatre has always dominated the Ōtautahi theatre scene, like a beloved and respected grandfather who hosts a great dinner party but makes the occasional off-colour joke. 2021 was set to be the year grandad got woke, with Artistic Director Dan Pengelly offering an exciting and diverse range of plays, performers and creators on both the Mainstage and in The Forge. The ultimate unwelcome and unwanted guest, Covid-19, forced the cancellation or postponement of several shows. The Māori Sidesteps are rescheduled to appear in 2022, but Whā, an interactive cultural performance experience, was unable to tour, and Other [Chinese], Alice Canton’s award-winning exploration of what it means to be a Chinese New Zealander, was cancelled. However, there was a triumphant close to the year. Little Shop of Horrors was a masterclass in how to make a much-performed musical fresh and relevant, with a brilliant cast of BIPOC leads. Rutene Spooner’s Seymour fed us well, Monique Clementson proved Audrey could be played with nuance and depth, and Brady Peeti’s embodiment of Audrey 2 in human form was simply magical. Centring the show around the star-power of the magnificent Peeti, a proud transgender Wahine Māori, was particularly satisfying after the controversy around the casting of a cis-male actor in a trans role earlier in the year in Things I Know to be True. While The Court Theatre and large scale Showbiz and touring shows at the Isaac Theatre Royal were severely impeded by covid restrictions, some smaller venues and companies were able to meet the challenges of safe live performance in a pandemic. Little Andromeda cannot be praised enough

A THRIVING THEATRE SCENE

for the way they navigated changing levels and lights, whilst continuing to champion independent and emerging artists. Highlights from Little A included theatre, comedy, and live recordings of podcasts; Ray Shipley and Emma Cusdin’s Brunch, Zen Zen Zo’s Toast, Kathleen Burns, Emma Cusdin and Dan Bain’s Perfuct Storm, Yugto Productions’ Asian Kiwiana, Kathleen Burns’ Feminist Yarns, and a final Christmas treat with Toys by Natalie Medlock and Dan Musgrove. New performance festival Tiny Fest returned for its second year to present an outstanding programme of multidisciplinary live performance, despite having to cancel some shows due to Tāmaki Makaurau’s lockdown. With Covid restrictions easing in 2022, we can appreciate how lucky we are to still have a thriving theatre scene in Ōtautahi. Grandad’s doors are open again, and he’s made space at the table for more of us, but 2021 proved there are other places where we can dine.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Notes on a Migration by Hester Ullyart ft. Admiral Drowsy, Ōtautahi Tiny Performance Festival, Christchurch Town Hall. Image: Petra Mingneau. Whare by Toi Aamai, Ōtautahi Tiny Performance Festival, Christchurch Town Hall. Image: Petra Mingnea. Ladies Night by Stephen Sinclair and Anthony McCarten, The Court Theatre. Image: Emma Brittenden. First Buzzard at the Body by Elliot Vaughan, Ōtautahi Tiny Performance Festival, Christchurch Town Hall. Image: Petra Mingneau. The Girl from Transylvania by David Allen and Nataliya Oryshchuk, No Productions, Little Andromeda. Image: Theuns Verwoerd.