Standing Room Only for Sunday 21 November 2021

12:16  Facing up to the Eighties - an exhibition of portraits

The flashy 1980s are remembered for being wildly over the top - big hair and big shoulder pads, Dynasty, Duran Duran and Michael Jackson.

But in Aotearoa it was also a decade of protests and change, from the 1981 Springbok rugby tour protests and Rob Muldoon's Think Big projects, to Rogernomics and the Homosexual Law Reform. 

A curator for The New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Milly Mitchell-Anyon has gone in search of portraits in public and private collections for an exhibition called Face Time: Portraits from the 1980s.

Milly tells Lynn Freeman she was excited to take up the challenge of curating the show.

FaceTime: Portraits of the 1980s opens on the 25th of November at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Shed 11, Wellington Waterfront. 

 

12:32   Award-winning poet Anne Kennedy offers to support schools in trouble

One of the first Kiwi creatives to put up their hands to help schools struggling with post-Covid-mandate staff shortages has also just won a Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement.

And to top off a big month, Anne Kennedy has just published a new collection of often confronting poems, The Sea Walks into a Wall.

Anne's also a novellist and short story writer, and she taught creative writing in both Tāmaki Makaurau and Hawai'i.

Lynn Freeman asks her why she was so keen to offer her time and expertise to schools when she first saw the idea floated on Twitter?

The Sea Walks into a Wall by Anne Kennedy is published by Auckland University Press.
 

 

12:46  Away from the front-line - doctors as artists

Medical practitioners from around the country with a side-hussle as artists are about to put their works on show.  The exhibition is called Beyond the Mask.

As part of the annual conference of the country's doctors and dentists, they've chipped in around 50 paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography for the show.

Even though the conference itself is now only happening virtually, the exhibition is going ahead in the Capital. 

But don't expect graphic depictions of medical procedures.   The paintings, photographs and sculptures on show cover very different territory.

Southland anaesthetist Roger Wandless is also a well-known landscape and wilderness photographer with several books to his name.  And relative newcomer Dr Amanda Tristram is an obstetrician/gynaecologist at Wellington Hospital.   Lynn Freeman talks to them both about using art as an escape from often life and death decisions.

Beyond the Mask opens on the 25th of November at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington. 

 

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews Last Night in Soho, Falling for Figaro and Netflix film Passing.

 

1:31  The return of the TINY Performance Festival

 

A dance work exploring the sometimes toxic power imbalance between choreographers and dancers is part of the line up for this year's Ōtautahi TINY Performance Festival.

The festival started in 2019 as a platform and a community hub for the next wave of performance makers and audiences in Christchurch.

It had to be cancelled last year due to the pandemic.  But this year the show will go on, even if some rehearsals have had to happen over Zoom.  Lynn Freeman talks to two of the major artists.

Tāmaki Makaurau-based choreographer Katrina Bastian and her dancer Olivia are presenting Extanz Vol. 1: An Epic on Power, based on hundreds of interviews with dancers who've felt exploited and pushed beyond their limits.

Meanwhile Juanita Hepi's multi-disciplinary performance I am not your Dusky Maiden also incorporates responses from a range of wāhine/women to that archaic phrase.   Juanita says she's delighted and relieved the festival can go ahead:

 

1:45  Heather Straka talks about life in Isolation Hotel

A mysterious gathering of characters who've found themselves stranded in a once high-end, now run-down 1930's German hotel - that's the backdrop to Heather Straka's new exhibition Isolation Hotel.

It's her contribution to Christchurch's SCAPE Public Art event, where commissioned artworks take over parts of the city.

The characters have been photographed against the gothic seedy set that Heather's created for the work - a set that visitors will also be able to explore and be photographed in.   

Heather's images have an ethereal quality to them, and Lynn Freeman asks her where they come from, and what's their purpose.

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Jonathan Smith

 

This year, our thoughts are perhaps directed towards Christmas more than usual.   And particularly to how different the season might be from what we've been used to.

But think of Christmas, and for many of us that means a good, seasonal pantomime.  And if it boasts some unexpected twists and turns along the way, that's even better!   

The Napier Repertory Players are about to launch a new version of Cinderella, but this one is called - it is 2021, after all - Sinda-fella.   It's written and directed by Jonathan Smith - perhaps best known as half of the drag duo Buffy and Bimbo, who famously performed with then Prime Minister John Key at The Big Gay Out.

Jonathan is our guest on the Laugh Track.  His picks include Monty Python, Kevin Bridges, Bianca Del Rio, and Miss Junior South Carolina.
 

2:25  Mischief Makers with a purpose

Elisabeth Pointon and Christopher Ulutupu are long-time friends, flatmates and artists known for challenging Pacific stereotypes.  Now they're collaborating for the first time on a video work that's part of a show called Mischief Makers.

The exhibition at Pātaka in Porirua brings together art by Māori and Moana artists that's unashamedly fun, coming as it does off the back of a tough couple of years.

Chris and Elisabeth call their mischievous work "Thanks For All The Fish".   As they tell Lynn Freeman, they've not long wrapped up filming a flash car, a luxury yacht and a large industrial crane carrying large vinyl banners with text written across them!

Chris says they both like to think big with their art.   For this collaboration, they've tried to recreate a parade.  Mischief Makers opens at Pātaka in Porirua this weekend.

We talked to Christopher a few months ago about some of his earlier work.
 

2:39  Canterbury writer Joanna Preston's eclectic collection

A poem told through the eyes, or keys, of an abandoned piano...   fallen angels... forgotten women... and an astronaut - all feature in Cantabrian Joanna Preston's second poetry collection, tumble.

She uses a variety of poetic techniques, from traditional short forms to expansive free verse.

Joanna's first collection The Summer King won two prizes - the inaugural Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry and the 2010 Mary Gilmore Award.

She's also a busy editor of poetry anthologies and magazines.

Before talking to Lynn Freeman, Joanna reads a poem from her new collection.

tumble by Joanna Preston is published by Otago University Press.
 

2:50  Jeffrey Holman is a real Southern Man

From heading out into the wilds of the South Island to thunderous dancing in country halls, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman takes us on many an adventure with fishermen and musterers in his new poetry collection.

It's called After Hours Trading & The Flying Squad.

Small towns, vast landscapes and extreme weather are very much a part of this collection, as Jeffrey explains to Lynn Freeman. .

Carbide Press has published After Hours Trading & The Flying Squad by Jeffery Holman.
 

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Part 2 of Awatea by Bruce Mason

As part of our celebration of "One Hundred Years of Radio in New Zealand", this is Part Two of the groundbreaking play, Awatea.   

It was written by Bruce Mason, the undoubted father of playwriting in New Zealand, and was originally commissioned by the NZBC as a vehicle for the great actor and singer, Inia Te Wiata who was touring with Porgy and Bess.

Dr Matt Paku left his home in a remote township on the East Coast to open a successful practice in Auckland.   His old, blind father Werihe basks in this success via Matt's letters, read to him by the no-nonsense local postmistress Emma Gilhooly.

Every New Year's Eve, Matt comes home and the whole community celebrates.  But things are different this year...

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Tony Bennett
Song: Put on a happy face
Composer: Adams-Strouse
Album: Beyond the Sea
Label: Sony
Played at: 12.10

Artist: Peggy Lee
Song: I've grown accustomed to his face
Composer:  Lerner-Loewe
Album: The Best Of
Label:  Musicclub
Played at: 12.27

Artist: Billy Idol
Song:  Eyes without a face
Composer:   Idol-Stevens
Album: Rebel Yell
Label: Chrysalis
Played at: 12.58

Artist: Mariah Carey
Song: Up out my face
Composer:  Carey-Stewart
Album: Memoirs of an imperfect angel
Label:  Island
Played at: 1.07

Artist: Small Faces
Song:  All or nothing
Composer: Marriott-Lane
Album: It's all or nothing
Label:  Spectrum
Played at: 1.42

Artist: Undisputed Truth
Song: Smiling faces sometimes
Composer:  Strong-Whitfield
Album: Power to the Motown people
Label: Motown
Played at: 1.58

Artist: The Glitter Band
Song: Angel Face
Composer:  Shepherd-Rossall
Album: Fun Generation
Label: L&D
Played at: 2.05

Artist: Lady Gaga
Song:  Poker face
Composer:  Lady Gaga-Red One
Album: The Fame Monster
Label: Interscope
Played at: 2.58

Artist: James Darren
Song: Angel Face
Composer:  Pearl-Vignari
Album: Come on let's go
Label:  Pye
Played at:  3.05

Artist: The Faces
Song: Too bad
Composer:  Stewart-Wood
Album: Best of
Label: Rhino
Played at: 3.58