Standing Room Only for Sunday 28 November 2021

12:16  Eden Hore:  High Fashion/High Country

Glamorous gowns from the astonishing high fashion collection that was the pride and joy of high country farmer Eden Hore, are temporarily leaving their Central Otago home. 

Eden farmed in Naseby while also managing to collect more than 200 couture gowns in the 1970s - flamboyant, colourful fashion was what he was particularly attracted to.

The Dowse in Lower Hutt will temporarily house some of them in an exhibition called Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country as part of the Aotearoa NZ Festival of Art.

Lynn Freeman talks with the co-curators,  fashion historian Claire Regnault and Dr Chelsea Nichols from the Dowse.

Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country opens at the Dowse in Lower Hutt on December 4.

 

12:31  The belated fame of Hilma af Klint

The largest number of visitors recorded at New York's Guggenheim Museum was for an exhibition of work by trailblazing Swedish artist and mystic, Hilma af Klint, that had been hidden away for decades.

Now the work of this pioneer in abstract art is about to go on show here in Aotearoa.

City Gallery Wellington is hosting  Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings - "secret" because she left instructions that her work be locked away until at least twenty years after her death.

The artist started producing large-scale, brightly-coloured, abstract works in the early 1900s, before her better-known contemporaries like Kandinsky and Mondrian.

At the heart of the exhibition is a series called "The Ten Largest" - three-metre high paintings, created for a proposed Temple, that she painted in secret over 10 years.

The gallery's Senior Curator Aaron Lister talks to Lynn Freeman about why Hilma asked her family to hide her paintings for so long after her death.

Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings opens at City Gallery Wellington on December 2.
 

12:43   Nathan Joe - this is clearly his year!

It's been a tough secret to keep but we are delighted to announce the winner of this year's Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.

The $10,000 prize goes to Chinese-Kiwi, Christchurch-based playwright  Nathan Joe. The award hopes to encourage the winner to keep writing for the theatre and that's exactly what Nathan intends to do.

It's a busy year for Nathan.   He's also won a 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Literary Fellowship, based at the Sargeson Centre in Auckland where he'll work on his new play called  Personal Essays. 

Before then, Auckland Theatre Company is staging his provocative work Scenes From A Yellow Peril about racism and privilege in Aotearoa,  as part of next year's programme. 

In addition, Nathan Joe's the 2020 National Poetry Slam Champion, but he won't be able to defend that title because it clashes with next year's Auckland Pride Festival that he's also involved with!   Where does he find the time?

Nathan talks to Lynn Freeman about how much of a morale boost winning the Playwriting Award has been for him.

 

1:10 At The Movies

Simon Morris reviews documentaries The Rescue and Breaking Bread, and the fictional A boy called Christmas and Red Notice.

 

1:31  Podcast The Magpie House visits a hugely influential residence

It's easy to miss Lilburn House in Wellington's well-heeled suburb of Thorndon, but the former home of foremost New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn has a rich if, until now, not particularly well known history.

The story actually intersects with one we ran on Standing Room Only last week - that of hugely influential thespian Maria Dronke who came to Aotearoa with her famlly after being forced to leave Nazi Germany.

Lilburn House became a meeting place for many migrants like Maria,  migrants who had a huge influence - culturally and artistically - on their new home country.

These days it's a residence for composers, run by the Lilburn Residence Trust.

Kirsten Johnstone has investigated the history of the house - and those who gathered there - for a podcast called The Magpie House.   Lynn Freeman talks to Kirsten about it, and also to Maria Dronke's proud grandson - musician and writer Nick Bollinger.

 

1:46   Auckland Theatre Company plans to open its doors

It's a gutsy call  but Auckland Theatre Company has just released a full season of plays for 2022, off the back of a frustrating two years of disrupted and cancelled productions.

Artistic Director and CEO Jonathan Bielski tells Lynn Freeman he's confident the shows will go on, and has scheduled two comedies first up in recognition that Tāmaki Makaurau audiences could do with some cheering up.

Homegrown plays include work by Emily Perkins, Nancy Brunning, Oscar Kightley and Nathan Joe..

Lynn first asked Jonathan about the many ways the pandemic impacted on ATC this year:

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Freya Finch

It was bad enough for Auckland theatres during months of lockdown.  But coming up to the so-called holiday season seems to be rubbing salt in the wound.  Is it possible to have an end-of-year extravaganza via Zoom?

Certainly not, says Silo Theatre.  Their end of year show Break Bread my be unfolding as a livestream - but what it isn't is a Zoom call - they promise!  

And while the show includes the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, the Great Fires of London, and the sinking of the Titanic, there will be an embargo on the words "Covid, virus, pandemic, vaccine, or lockdown".

The show is the creation of Alice Canton, Tom Clarke, Scotty Cotter and today's Laugh Track guest Freya Finch.  

Freya's picks include Maya Rudolph, Hannah Gadsby, Chris Parker and Meg Stalter.

Tickets are available from the Silo website.
 

2:25  What do you call longer short stories?

We've done lots of stories in recent years in praise of flash fiction - the always popular short-short story.

But Wellington-based writer Craig Gamble prefers his short stories on the long side and has gathered together 16 stories that are a bit shorter than novellas and a bit longer than the average short story.

Middle Distance, Long Stories of Aotearoa New Zealand is the name of the collection.

Lynn Freeman talks with Craig about the appeal of the long short story, as well as one of the writers he's selected for the collection. 

J. Wiremu Kane's short story is called Ringawera, and next year In 2022 he'll be based at the International Institute of Modern Letters in Whanganui-a-tara as its Emerging Māori Writer in Residence.

 

2:38  The art of building a great museum

Not many children dream of working in museums when they grow up, but Liz Cotton did and that dream's come true.

She's just wrapped up her first week as the Director of Museum and Arts at Waikato Museum in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton.

Liz has come to the role after working at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

She's set herself the goal of coming up with new ways for the museum to connect with its community.

Lynn Freeman talks with Liz about her new job, and her life-long fascination with history.

 

 

2:49  Katy Soljak - words, pictures and kissing!

 

12 short stories accompanied by 12 original paintings...   

Katy Soljak combines two of her passions - she's also a musician by the way - in her new book My First Real Pash and Other Stories.

Katy's planning a book and painting tour next year, off the back of the launch at her local art gallery on Waiheke Island this month.

The title story has had a tweak since it was broadcast on RNZ.   Katy reveals to Lynn Freeman what and why...

My First Real Pash and Other Stories is published by Press.
 

 

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Rio Story by Chris Thorpe

Today's Classic Drama takes us to Brazil for a story of love, vengeance and murder.  

Set - and recorded - in one of Rio de Janeiro's most crowded favelas, it revolves around a single day in the lives of two thieves, a crooked policeman, a charity worker , a priest, a blind revolutionary and a pregnant street-kid.   Here's Rio Story by Chris Thorpe, directed by John Dryden.

Rio Story was recorded in Brazil and was made with the help of the Nos do Morro Theatre in Vidigal,Rio de Janeiro
 

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Hot Chocolate
Song: It started with a kiss
Composer: Brown
Album: Their Greatest Hits
Label: EMI
Played at: 12.12

Artist: Cher
Song:  The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in his kiss)
Composer:  Rudy Clark
Album: Greatest Hits
Label: Geffen
Played at: 12.28

Artist: Rihanna
Song: Kisses on lie
Composer: Fenty, Rogers, Sturken
Album: A Girl Like Me
Label: Defjam
Played at: 12.58

Artist: Katy Perry
Song: I kissed a girl
Composer: Dennis, Gottwald, Martin
Album: One of the Boys
Label:  Capitol
Played at: 1.07

Artist: Louis Armstrong
Song: A kiss to build a dream on
Composer: Hammerstein, Kalmar, Ruby
Album:  20 Best Songs
Label: MCA
Played at: 1.43

Artist: One Direction
Song: Last first kiss
Composer: Carl Falk / Kristoffer Fogelmark / Savan Kotecha / Zain Malik / Albin Nedler / Liam Payne / Louis Tomlinson / Rami Yacoub
Album: Take Me Home
Label: Sony
Played at: 1.58

Artist: Taylor Swift 
Song: Last kiss
Composer: Swift
Album: Speak Now
Label: Big Machine
Played at: 2.05

Artist: Britney Spears
Song: One kiss from you
Composer:  Lunt
Album: Oops! I did it again
Label:  Zomba
Played at: 2.58

Artist: Kiss 
Song: I wanna rock and roll all night
Composer: Simmons-Stanley
Album: Dressed to Kill
Label: Mercuty
Played at: 3.58