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Circa Theatre and Waterfront

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    • following your passion
      • Normal 0 false false false EN-NZ X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;} This week in drama* on the waterfront, we hear from Scotty Cotter about atypical day in rehearsal of the beautiful ones – following your passion!  Scotty Cotter, currently starring in the beautiful onesThe rehearsal day normally starts at 9.30am, everybody comes in rugged up in clothing due to the cold weather that has hit Wellington. (I’m from Auckland and as you can tell I fear the cold, TYPICAL!) Dolina Wehipeihana, the choreographer, starts the music and it’s all on. Muscle and bone for a hour. This consists of  stretching, moving, rolling on the ground, body conditioning, figuring out how you get your left foot in front of your right, how to leap gracefully without feeling like a fat hippo. I successfully pass warm up! The room is now hot and everyone has shed their winter layers, including socks, and are now to the basic shorts and t-shirts. From there we head into working over one of the dance sets. Detailing and cleaning each move and lift and figuring out how we do this seamlessly. I find myself lifting a lot of people. I feel like the Hulk! This makes me smile. The room is fueled with determination to get each point right, but also filled with a lot of laughter. I walk over to Sandip, who plays Sachin, to have a pretend wrestle with him. He taps out. I win. We work on the choreography till lunch time. By this time we are all sweating and having fun. I have passed the morning. Time for lunch. Lunch normally starts with us all skulling back water to keep hydrated then rugging back up to fight the cold. Normally we're all still warm so just chuck on a hoody or a jacket. The Circa balcony has the best view of the waterfront, if you ever get a chance to see the rehearsal rooms you’ll see the balcony. You can see right to the ranges on a clear day and when it’s sunny its the most epic view. We all figure out what we are having for lunch cause by this point we are starving! This cast loves to eat – it’s great! After lunch we are into the acting side of the mahi. Braedyn and Sharn, who play Juju and Ardie, are working on their scene with the director Hone Kouka. Braedyn is cracking me up and I think to myself he is someone we should all keep our eye on. He has a natural instinct when he performs and he has a bright future in the arts. From the side of my eye I spot Sharn doing the splits, he is an amazing dancer. I somehow find myself signing up to the splits challenge where at the end of the season I would be able due to me stretching everyday, do the splits. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes. The rest of the ‘youngins’ leap up on the floor to work on the scene. Te hau and Paige who play Vaine and Lil Paulina are part of that crew. These two are our wahine force! They both effortlessly draw your attention, both amazing dancers in their own right. I like rehearsing with this crew we have a instant complicité. Kali Kopae walks in with her baby Willow. The whole room stops and makes baby noises and faces towards the baby for a couple of minutes then we are all back into rehearsal. After the youngins have finish their scene we find out that we have the music for a song that Kali sings produced by K*saba and composed and written by Tama Waipara and Kali Kopae. See starts to sing along. Her voice is a formidable. I’m glad she’s my mate so that I can tell people how flash she is. She tells me to shut up and then we laugh at each other. It’s fun to work with her again. Manny Solomon, who plays Ihia, gets up and dances to K*Saba's track. I like this kid. He’s got spark. He knows how to hold a stage. I appreciate that. I find myself trying to hug Te Hau so that I can get her into a playful headlock she is already on to my tricks and try's to get me in one. We make a truce then crack up. Besides all the fun. We work hard. Which is why I love making theatre. Work shouldn’t be boring. For me following your passion and being excited about what you do is why I am involved in the arts. Having fun creating, imagining, telling stories, allowing the audience to dream and self reflect. That is why I make theatre. To share time and transport the audience to another place. SO COME AND CHECK OUT THIS SHOW!!!! Dust off all your old dance moves and bring them along. the beautiful ones is an exiting visual tapestry that will have you shaking and grooving in your seats. See you all there! Peace. Scotty Cotter the beautiful ones is on at Circa Theatre until 11 July, the last production in the inaugural Ahi Kaa AK Festival. Book now at 04 801 7992 or www.circa.co.nz View the trailer on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTKXhFCHkMI
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


    • commedia dell’arte
      • This week on drama* on the waterfront, Colleen McColl, publicist for A Servant to Two Masters, delves into the commedia dell’arte style of theatre commedia dell’arte = ‘comedy of the profession’, ‘theatre of the professional’, ‘comedy of art’ One of the most interesting things about working as a publicist is delving into other various aspects of the production and finding out about things not previously known. A Servant to Two Masters offered me a wonderful  chance to look more closely at commedia dell’arte. Google is a wonderful friend! It appears commedia dell'arte originated in streets and market places of Italy during the Italian Renaissance. Commedia was a hugely popular form of theatre with street performers. They offered improvised stories usually representing fixed social types, stock characters, such as  foolish old men, mischievous servants and young lovers. Actors joined the company very often at a young age and in each production played one character – it became their specialty. They spent their whole careers with that same company. As they aged they would moved into other roles eventually ending up as the old master. It was known as a colourful and extremely theatrical art form which allowed improvised scenarios that facilitated a comic plot to arrive at a humorous climax, with a happy ending. The performers, who used masks with exaggerated comic features to draw additional attention to themselves and complement their physical and acrobatic skills, eventually teamed up in troupes of actors, often with a travelling stage, to firmly establish commedia as a genre in it's own right by the mid-1500s.  They performed outside and relied on various props in place of extensive scenery. These "commedia troupes" performed for and were accessible to all social classes. Language was no barrier, with their skilful mime, stereotyped stock characters, traditional lazzi's (signature stunts, gags and pranks), masks, broad physical gestures, improvised dialogue and clowning they became widely accepted wherever they travelled. In later years, the tradition spread all over Europe, eventually adopting a major French influence where many of the scenarios were scripted into commedia-style plays. It is from the commedia world where such characters as Arlecchino (Harlequin), Columbine, Punchinello (Punch), The Doctor, The Captain and Pantalone emerged. It was fascinating to learn that during this period, commedia dell’arte was the only form of theatre where women were allowed on stage. A Servant to Two Masters was originally written in 1745 by Carlo Goldoni as part of the commedia dell’arte style of theatre which was still very popular at the time. He was commissioned to devise a play for a famous Harlequin. The story goes that Goldoni wrote it with a lot of room for improvisation (the scenario was pinned to the side of the stage), as was the tradition at that time, and then went away and left them to it. The production was a huge success but when he returned he was appalled by the indulgence of the actors.  In a fit of pique he wrote down a text for the players to learn and thus dealt a fatal blow to the centuries-old tradition of commedia dell’arte. It was the birth of farce as we know it today. Award winning dramatist Lee Hall (The Pitmen Painters, Billy Elliot) has adapted Goldoni’s A Servant to Two Masters for our current production at Circa. He offers us a fabulous new, rapid fire version with the language updated to now to create a pacey, action-packed physical comedy.   In light of my Google time travelling, I am astounded by Lee Hall’s ability to adapt and re-boot this timeless classic so that it is relevant, funny and highly entertaining to a contemporary audience. BRAVO MR CARLO GOLDONI! BRAVO MR LEE HALL! All Photographs by Stephen A'Court. A Servant to Two Masters runs until 30 May.  Tickets available online:  www.circa.co.nz
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


    • the audience loves Don Juan
      • This week on drama* on the waterfront, we're two weeks into the four-week season of Don Juan, and it has received heaps of praise from audience and reviewers alike! So far audience members have said: “I went to this show and haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time.
      • Accepted from drama* on the waterfront posts
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


    • Reflections from week one of The Mystery of Edwin Drood
      • Drood, Glorious Drood! This week on *drama on the waterfront, we hear reflections from week one of The Mystery of Edwin Drood Just over a week ago The Mystery of Edwin Drood thundered out of the gate at Circa, with a bold and boisterous opening night event that served up a feast of madness, mystery, murder and music to the more than 200 people who joined the cast and crew to send Drood off to the races in style. Fabulous....Brilliant...Awesome...Amazing...You should see it more than once!By now, nearly 1500 of you have been welcomed to the Music Hall Royale to meet the incredible suspects, watch for clues and red herrings and decide for yourselves who the Dickens did the deed! Highly recommended that all lovers of Dickens go see this show. It’s been wonderfully exciting to see the different possible endings emerge (with some hilariously improbable pairings already proving popular! Most of all, it’s been humbling and gratifying to hear how much fun you’re all having Stunning in every way and rollicking good fun!Phew! As those of you who’ve seen it will know, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a massive and spectacular undertaking, needing truckloads of energy, wit, speed, passion…..and people to share it with! We’re still  firing on all cylinders and there are heaps of endings still to be seen, so it’s just as well we’ve got another three weeks to bring you a larger-than-life experience at The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Everyone should go and see this as quickly as they can; it is HILARIOUS!All photos taken by Tabitha Arthur, with quotes from the audience of this season of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
      • Accepted from drama* on the waterfront posts
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


    • Meat Puppets
      • This week on *drama on the waterfront, we popped in on the Two Mortals team during pack-in to ask why the performers are wearing headphones and what makes dying so much fun… Director Geoff Pinfield, composer Beatrice Lewis, and performers Mike McEvoy and Rachael Dyson-McGregor.
      • Accepted from drama* on the waterfront posts
      • Tagged as:
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


    • Whitirea Students in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
      • Normal 0 false false false EN-NZ JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} This week on drama on the waterfront, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford and a selection of the students from Whitireia School of Performing Arts spill the beans on their experience rehearsing the joyfully boisterous murder mystery musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Q: What is it like working on a professional show for Circa?  Charli Gatrell (Ensemble): It’s intense! I’ve done a lot of theatre, but this is six days of rehearsal a week, it’s not like anything I’ve done before. It’s a full time job, and I love it!  Auburn Crombie (Ensemble): It’s incredible. I didn’t expect to work on a professional show as a first year. Coming in, I didn’t think it would start straight away, it’s honestly like nothing I’ve done before!  Vanessa Immink (Ensemble): Well, it’s full-time. All the other shows we’ve done apart from school shows, have been part-time. This is pretty much nine to five every single day. Sometimes we’re needed and sometimes we’re not, but it’s just so cool being in the Circa environment, working alongside professionals and having the Box Office just downstairs. It’s very… real! Q: What do you love about Musical Theatre? Ben Patterson (Neville Landless): For me, it sounds silly, but it’s what I love doing. It’s good, because I don’t think I could do anything else, but it’s lucky I got forced to audition for Musical Theatre in high school, which has lead me down this crazy path that I love.  Q: Is this something you expected you would get the chance to do during your time training at Whitireia? Flora Lloyd (Helena Landless): When they announced they were doing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and they were getting the students to be involved I was super excited! It’s my third year studying musical theatre, and it’s just a great opportunity. I am getting to put on my “Body of Work” and be in a professional Circa show. It’s a great experience!  Q: What’s the best part about rehearsals? Flora Lloyd (Helena Landless): I’m a huge observer of the professionals working. It’s thrilling to see them in their element and learn from them.  Bronte Fitzgibbon (Ensemble): It has to be getting to know everyone. Usually the third year students are a little segregated due to their work load and timetable, but now we are right there with everyone working and bonding together on The Mystery Of Edwin Drood.  Auburn Crombie (Ensemble): I couldn’t pick who was second year or third year. They were all so welcoming to us first years and it felt like a big family from day one. It has only been a few weeks and we’re all very close friends!  Q: What’s it like to work with Lyndee-Jane? Vanessa Immink (Ensemble): She is so expressive and enthusiastic! She is like an ever-ready battery that just keeps going, it’s amazing! She is incredibly invested and is making sure everyone is having a good time and is involved.  She is so detailed about her work but she makes it so fun, you forget you’ve been working for hours! Q: How did this project come about? Lyndee-Jane Rutherford (Director): I’ve worked at Whitireia before with our amazing Musical Director, Michael Nicholas Williams, and our stunning Choreographer, Leigh Evans. We decided to pitch The Mystery Of Edwin Drood to Circa, never for a second thinking they would take it. Michael threw the comment away that we could use the students for the ensemble. Next minute, Circa has said yes and we have the entire three years of performing arts students in the show!  Q: How do you feel to be directing this massive show at Circa? Lyndee-Jane Rutherford (Director): This is possibly one of the biggest productions Circa has ever done. I have moments of absolute terror, times of sheer joy and that grateful feeling - “how lucky am I” -  that I have all these people supporting me. Everyone has been hugely positive, energized and excited by this massive undertaking!
      • Accepted from drama* on the waterfront posts
      • Tagged as:
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        • Circa Theatre, Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)


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