Mother Goose - THE PANTOMIME
By Michele Amas
Songs by Paul Jenden and Gareth Farr
Directed by Susan Wilson
2-11 January
Circa One
FESTIVE
FUN FOR EVERYONE!
There’s
nothing paltry about Mother Goose’s chicken farm. Come and join Glenda our
fabulous dame, Lucy Goose and a host of other characters as the Circa team
bring you this much-loved classic tale in which Mother Goose discovers that
real happiness doesn’t come from riches or beauty.
Mother
Goose – an unmissable pantomime treat full of jokes, japes and
“eggstraordinary” mayhem for all the family.
“Highly
entertaining. Fun for all the family” — Ewen Coleman, The Dominion Post
“A
rattling good family show” — Theatreview
Kings of the Gym
By Dave Armstrong
Directed by Danny Mulheron
18 January – 15 February
Circa One
By Demand Return Season!
It's PC vs. PE ... a great start to theatre-going in 2014!
From the team who brought you the smash hit The Motor Camp, playwright Dave Armstrong and director Danny Mulheron once again combine talents to present another delightfully romantic and wickedly entertaining season of their 2013 hit,Kings of the Gym!
Politically correct principal Viv Cleaver is transforming low-decile Hautapu High School. The only thorn in her side is the Phys-Ed department. Unfit Laurie Connor spends his days in the gym watching TV and gambling with his talented yet unambitious sidekick Pat Kennedy. But then student-teacher Annie Tupua arrives. Could this star netballer and born-again Christian prove to be the game-changer that Viv needs? As sparks fly and different players joust for position, the only winner on the day will be the audience.
Starring the original cast: Ginette McDonald, Paul McLaughlin, Richard Dey and Acushla-Tara Sutton.
A comedy in two halves, Kings of the Gym looks at the really important things in life: competition, compassion, Creation … and PE teaching.
A Play About
Fear
By My Accomplice
Directed By
Uther Dean
7-16 February
Circa Two
NZ Fringe Festival
Every scary movie you love as you’ve
never seen them before!
The acclaimed theatre company that
brought you the sell-out sensations Joseph K and A Play About Space – Best
Theatre (Dunedin Fringe), Best Design (Wellington Fringe) – is bringing the Fringe to Circa in this
thrilling roller-coaster ride through fear.
In the spirit of Scream and Evil Dead 2,
My Accomplice will take all your favourite bits from the thriller and horror
genres, and look at them through the lens of their trademark lo-fi,
high-energy, extremely theatrical style.
Starring Hannah Banks, Sam Hallahan,
Kate Clarkin, and Chapman Tripp winners Paul Waggott and Alex Greig.
Critics have raved about their previous
work:
“Comic genius” — Theatreview
“A lively theatrical imagination” — The
Dominion Post
“Thought-provoking, must-see theatre” —
Wordonthestreet.co.nz
Miss Bronte
Created and performed by Mel Dodge
Directed by Lyndee-Jane Rutherford
21 February – 15 March
Circa Two
In 1848 Charlotte Bronte, under a male pseudonym, was
a published author; the celebrated writer of Jane Eyre. She lived and wrote with her sisters, Emily and Anne. By
1849 her world had fallen apart … Left alone after the death of her siblings,
Bronte is filled with hope that her sister Emily may have left a draft for a
new novel somewhere amongst her precious papers. She dreams of seeing her
sister’s words one last time. In her search for this manuscript she takes the
audience through the story of her and her sister’s remarkable careers; their
secret loves, tenacity and personal tragedies.
Created using Bronte’s letters, diaries and the many
biographical works discussing Charlotte’s life, Miss Bronte shows us the inner workings of one of the
first feminist thinkers, a dedicated sister, a passionate lover and one of
the most praised writers in the world.
‘It's fascinating to hear about the true characters
that inspired the fiction.’ Advertiser Adelaide
‘Mel Dodge brings the literary world of the Bronte
family to life with a riveting performance. Dodge transported us back to a time
when words were written in pen, on paper; when one could crave a response to a
letter that might be weeks or months in the coming; and you sensed, perhaps felt, the value of words.
Superb.’ Rip it Up Adelaide
Pasefika
By Stuart Hoar
Directed by Susan Wilson
22 February – 29 March, 2014
Circa One
World
Premiere
Starring George Henare
Part of the 2014 NZ Festival
Parisian sensibilities
and South Pacific culture collide in this dazzling re-imagining of French
artist Charles Meryon's life in 1860s Paris.
Haunted by time spent
in Polynesia and the NZ French colony of Akaroa, Meryon's startling visions
compel him to depict whales and waka over the skies of Paris in his remarkable
etchings. He must also juggle his relationships with his friend, the decadent
poet Baudelaire, and two very striking women, Jeanne
Duval and Louise Niveau.
This will be the World Premiere production of
this Adam NZ Play Award winner by renowned playwright, Stuart Hoar (Rutherford, The Face Maker, Quartet).
“A fascinating and funny world …intelligent
and entertaining …this is my sort of history” - Adam Award panel
Gloria’s Handbag
By Helen Moulder and Sue Rider
Directed by Sue Rider
Starring Helen Moulder
22 March – 19 April
Circa Two
A modern
magical mystery, with music from The Magic Flute.
Helen
Moulder premieres her long-awaited new play.
It is 2021
in Nelson and Gloria, aged 97, hasn’t long to live. Her son Craig is pushing
her to move to a “retireville” but she wants to die in her own home.
On
a whim, Gloria buys an extraordinary designer handbag. This purchase sets off a
series of unusual events which transform Gloria’s remaining days and enable her
to send a message to the future.
“Funny,
poignant, thought-provoking” – Sunny Amey
“Moulder
is a consummate performer” – Capital Times
“[Helen
Moulder] demonstrates what the art of acting is all about” – The Press
Armstrong
Creative presents
Rita and Douglas
Based on the letters of Rita Angus
Adapted for stage by Dave Armstrong
Directed by Conrad Newport
2-12 April
Circa One
A poignant
love story and a stunning collaboration of theatre, music and art.
After
sell-out seasons around the country, Rita and Douglas comes to Wellington. Two
of New Zealand’s leading performers, Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael
Houstoun, join forces to present the words, music and images of two of our
greatest cultural icons – artist Rita Angus and composer Douglas Lilburn.
Recently
divorced painter Rita Angus and young composer Douglas Lilburn met in the early
1940s and had a brief but passionate affair. Living in virtual poverty and
struggling with health issues, Angus went on to produce, with Lilburn’s
support, an outstanding body of work.
“It is
difficult to imagine a better way to appreciate the art of Rita Angus and
Douglas Lilburn than this celebratory tribute in which a sharp dramatisation of
their quarrelsome relationship is counterpoised with Michael Houstoun’s exquisite
renditions of Lilburn’s piano works while a luminous display of Angus’
paintings appears as an enormous projection” – NZ Herald
Supported
by The Estate of Rita Angus, The Lilburn Trust, Creative New Zealand and Te
Papa Picture Library
Other Desert Cities
By Jon Robin Baitz
Directed by Ross Jolly
19 April – 17 May
Circa One
Welcoming their family back home for
Christmas, for the first time in six years, in the sun-drenched comfort of Palm
Springs, California, Lyman Wyeth and his wife Polly have it all: wealth, fame
and a political legacy of real muscle. But the warm desert air turns chilly
when their daughter Brooke announces she’s written a tell-all memoir about the
most painful chapter of the family’s history.
Old wounds are re-opened, childhood memories are tested, and the Wyeth
clan learns that some secrets cannot stay buried forever.
Pulitzer Prize-finalist Jon Robin Baitz’s
smart new play of high drama, serious laughter and repartee that dazzles and
decimates was one of the hottest tickets on Broadway last season. A sure-fire
crowd pleaser.
"The Best New
Play on Broadway!"
- Ben Brantley, The New York Times
“Funny, fierce and
immensely entertaining.” - New York Daily News
The Pianist
Direction &
planning: Thomas Monckton & Sanna Silvennoinen
Presented by Show Pony
Productions
22 April – 3 May
Circa Two
At the peak of high
society entertainment sits The Pianist’s
pianist. He is, in a word: perfection. Or at least… that’s what he thinks.
The Pianist is a solo
comic contemporary circus piece by Thomas Monckton. The show is centred on, in,
under, and around one of the most magnificent of all musical instruments, the
grand piano. Accompanying this elegant apparatus is the poised pianist himself.
Only he is so focused on impressing everyone that before he realizes it, his
show has transformed from the highbrow concert he hoped for into the
spectacularly amusing catastrophe that is The
Pianist. To salvage his somewhat unsalvageable dignity the pianist draws on
his imagination and comes up with some rib-tickling and absurd results.
The Pianist mixes classical
clowning with contemporary circus to produce a charming piece of comedy about
the lure of luxury.
The Improvisors
Theatresports
27 April – 15 June
Sundays
Part of NZ International Comedy Festival
Take two teams of Improvisors, throw
them at the mercy of the audience and see what magic unfolds!
The world-wide comedy sensation that is
Theatresports has found a happy home at Circa Theatre and, like thousands of
folk before, this is your chance to be part of the action.
Watch from the side-lines, make some
suggestions, even find yourself onstage – the choice is yours. Whilst the whole
night is unpredictable with the performers making it all up on the spot the one
thing you can be sure of is laughs – and lots of them.
Youth Theatre
Double Bill - plays by Sarah Delahunty
Circa Two
17 May – 1 June
2b or nt 2b
Six classic characters from Shakespeare, Ibsen. Chekhov and
Sophocles meet as teenagers today on whatsthepont.com.
Hedda, Hamlet, Helena, Irena, Masha and Antigone vie with each
other for the position of Most Tragic Life Story, meet with the intention of
ending it all but find together the ways
to change their scripts and write themselves a future.
Pick of the Fringe 2008
Chapman Tripp nominee Best New Play 2008. Never since performed
professionally.
"2b or nt 2b …
should be everywhere" - Theatreview
"A comic gem” - Dompost
4 Billion Likes (working
title only)
A comedy with songs
A one person show starring Neenah Dekkers-Reihana (TIgers of Wrath, After Juliet).
Sixteen
year old Chloe Anderson from Hamilton starts a blog of her thoughts, and dreams
of winning X factor. But events and other people open her eyes to the need to
see more in life than how to lose 2kg and become a star!
Equivocation
By Bill Cain
Directed by Peter Hambleton
Effects created by Weta Workshop
24 May – 21 June
Circa One
London, 1603 - William Shagspeare (yes, it’s
him) receives a Royal Commission to write a play promoting the government’s
version of Guy Fawkes’ treasonous Gunpowder Plot. As Shag navigates the
dangerous course between writing a lie and losing his soul, or writing the
truth and losing his head, his devoted theatre troupe helps him negotiate each
step along the way.
At once an explosive comedy of ideas and a
high-stakes political thriller, Bill Cain’s award-winning Equivocation deftly reveals the cat-and-mouse games in politics and
art, and the craft of learning how to speak the truth in dangerous times.
Featuring effects created by WETA WORKSHOP,
and costumes created by Toi Whakaari School of Costume Construction
Circa luminary Peter Hambleton (THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS and SHIPWRECKED) returns from 3 years
working on THE HOBBIT, to direct EQUIVOCATION: “This extraordinary play
is one of the most exciting I have ever encountered. It is thrillingly
theatrical, high-octane entertainment - funny, but deeply moving, while also
being brave, intelligent, and even provocative.
It fearlessly examines issues like faith and fanaticism, spying and
security, truth and trust, media manipulation and misuse of power. With Will
Shakespeare writing your government’s propaganda, you can’t go wrong, can you?”
“breathtaking boldness!’” L.A. TIMES “sizzling theatricality” VARIETY
*AWARDS - STEINBERG ACTA NEW PLAY and EDGERTON
FOUNDATION NEW AMERICAN PLAY
* EQUIVOCATION contains STRONG LANGUAGE and
VIOLENT SCENES
Matariki Development Festival 2014
23 June – 5 July
Circa Two
Featuring new work taking flight, the
MATARIKI DEVELOPMENT FESTIVAL 2014 returns with new writing by Maori and
Pasifika playwrights.
Tawata Productions presents the MDF
2014, an international indigenous playwrights’ festival held in Wellington,
Aotearoa New Zealand, featuring a development season, new writing, panel
discussions and international indigenous artists.
Playwrights featured in the MDF 2014
include HONE KOUKA, AROHA WHITE, MOANA ETE
25 – 28 JUNE
Development Season of 2080 by Aroha
White
4 – 5 JULY
Rehearsed Readings of new writing by
Moana Ete and Hone Kouka
Stay tuned for the late night programme
4th & 5th of July!
Encore Bar will be open and
serving drinks and counter food, so come along for a great evening!
The MDF has presented Hikoi by Nancy
Brunning, Manawa by Jamie McCaskill, I, George Nepia by Hone Kouka, and Hui by
Mitch Tawhi Thomas.
The MDF partners include Toi Maori
Aotearoa & the Wellington City Council.
Hapai Productions presents
Hikoi
Te Kakano Season: Matariki 2014
Written &
directed by Nancy Brunning
28 June – 12
July
Circa One
A journey of love
“The great thing with our policy is that
we are going to have a world full of people speaking fluent Maori who have got
nothing M¯aori to talk about” – John Rangihau
Nancy Brunning’s debut play is inspired
by her experiences growing up Maori in New Zealand during the 70s and 80s.
Nellie and Charlie find love and build a
life together in the thriving new town of Te Moananui. When Nellie discovers her inner power and
true voice it threatens to destroy their relationship, their family and
Charlie’s dream of life without ties to the past.
With only a suitcase, a bottle of Coruba and a packet
of cigarettes, 16-year-old twins Janey-Girl and May set off with their siblings
Pearl, Joe and Bubba on a road trip through the rural back roads of central
North Island.
Hikoi follows the lives of two
generations dealing with a radically changing world and their way of saying
something about it.
The Road That Wasn’t There
By Ralph McCubbin Howell
Directed By Hannah Smith
Presented by trick of the light theatre
8-19 July
Circa Two
This is a story about a girl who followed a
map off the edge of the world…
In New Zealand there are some 56,000 kilometres
of paper roads – streets and towns that exist only on surveyors’ maps. Or do
they? A young woman strays from the beaten track and finds herself in a paper
world. It seems a land of possibility but she soon discovers that things that
happen in the fictional world can have frighteningly real consequences.
From an award-winning company comes an original
fairytale drawn from the twitchy edges of children’s literature – a dark world
reminiscent of Coraline, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Margaret Mahy. Combining puppetry,
shadow play, and live music, this is a curious tale for intrepid children and
adventurous adults…
“Thoroughly enchanting and totally engrossing,
The Road That Wasn’t There is a must see show for all ages.” – The Dominion
Post
“Probably the most beautiful kids’ show I’ve
ever seen.” – Edinburghia2012
A View from the Bridge
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Susan Wilson
19 July – 23 August
Circa One
Arthur Miller’s most passionate work, A View from the Bridge is an enthralling
and gripping drama about love, belonging, prejudice and betrayal.
Eddie Carbone, an Italian American
longshoreman who lives in Brooklyn with his wife Beatrice and his orphaned 17
year old niece Catherine, welcomes his Sicilian cousins to the land of freedom.
But when one of them falls for his beautiful niece, they discover that freedom
comes at a price. Eddie’s jealous mistrust exposes a deep, unspeakable secret –
one that drives him to commit the ultimate betrayal as he erupts in a rage that
consumes him, his family and his world.
An excellent modern classic from the author of
Death of a Salesman, All My Sons and The Price.
“A compelling drama that captures the sense of a community pulling
together under pressure.” - Jewish Chronicle
“Eddie Carbone is one of those great tragic
figures who we will remember long after we leave the theatre” – Examiner
Constellations
By Nick Payne
Directed by Rachel Lenart
26 July – 23 August
Circa Two
New
Zealand premiere
One relationship. Infinite possibilities.
“... every choice, every decision you’ve ever
made and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel
universes”
In a multiverse, anything and everything is
not only possible, but inevitable. The ground-breaking Constellations delves into the worlds in which Roland met Marianne.
Love, honey and quantum physics take centre stage in this witty, playful and
profoundly moving exploration of choice, control and
certainty.
Constellations
is an explosive new work by the winner of the 2012 Harold Pinter award, Nick
Payne. Hot off the international circuit, the New Zealand premiere of this
astounding two-hander features award-winning Wellington actors Erin Banks (The Great Gatsby) and Richard Dey (All My Sons).
In an innovative exploration of form and
storytelling, Constellations blends
the everyday with the extraordinary. Intimate and evocative, this play cuts
right to the heart of now, in a world where we have all the answers, but not the
solutions. It humanises the theoretical, blasts existentialism into the 21st
Century and is taking the theatrical world by
storm.
“This exceptional new romantic drama packs
more into an hour or so than most manage in three” — The Telegraph
The Improvisors
The Improvisors
Go to the Movies
10 August – 28 September
Sundays
Hollywood, Bollywood, horror, Noir,
action – all live.
Take a cast of the most talented
comedians, some movies consigned to the vaults of time, your suggestions and
watch the final cut!
In 4D and surround sound.
A Public Reading of an Unproduced
Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney
By Lucas Hnath
Directed by
Danny Mulheron
30 August – 27
September
Circa One
ACCLAIMED NEW
YORK PLAY COMES TO WELLINGTON
Tonight Walt is
going to read you a screenplay he wrote. It's about his last days on earth.
It's about a city he's going to build that's going to change the world. And
it's about his brother. It's about everyone who loves him so much, and it's
about how sad they're going to be when he's gone. Right? I mean, how can they
live without him? How can anyone live without him? Director Danny Mulheron
directs Lucas Hnath's adrenaline-charged odyssey, a supersonic portrait of a
man who tried to abolish reality.
Danny saw this play in New York and was blown
away by it. He can’t wait to bring this season’s hottest show to Circa
audiences.
Destination
Beehive
A political comedy
By Pinky
Agnew & Lorae Parry
Directed
& choreographed by Jan Bolwell
Musical
direction by Michael Nicholas Williams
6 September –
4 October
Circa Two
FASTER THAN A FLYING TWEET!
BOLDER THAN AN ANONYMOUS
BLOG!
FUNNIER
THAN DANCING CATS ON YOUTUBE!
Join the sharp-witted duo who brought
you The Truth About Love, The Candidates and Sex Drive, for a rollercoaster ride towards Election 2014.
Meet a batch of fresh faces – the newest
candidates on the political platform, as they dash to their destination – The
Beehive.
Who will be the powerbroker? Who will be
the jobless joker?
Meet the flip-floppers and the name
droppers. The backsliders and the backstabbers. The naggers, the knockers, the
pleasers and the sleazes, as they hurtle towards… Destination Beehive!
Starring: Lorae Parry, Pinky Agnew &
Kate Harcourt
The Improvisors
Improvisors for Kids
29 September – 11 October
School Holiday Show
Kids love theatre that's interactive. So
do The Improvisors. A match made in heaven!
For the last holidays of the year
come along to Circa for a
show that lets the kids get involved in live theatre in a way that only an
Improvisors show can.
Their suggestions, sound effects, even
props and costumes
– their show.
The Pitmen Painters
By Lee Hall
Inspired by a book by William
Feaver
Directed by Ross Jolly
1 October – 8 November
Circa One
From Tony award-winning
writer Lee Hall, best known for Billy
Elliot, comes this amazing true story of
the Ashington group of British miners who in 1934 hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly
abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint –
prolifically, and unexpectedly became art-world sensations!
A funny, deeply moving and highly entertaining salute to the lives of a group of ordinary men who do extraordinary
things, The
Pitmen Painters takes you on an unforgettable journey from the
depths of the mine to the heights of fame.
Hot on the heels of his
Billy Elliot success Lee Hall’s Pitmen Painters has wowed huge audiences
overseas and will be extremely popular.
“A wonderful piece of
theatre: comic, sad and stirring in the same breath” - Financial Times
Isaac’s Eye
By Louis Hnath
Directed by Paul
McLaughlin
Art Direction by Tom Scott
With music by
Rhian Sheehan
18 October – 15 November
Circa Two
New
Zealand Premiere
Isaac Newton’s childlike, kaleidoscope mind is the
platform for a quirky, contemporary and distinctly original theatrical
experience.
Isaac’s Eye re-imagines the contentious,
plague-ravaged world in which the young Isaac Newton and established scientist
Robert Hooke are a Mozart and Salieri of science wrangling over the physics of
light. Over the course of their dispute, Newton risks blinding himself by
conducting optical experiments on his own eye to prove to Hooke that his theory
is right and that he is worthy of admission to The Royal Society.
Far from a costume drama, Isaac's Eye is original in its
presentation and contemporary in its tone. With a stunning set imagined and
created by cartoonist Tom Scott, Isaac’s
Eye occupies its own time and space as it explores the dreams and longings
that drove the rural farm boy Isaac Newton to become one of the greatest
thinkers in modern science.
"A quirky
sendup of fusty historical dramas... funky, stylized, but distinctly
contemporary. Isaac's Eye wins
a whole mess of points for originality." - The New York Times
Red Riding Hood – The Pantomime
By Roger Hall
Songs by Paul Jenden and Michael Nicholas
Williams
Directed by Susan Wilson
15 November – 21 December
Circa One
What a big smile you’ll have …
Circa’s fabulous Christmas panto telling one
of the great stories – about an innocent Red Riding Hood, her poor, short
sighted grandmother, the handsome woodcutter and that villain of all villains,
the Wolf!
There’s lots of laughter, hilarious jokes and
musical goodies in Red’s basket as she sets off on her journey to entertain
young and old with this marvellous magical treat.
Festive fun for everyone!
“Pantos are about fun … full of magic and
music … Go laugh, and sing the Pantomime Whirl – you know you want to!” - Lynn Freeman, Capital Times
Dead Tragic
By Michael
Nicholas Williams
22
November – 21 December
Circa Two
Songs to
die for.
Just when
you thought it was safe to go back to the theatre…
Dead Tragic,
the cult musical of the 90s returns with the original cast.
Who shot
who at the Copacabana? What did they do to Maria? (When they did what they did
to Maria!) Why did Billy Joe MacAllister jump off the
Tallahatchie Bridge?
These, and
many other mysteries of pop music, may be answered by
Dead
Tragic. Featuring more than 20 hits (and misses) from the
50s,
60s and 70s.
Starring:
Emma Kinane, Katherine Mitchell, Jon Pheloung, Michael Nicholas Williams and
Darren Young
“A
brilliant show and a must-see” – Palmerston North Tribune
“Gloriously
gratuitous and giddy” – Palmerston North Guardian
“Manic,
black-comic zest” – Theatreview
A great Christmas gift idea for the theatre enthusiast on your list: Circa Six Pack - a voucher pack of 6 tickets (for the price of 5) that can be redeemed in a number of ways! For more info or to purchase, contact the box office on 801-7992 or stop by at 1 Taranaki Street.
Pick up your copy of the 2014 brochure at Circa or download from www.circa.co.nz.
