Get down to business at arts fest
After a two-day intermission the Hamilton Gardens Arts festival will resume tonight with works by Shakespeare, a selection of concerts and, perhaps surprisingly, a conference for business people.
The apparently incongruous addition to the festival schedule is no celebration of greed or brainstorm ing session on how to maximise profits, however.
The daylong Waikato Business Summit features panel discussions and speakers speaking on topics such as Leveraging the value of social impact for your business, The rise of social enterprise and Affecting social change: Re-imaginging the role of business.
The speakers include Louise Aitken, the chief executive of business development mentors A¯ kina; Raglan Coconut Yoghurt co-founder Latesha Randall; Ruapehu Alpine Lifts acting marketing manager Jessie Watling; and Community Waikato chief executive Holly Snape. Finance minister Grant Robertson is also scheduled to speak at the event, which will take place inside the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion, which for the duration of the festival has been branded as Harkness Henry’s Emporium of Scintillating Wonders.
Back in the world of the arts, an interesting twist of two of Shakespeare’s best-known works is the scenario of Romeo and
Juliet and Viola, which involves the plucky cross-dressing heroine of Twelfth Night arriving unexpected in Verona, the home of the feuding Capulet and Montague families. Mistaken identities, fiery passions and sword fights ensue in the Picturesque Garden tonight and Friday nights, as well as the challenging showtime of 5am on Sunday.
Directed by Blair Strang,
Morning Star is a work of theatre set in the world of Eden, a year after its creation, that features the growing conflict between the archangel brothers Michael and Lucifer. The biblical tale will be staged in the Medici Court tomorrow, Friday and Saturday nights.
Also being staged tomorrow, Friday and Saturday in the Meteor Theatre is Old, Bold and
Going Nowhere, a show about the benefits of refusing to age gracefully. Featuring the talents of well-known Hamiltonian Kerrie-Maree Adams, the play explores ‘‘the dangers of being too nice’’, growing up in radio and her apparently failed theatre career.
The acclaimed Aroha String Quartet will present a concert titled Mondo Rondo in the Medici Court tonight, which will feature a programme of music inspired by the New Zealand landscape, as well as some folk tunes from China.
Mixing jazz, swing, brass and soul, the Malcolm Barr Big Band will take the stage on the Rhododendron Lawn for a concert featuring the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Benny Goodman, as well as one or two numbers from The
Commitments and some modern hits. The stalwarts of Hamilton’s music scene are regulars in the festival line-up and were hailed by reviewer Sam Edwards in 2018 for a show that was ‘‘polished, fast moving, foot-tapping, entertaining, and filled with recognisable sing-along music’’.
Poema Amonico is the duo of Carles Marigo and Maria Camahort, who will perform ‘‘contemporary reimaginings’’ of traditional Spanish music in the emporium tomorrow night. Armed with guitar, piano and percussion, the duo will cover short compositions originally written for vihuela and baroque guitars.
Country/gospel musician Barry Saunders and bluesman Delaney Davidson combine their talents in a concert dubbed Word
Gets Around, which will take place in the emporium tonight, after the business summit has concluded. The ‘‘fusion of dark power and traditionalism’’ is tipped as one of the must-see shows of the festival.
Davidson also features the following night in Ship of Dreams, in which he performs the live soundtrack to a series of short films that he also created. These works are ‘‘woven in the style of David Lynch and Murnau . . . transporting us into a flickering realm of Grimms’ fairy tales, expressionist cinema, Brechtian epic theatre, forgotten values and lost stories’’.
Tickets and more information can be found at hgaf.co.nz.