Arts+Culture

Acclaimed one-women play comes to the region

by Jess Allen

Auckland actress Cassandra Woodhouse will bring her company’s first production, Hanna, to Arrowtown and Lake Hawea from 12 March. The gripping story by Sam Potter follows a young mum who discovers that her daughter isn’t actually hers after a mix-up at the hospital. It presents an emotional look at what nature and nurture really mean.

The show has already been performed in Auckland and parts of the North Island with an overwhelmingly positive response. Cassandra is based in Auckland and is a mother herself, who can resonate with Hanna’s (her character’s) quest to be a mother and find wellness. Cassandra undertook her own pursuit of wellness after struggling with issues such as anxiety and depression – her perspective changed with the birth of her own daughter. She is really grateful to Arts on Tour for helping to bring this touching performance to stages around Aotearoa.

“It’s a story about a young mum who gets given the wrong baby at birth and doesn’t find out until the child is three. She then has to go on a journey of meeting the other family and meeting her biological child – on a much deeper level I think it’s a really beautiful story about motherhood, how we love who we love, nature versus nurture, and economic privilege – this mum was quite under resourced and that shaped her experience, whereas the other family had more money.

“There are a lot of themes throughout which are really impactful. One of the beautiful themes, I think, is how women come together in the end and how these two women of two different children have to figure this thing out. That’s a really lovely message – how mothers and how women really do rise up in the face of challenge and do what’s best for the children – it’s always a journey,” says Cassandra.

Another key message that is portrayed throughout the show is that family isn’t always just blood, but rather made up of the people that we meet along the way. Jennifer Ward-Lealand directed the production and has worked within New Zealand’s theatre, film and television industry for more than 40 on over 60 productions. Her and Cassandra grew close while working together.

“It’s been really beautiful working with her because the story is ultimately about two women that came together in the end that would have unlikely met otherwise – a young mum needing some mentorship and guidance from someone who is more experienced and has more resources. It’s a similar story of Jennifer and I – the parallel line there of just wanting to do something and navigating that on my own but having her guidance has just been amazing. Also, all the chats we had about everything –motherhood, women, work, and the world, which all filters in. One of the reviews we had in Auckland was really special because it picked up on the synergy of the both of us,” says Cassandra.

Hanna will be performed on Sunday, 12 March, at Lake Hawea Community Centre, Tuesday 14, at Central Stories in Alexandra and Wednesday 15, at Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall. You can find out more about the production and pick up tickets at aotnz.co.nz/touring-next

Broker Gallery is breaking the mould

by Jess Allen

The start of 2023 has been a busy one for Broker Gallery’s Founder & Director, Marc Blake. In addition to winning the supreme award at the Craigs Aspiring Art Prize, he headed up to Auckland to take part in the Aotearoa Art Fair, which ran 2-5 March, where Broker was the first ever Queenstown gallery selected to take part.

Broker closed out 2022 with a group exhibition called The Insiders, which continued to show into 2023. That exhibition was the fourteenth show for Broker since it opened in January 2021. The gallery is now preparing for its next exhibition – Marc is always trying to bring new ideas and approaches to contemporary art and is excited to see more facilities opening within the region.

One of Marc’s latest works, and the one that won him the Craigs Aspiring Art Prize supreme award, was also on display in Auckland. Happy Birthday is a printed digital artwork that has one small square painted on it. Marc has been using technology with his artwork for many years – he started drawing with computers when he was nine.

“It’s called Happy Birthday because the main image that became the catalyst for the work was a photo of my wife holding our son on his second birthday. That led to the rest of the work being created, which is a bit of a new direction for me – that’s the first one I’ve ever shown publicly, so to win that award was pretty amazing.

“They had a record number of entries this year with around 300 artists, and they doubled the prize money – that probably attracted more, including myself. I thought it was a good time to enter. It was nice to go over there and have a look at all the work,” says Marc.

It’s a thought-provoking piece and at first glance it appears to be a physical painting, and many people had thought this when looking at it. Happy Birthday includes photographs of other paintings Marc has done. Over the past couple of years, he has realised that the digital aspect is really the work and that the painting side of it didn’t always need to exist in the final piece anymore.

“When you look at it closely, you realise that there are photos of canvases, and things that I’ve used on there are all enlarged. The scale of the weave of the canvas you’re looking at is fake because it’s also printed on canvas – there’s just multiple levels of illusion happening, which is kind of what I’m playing with. If you look at them across the room, you may not know that, but I don’t really think of them as paintings anymore. I don’t really know what they are – it’s up to someone else to try and figure that out.”

You can stay up-to-date with Marc’s work and what’s upcoming at Broker Gallery at brokergalleries.com