Today in New Zealand International Arts Festival history: The Prophet (2004) & Revolt of the Mannequins (2010)
Wow, we're getting towards the end of the Festival, aren't we! Well, there's still time for a few more shows - this one's Hone Kouka's play The Prophet from 2004, by Taki Rua Theatre; and a rare example of when I had to do an actual 'photo call' for a show, rather than being able to cover a rehearsal or show. I always resist doing that if I can, because I don't think you get the same emotional honesty in the images by getting actors to perform a quick bite of the show just for the camera; but sometimes, it's the only option.
As I recall, we did this one after an evening performance, so at least they'd just been through the show and could get back to those moments fairly easily - but I'd always prefer they come naturally out of how the show progresses than do a stop-start 'okay, next scene' cue-to-cue sort of thing. It does mean I have to keep up with their pace, but that's the kind of challenge I enjoy!
Next is the Revolt of the Mannequins, an outdoor installation (of sorts) that ran for ten days all over shop windows in Wellington. Very cleverly done, it showed a series of vignettes that changed daily showing different stories of mannequins taking over the shop fronts, breaking out - and even making it to the roof, in some cases...
There's one image at the end that shows the workshop where it all got made - not giving too much away, but there were a LOT of mannequin parts!