FREE THEATRE CHRISTCHURCH
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Diana Down Under

25 August - 8 September  2007, Nibelheim, The Arts Centre
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Diana Down Under explores the life that the dead princess still lives in our media and our minds. As Elizabeth Wilson writes, "To begin with she was simply the ingénue, the fairy princess, but she rapidly became mother, crazy neurotic, wife betrayed, self-obsessed narcissist, glamour star, woman-struggling-for-independence, survivor, and, latterly, saint, strong woman, and even political interventionist. This excess, amplified by the media, meant that she became a copy without an original, a multiple personality with no 'real' Diana to which her public could return." When Diana visited New Zealand, she was led to attend the ballet Coppelia where a fairytale puppet becomes alive through desires and fantasies.

Free Theatre's new production, directed by Peter Falkenberg, presents a puppet manufactory where the un-dead Diana is revived by the manipulations of different puppeteers for the entertainment of an audience. 
Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of her death, the performance takes place "down under" in the Arts Centre performance space, Nibelheim (South Quad, Old Library, under the SoFA Gallery), 8pm Tuesday to Sunday, from 25th August through 8th September. Tickets are $15/$10 and are available from Te Puna Toi in the Arts Centre, phone 365 3159. Bookings recommended as places are limited.
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A short film Diana Coppelia (above) was created out of material from the production. Filmed and edited by Ryan Reynolds.
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Reviews

Diana Downunder is dark and raw, a real shot in the arm for cynics who dismiss the unpleasant side of fame as something that comes with the territory. It is an intense hour punctuated by black moments of humour, including a fantastic nightclub scene...

Mythic Diana made human
Jamie Hanton, The Press, 27 August 2007
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 There is plenty to say, a sense of purpose and discipline in the multiple performances, and some very effective moment of heightened theatricality.... a provocative exercise in theatre...

Purposefully Provocative
Lindsay Clark, Theatreview, 30 August 2007
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Because of their connections with the group, a Free Theatre performance was not a new experience for David and Pam, but it was for us. While they had no idea of the plot they did know and told us that it would be a little out out of the ordinary. They were right and that was good because it was thought-provoking. We were left wondering was Princess Diana, sadly deprived of the affection she craved throughout her life, in the end just a puppet of the media or had she in fact manipulated it for her own purposes only to end up its slave?

​Significant events can spark wonderful memories
Bernard Egan, ​Ashburton Guardian
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Publicity

Puppets to portray people's perception of princess
Chronicle, 6 September 2007
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • A brief history...
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • CNZ application