Who wields the Axe?
-Allen Curnow
27 May, 2021, Canterbury Museum
In May 2021 we had the pleasure of being invited to perform at the opening of Graham Bennett’s exhibition Axis + Axes at the Canterbury Museum. Graham's inspiration for the exhibition was Allen Curnow's The Axe (1948), regarded as the first NZ play. Graham has been collaborating with Free Theatre since designing our set for 1984: The Future is Now (1984). The mural we performed on was part of another exhibit by Tongan New Zealand artist Benjamin Work.
The performance was directed by Aaron Hāpuku and Peter Falkenberg and performed by Aaron, Tony Smith, Reuben Derrick and Marian McCurdy.
The performance was directed by Aaron Hāpuku and Peter Falkenberg and performed by Aaron, Tony Smith, Reuben Derrick and Marian McCurdy.
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A stunning and thought-provoking performance.... It really brought the space alive, and captivated the audience. Many of our guests (and staff) have told me how much they appreciated and enjoyed it. From my perspective, your performance added immensely to the power of the evening and the exhibition. The Museum exists to help make people think, and your actors certainly achieved that in spades, drawing people into the show with a thought framework for the experience they were about to have. The performance absolutely captured the spirit of the exhibition and provided a whole new dimension, not just to the evening, but to the exhibition itself. |
Thank you all for a superb performance last night - it made the evening very memorable for so many!!!
Perfectly pitched, thoroughly engaging of the audience....
The performance helped anchor the ideas behind the exhibition clearly - identifying aspects of history, bringing them into the present, raising questions about interpretation and different perspectives.
Graham Bennett, Sculptor
