New permanent sculpture in Glover Park that I saw while walking through on the weekend. It makes me think of hot air balloons, exotic palaces, and tree forts.
In between rehearsing and working, I have seen lots of good things lately. I started writing about them all but then I lost the enthusiasm for it. So in brief:
Two weeks ago I saw The Artist, which I really enjoyed. Last Wednesday night I saw A Play About Love which I also enjoyed.
On Friday night I saw Raoul which had some moments of absolute magic that I am still amazed thinking about, but also lacked cohesiveness and seemed to suffer from having too much money. For example, there were some amazing puppets, but they kind of just came on, had people gasp and clap at them, and then they left again very quickly - they weren't used to their full potential or developed as characters. The parts I enjoyed best were often the most simple - a trick with a big round mirror which made it look like someone had fallen into the mirror and disappeared, some physical comedy in which the guy couldn't get comfortable while sitting reading a book. Overall, Raoul didn't live up to its hype for me.
On Sunday night I saw my last New Zealand International Arts Festival show: Hohepa. A modern New Zealand opera. I really did not like it. Maybe modern opera just isn't for me, but it felt like a bad musical. There were clearly some amazing (especially male) singers, but it felt like we didn't get to hear the full range of their voices because they did a lot of talk singing (there's a flash Italian word for it but I can't remember it). And there's something that just annoys me about people singing such inane things as, 'And Jane was very seasick' and 'We are going to the shops soon.' I kid you not. Those were actual lines.
On Saturday night I saw Hugo, which I LOVED. I went with my little brother who was in town, and it's lucky he was, otherwise I probably wouldn't have thought to go at all. It was in 3D which normally doesn't do much for me but this was so so good. I loved the setting (Paris in the 1930s) and the mystery and all the clockwork mechanics. The idea of an automaton blew my mind. On the way home I was saying to Hunter, 'But they couldn't really have made automated dolls before computers that could draw such detailed pictures - you'd have to have so many tiny cogs and wheels and things inside them, how would they all fit?' But when we came home and I looked it up, it turned out it was true. They really exist. Given I'm scared of dolls, I think seeing one working in real life would creep me out way too much, but as a concept, they are fascinating.
This was Lyall Bay from the deck of Maranui on Saturday morning. It seems a long time ago given that rain, wind, fog, and cold temperatures have now hit town with a vengeance.
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