The Fringe Cut

10/03/2010 11:22:00 a.m.

Pick of the Fringe winners Erina Daniels and Guy Langford for Wannabe (left), and Victoria Abbott and Jackie Shaw for Back/Words.

ONE was a secret Spice Girl’s fan, and the other fell in love. Both are stoked to be named Downstage Theatre’s Pick of the Fringe.
Fringe festival productions Wannabe and Back/Words will be reworked for the big stage, and enjoy a one-and-a-half week season at Downstage.
Writer Guy Langford and director Erina Daniels were surprised to win both Pick of the Fringe and Best One Man Band at the Fringe Awards for their production Wannabe.
The musical show is a throw back to boy bands of the 90s, and was inspired by Langford’s secret enjoyment of the Spice Girls.
“I was a fan by default because my sister was,” he insists. “For this show I had this idea that it would be funny to have five guys on stage in drag being the Spice Girls with helium balloons, but I eventually decided on boy bands.”
Langford wrote the songs himself, and performs them solo with the help of a backing track arranged and recorded by good friend Matt Mulholland.
“My background is barbershop singing, so I was recording all my own harmonies. It’s really four of me at the same time,” Langford laughs.
Technologically driven documentary theatre show Back/Words is the second production that scooped up the Pick of the Fringe.
Victoria Abbott and Jackie Shaw from Bare Collective say they were surprised to receive the award, because they rehearsed separately during the university holidays.
“We literally sat in front of mirrors and computer screens in separate parts of New Zealand,” laughs Abbott.
The actors perform real-life people on stage, based on interviews they conducted with people from ages eight to 80 over several weeks. The recordings play in their ear through iPods onstage, to remind them what the person sounded like.
“You get attached to the people you’ve interviewed and fall a little bit in love with them,” says Abbott.

The Fringe Festival winner are…
Best in Dance: How to be a Domestic Goddess, Best in Music: Aphelion, Best in Visual Art: The Princess and the Many Quilts, Best in Outdoor: Storytime for the Hungry, Best in Comedy: Ben Hur, Best in Theatre: Who’s Neat? You! Marketing Award: Galaxia, Best One Man Band: Wannabe, Best Production Design: A Love Tail, Most Original Concept: The Princess and the Many Quilts, Best Newcomer: A Love Tail, Stand out Performer: Isla Adamson (Ruby Tuesday), Best of Fringe: The Princess and the Many Quilts, Fringe Hall of Fame: BATS Theatre.

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Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Fringe Festival

Briefs

Plane direction
A new training academy will open in June to help fill a shortage of qualified air traffic controllers in the Middle East and Asia. Global-ATS, a privately owned UK-based academy, will operate from the Wellington School of Business and Government campus. The academy will open with three staff, up to 10 air traffic control students and 70 associated safety management course participants.
Here comes the sun
WELLINGTON city council is one of several New Zealand councils signing up for Solar Promise, a campaign launched last July by the Nelson Environment Centre. The scheme aims to take away barriers to using solar energy and make the technology more affordable. City Council is working with the Regional Council to develop a targeted rate for solar hot water systems, as well as setting up an online map to indicate levels of solar radiation across the city.
Parsons stays put
JULIAN Parsons says his bookstore Parsons Books and Music isn’t going anywhere, despite news that brother Roger’s Auckland Parsons store is closing its doors. Parsons opened in 1958 on Lambton Quay and is still on the same site today.
Bikes allowed
Bikes will soon be allowed on trains on the Johnsonville line at all times following a review by the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Councillor Daran Ponter says that the introduction of the new Matangi units on the line, scheduled for mid-March 2012, means that there will be greater capacity than currently provided by the English Electric units.
Carter clean and green
TEAM members at Carter Observatory have been recognised as keen greenies. Carter has won a Qualmark Enviro-Bronze Award for high standards in environmental practices including energy efficiency, waste management and water conservation. More than 700 businesses carry the Enviro Award mark.
Bowling for a market
MORE than 25 stalls will be waiting behind the fence at the 100 year old Hataitai Bowling Club at the suburb’s Community Market on Saturday. The stalls include sweet treats, produce, books and vintage clothing. The market runs the first Saturday of each month.
Hataitai Community Market, Bowling Club, 9am-1pm, February 4.
Iconic tour
THE second largest wooden building in the world graces Lambton Quay near the Cenotaph and it’s now open on Saturdays for free tours. The colonial-style Government Building features a Kauri-clad interior and cast iron fireplaces.
Government Building Open Day tours, 11am and 2pm, Saturdays, until March 31.
Get arty
FOR those who would like to progress from finger-painting, artist Stephanie Woodman is running classes to teach drawing and painting in a range of styles and mediums. Sessions include acrylic painting techniques, glazing, watercolour and abstract, and there are special classes for teenagers and kids.
Stephanie Woodman art classes, Toi Poneke, Feb 7 – April 5.
Wheels are turning
WELLINGTON Regional Council’s Daran Ponter and Paul Bruce are to present the Bus Review, a proposal for a major shakeup of bus services in the city. It’s also a chance for the public to discuss their ideas and issues.
Bus Review, Crossways Community Centre, 7.30pm, February 7.
Violinist awarded
CONGRATULATIONS to violinist Minsi Yang, recently awarded The Elman Poole Music scholarship.
The scholarship is an annual award for up and coming New Zealand instrumentalists to train with the London orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia.
Yang gained her music degree from Victoria University, before heading to Auckland to study for her Masters degree.
Leap into song
LOCAL songwriters will this month participate in February Album Writing Month, an international songwriting event that usually challenges participants to write a song every two days for the whole month. But it’s a leap year this year, so songwriters have to write 14 and a half songs in 29 days, the ‘half song’ being a collaboration with another writer. At least 12 Wellington songwriters have signed up to take part. ‘Fawmers’ will post audio recordings of their songs on http://fawm.org
Coastal tunes
THE Tora Coast in the Wairarapa will this Waitangi weekend host a music festival celebrating good food and good sounds. TORA!TORA!TORA! features Imon Starr aka Olmecha the Relic, Jon McLeary and The Spines, Louis Baker, Vanessa Stacey and Conor McCabe. This is the third time the festival will take place.

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