We had a fantastic time up in Auckland for the New Performance Festival, and saw some fanstastic work- a possible highlight being the sweaty, outrageous Dance Like A Butterfly Dream Boy.

James Wenley from the Auckland Theatre Blog wrote this about the show and festival:

The New Performance Festival is now over, but over its 9 days it was an exciting mix of different experiences - hopefully you managed to catch some of! For me, Call Cutta in a Box and Wake Less were the stand-out experiences. Both required as much from the audience as the performer to deliver a great show. Both are nominally ‘new performance’, but really is old performance -a conversation - dressed up in a different way. And they both constantly seek and succeed in surprising you.

Read the full review here
Thanks to Stephen Bain, the awesome team at The Edge, Martyn and Chris at BATS theatre, and the Victoria University Theatre Programme for making it all happen (and to CNZ for the initial funding). Cheers to Kate McGill for the great publicity photo.

Video: Ralph and Izzy had a chat with Jose about the show

WAKE LESS will have two performances in Auckland 24th-25th Feb, as part of Stephen Bain's New Performance Festival at the Aotea Centre. Presented by The Edge and in partnership with BATS theatre.

Mike Potton has made us a great little trailer for our homepage, and Ralph had a nice chat with Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand National about the things you can do with an audience- you can listen here .

"I've forgotton what normal is." Claire did a nifty wee interview (wow, a producer talking!) on 95bfm, you can listen here.

Our new show, made as part of STAB 2011, opens on November 11.

In WAKE LESS, we've explored the use of mask- something we've wanted to do for ages.  We're seeing what we can make of the meeting between the simplicity of this form, and the roughness that Binge has explored in the past. It's an exciting contrast and a great challenge. We've also collaborated with AV designers from Interrupt Collective, which has added a whole new texture to the show.
 
WAKE LESS features Simon Haren, who has been in every Binge show, and Izzy MacKinnnon, who's collaborating with us for the first time.  We're including the audience and drawing attention to the event of theatre and entertainment  itself- places we go to put reality out our mind. It's a twisty, unpredictable, funny piece and we can't wait to share it!

You can book by emailling book@BATS.co.nz, or by phoning BATS on (04) 802 4175. See you there!

Ralph

6 Little Plays For Christchurch

We are stoked to be one of the 6 Little Plays For Christchurch (Facebook it) on at BATS for just 3 nights from 18 - 20 August, with two shows on the Saturday evening. It's 6 ten-minute plays all written and directed by local Wellington theatre makers, and all the proceeds go to supporting the Christchurch earthquake relief through Red Cross.

Binge Culture's little play is this project is called Work In Progress, and showcases some of the techniques we've been exploring for our upcoming show, Wake Less. Wake Less is on at BATS from 11 - 19 November as part of STAB 2011. It will be playful and chaotic, a surreal cocktail of performance, visuals, lighting and sound. There might be a priest, you might get a tickle. Whatever happens, you can guarantee it'll be new, bizarre, and fun. 

Come along to 6 Little Plays For Christchurch for a taster of what's to come for Binge Culture, to support local theatre, and of course, to support Christchurch