 The public (that's you!) is invited to join and vote in a lively participatory assembly on Wellington housing. Finally - we might get somewhere!
Presented as part of City Theatre's Symposium Collection, Joel has seriously zhooshed up one of the most just, yet most chaotic, forms of governance: Letting the people decide. The Citizens Assembly is a theatrical provocation, a demonstration of what direct democracy could look like, and an opportunity for everyday citizens to participate in debate and decision-making processes that acknowledge Te Tiriti and Te Ao Māori in their conception. How do you run one of these shenanigans? What can be learned from the process? What ideas can we - the citizens - come up with that government could not? This participatory event is an exploration of the potential of Citizens Assemblies in solving seemingly impossible political issues. We will look at how this democratic model of public debate has been applied overseas and consider where such a process might sit in the context of Aotearoa’s existing political institutions and tikanga Māori. We’ll conduct a short practical experiment using the present-day housing crisis as a case study, using theatrical and musical elements to liven and enhance the political process. All welcome. Join us on Saturday 13 February // 10am - 12pm Frank Kitts Park Outdoor Auditorium Rain venue: City Gallery Wellington Adam Auditorium Presented by Joel Baxendale and Sepelini Mua'au, with live music from Michael Costello, Thomas Friggens and Callum Allardice.
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 Our video-walk, Hidden Tracks, developed between 2019-20 as part of the Creative New Zealand/Department of Conservation Wild Creations co-commission, is finally available for the public to experience. Presented as part of What If The City Was a Theatre
Binge Culture creatives Joel Baxendale and Oliver Devlin have collected masses of audio and video recordings from residency on Kāpiti Island to transport you to the lush reserve from right here in the city. Journey along the paths of the original waterways of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the original coastline and the now buried Waimapihi Stream) in this 27 minute video-walk that starts at The Opera House and takes you on an exploration of the various perspectives on the role of nature in urban environments - from the past and into the future. ** Two options to experience Hidden Tracks: 6 - 28 February // any time The Opera House // 111 Manners Street, Wellington Click here or scan a QR code available at all times right outside Hosts will be available on-site every Sunday in February from 1-4pm, with provided devices to send you on a stunning video tour through the bush - right here in the CBD!  Time and time again, people tell us that making theatre is hard work. Money's in IT these days, kids. Apps n' all that. Y'know, apps. Bold new world, all online... Apps. Yeah, apps.
So we're app developers now. Well, sort of. We've created this wild idea of a show and you can find the start line on your phone. Where you go from there... Well, you will have to find out! When the answer to everything is at our fingertips, how much information is too much information? And who else has access to it? In Big Data, a bespoke app-driven adventure whisks you on a journey around town to find where your data goes – and who is looking after it. Part-treasure hunt, part-mystery; Big Data is a theatrical game filled with challenges and bizarre characters – from sneaky bots right through to the big data boss. S N E A K P E E K ( D E V E L O P M E N T ) Sunday 21 February // 1 - 5pm City Theatre - look out for the pink spot! P R E M I E R E Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 March // 1 - 5pm CubaDupa - start point QR codes around the festival! W A N A K A Saturday 17 April Festival of Colour - street performance day! Devised by Joel Baxendale, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Sepelini Mua'au, Karin McCracken, Oliver Devlin, Ralph Upton App development by Ian Shepherd Produced by Eleanor Strathern Made possible by Creative New Zealand and Wellington City Council. We cannot express enough gratitude for this support in opening whole new worlds for performance. Also pitching at PANNZ Arts Market in March 2021. We’re in our third week of lockdown here in Aotearoa, and we’re settling into this new rhythm, taking the opportunity to reflect, and thinking of those doing it tougher than we are out there.
We’d like to mihi to Creative New Zealand for their regular communications and emergency response for the arts, as well as the general government support with the wage subsidy. We are definitely feeling the huge impact of this pandemic on our arts sector. It’s not just the financial strain for many, including us, who have lost work, there's also big risks for the future sustainability of our sector. But the arts are resilient and as artists we're practiced in how to create and adapt work in response to restrictions. There is heaps of great work emerging right now — and also lots of inspiring discussion around how we can use this time, as artists, to rest and reflect. Here at Binge, we are looking forward to being able to launching our new video-walk, Hidden Tracks, once we come out of Alert Level 4. In the meantime we’ve decided to play with our old classic and teamed up with BATS Theatre to do our first ever long distance Break Up. This Saturday, we’ll live stream the Break Up on Facebook. Check out more details below. We’ve also brought back our New World audio tour as your supermarket companion! Download it onto your device and have a play next time you're at the shop. Kia kaha tō koutou aroha.
We're pleased as punch - pleasder even - to be back in Melbourne this year for Fringe with two of our favourite shows. Last year's Melbourne Break Up was one of our best-attended and maybe weirdest ever. This year, we'll be performing our 5-hour improv in a intimate space right in the Fringe Hub, and as usual you'll be able to come and go as you like. In the weeks before we go over, we'll be getting back into the game of the show, remembering how to listen hard and share two characters between five people. This is the show we got the Total Theatre Award nomination for in Edinburgh, and we always look forward to doing it, in a low-key dread-ish way.
Our other, verrry different show is Ancient Shrines and Half Truths, an app-based audio adventure exploring the absurd and competitive side of being tourist. Over the last month we've been rewriting and re-recording material for the app that is the heart of the show, to tailor it to our venue - the riverside streets and parks of Werribee. We already kind of feel at home there, even though most of us have never visited. Here's a recent tweet we like, about the show's debut in Edinburgh (thanks, Blunderuss, we're stoked you remember us):
Details for the Melbourne shows are here:
Break Up [We Need to Talk] Ancient Shrines and Half Truths
 That was the shock twist ending for hundreds of Cuba Dupa goers who took part in our mass-participation spy game, This Text Will Self-Destruct, as they tried to stay incognito in the crowds and complete their mission.
As wild as it was out in the crowds, the real panic was taking place back at HQ where Joel and Oli were sending all the texts manually. While at the same time trying to stay in communication with the performers as to what point we were at in the show. Running a spy agency is hard. (photo credit: Ben Woodward)
 Open Workshop: Contemporary Performance Gym
Dates: Weekly on Mondays 5:30-8:30pm from 29 April - 29 July Venue: Te Hau Kainga, Taranaki St, Wellington Fee: The programme is free thanks to the generous support of the Wellington City Council although places are limited. This series of workshops is an opportunity to learn first hand from Binge Culture’s contemporary performance practice. An in-depth introduction to the company’s performance and devising techniques, as well as their method of incubating, exploring and developing new works. Participants will work alongside Binge Culture members and associates as they train and explore new performance ideas. The workshops are designed to encourage and inspire directors, performers and makers to expand concepts of performance and methods of devising, including post-dramatic, site-specific and technology-driven performance. Over the course of the workshops series each participant will have the opportunity to explore their own performance ideas within a supportive collaborative environment. No prior performing experience required although a willingness to give it a go is essential. The Workshops are primarily aimed at emerging and professional performance makers but are open to anyone to apply. To apply: Send a letter of application explaining who you are and why you are interested to joel@bingeculture.co.nz Applications must be received by 5pm on Wed 10 April. Successful applicants will be informed by Fri 12 April. Please email any questions to the address above or leave a comment below  Binge Culture's Joel Baxendale and Oli Devlin are grateful and delighted to have been awarded funding through the Wild Creations programme, a partnership between DOC and CNZ. Their project will use video and binaural recordings from Kapiti Island and Wellington CBD to create a video walk that blurs urban and natural landscapes, giving glimpses of what was here before the city, finding interesting juxtapositions between the two. More info |
