Blog Posts - BINGE CULTURE

YORICK! - "Dark, Sharp and Witty"

14/6/2018

Freya Finch and Isobel MacKinnon. Photo credit: Andi Crown

"an absurd and absurdly funny romp" - NZ Herald

Yorick! has opened at Q Theatre and has been met with widespread acclaim, and excellent audience responses (see video below).
NZ Entertainment captured the essence of the show so well it's worth quoting here in detail:

"Yorick!’s dialogue is quick and witty, with its thick as lard drama that leaves the viewer with profound effect. If you like your theatre with a raw truthfulness that undresses the issues that surround life and its intricate mysteries, then Yorick! will more than fulfil. It's a novel musical slash play tackling Mortality and our approach to life, while exploring the lives of others."

The show is on for one more week at Q but tickets are moving fast out the door so get in quick! Book now.

Yorick!
Created by Rachel Baker, Joel Baxendale, Oliver Devlin, Melanie Hamilton, Isobel MacKinnon & Meg Rollandi with Freya Finch
Loft at Q Theatre (Part of Q Theatre's MATCHBOX 2018 season)
Until Saturday, June 23

'Yorick!' upcoming premiere

25/4/2018

Let's talk about death, baby! We are incredibly excited to announce the upcoming season of our new show, 'Yorick!', arguably the most ambitious work we've ever undertaken. 'Yorick!' has been conceived as a show that takes the audience on a journey through death and mortality while swaddling them in a reassuring musical theatre blanket as protection from debilitating existential dread.

This work is a long standing collaboration between Rachel Baker, Joel Baxendale, Melanie Hamilton, Isobel MacKinnon, Meg Rollandi, and Binge Culture's newest member Oliver Devlin composing the music and then performing it live onstage. We are stoked to have on this show the creative input of Freya Finch, also performing, all the way from Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau. It's all incredibly exciting, more than a little bit hilarious and a tad harrowing. Yorick! premieres at Q Theatre in Auckland on the 13th of June. Book tickets here.

Ancient Shrines comes home

18/11/2017

Book at BATS

Reviews!

"The construction of these stories and the way they are put together by the group from Binge Culture are highly original and the combination of incorporating modern technology with an everyday pastime of walking and observing is not only immensely enjoyable and satisfying, but a type of performance rarely experienced.
It easy to see why it was such a great hit at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival."
Stuff.co.nz

"An innovative, intelligent show that challenges common conceptions and provokes much-needed conversation around what it means to be a tourist. At the same time, it is wildly entertaining. For a truly unique theatrical experience, you must see this show." -
Regional News

'Amusing, bemusing, and to be embraced'
Theatreview

Binge in Edinburgh: The REAL story

5/10/2017

You heard it here: Binge's trip to EDINBURGH was a objectively SUCCESS using VIRTUALLY ALL METRICS.

Scope of performances: 3 different shows, (up 33% from previous overseas trip).

Number of performances: 49

Number of awards shortlisted for: 2

We also won most time spent outside in the light Scottish rain, and the best quality comrades to hang out with. Full breakdown below.

Ancient Shrines and Half Truths
This was the site specific audio show we created in Wellington to debut in Edinburgh, via google maps, streetview, and video footage. Twice a day, six times a week, we led people across the road from our venue at Summerhall and into The Meadows. Then we gave them smartphones and set them lose in search of 'authentic experiences'. Our favourite review quote described it as 'trip advisor meets pokemon go' which we wish we thought of.

We got four star reviews from The List and Broadway Baby, and other nice writeups including this one in Exeunt magazine, which describes it as 'a deliciously twisted vision'. Thanks to the smart folk at InGame for making our beautiful app.

Whales
6 performances, in the corner of George Square in the heart of the Fringe. This summary in the Guardian gives a good sense of how it went down:

“They’re beached. We have to help them.” On a windy corner outside Assembly George Square theatre, a pod of Whales (in fact a group of volunteers in wet suits) flaps its fins. More volunteers spray them with water. This is the Wellington-based BingeCulture collective, part of a season celebrating NZ artists: “Look them in the eyes,” the speaker calls. “Sing. Make contact.” Voices join a haunting melody: “Ngā iwi e”. “It’s a Māori song,” someone tells me, “about people pulling together and standing strong.” The whales return to the ocean (or top of the steps). “That was strangely moving,” says a Scottish voice beside me.

The show was also nominated for a sustainable practice award. Big thank you to all our whales, local and international, and to Nisha Madhan who joined us as a response worker.

Break Up [We Need to Talk]
On our day off from the other shows (Mondays) we did this five hour show in the Basement of Summerhall. Edinburgh, it turns out, is teeming with people aching for 5 hours of schadenfreude. We got nominated for a Total Theatre award for innovation, experimentation, and playing with form. The Scotsman gave us 4 stars, The Guardian prescribed hard spirits. We're all still friends, too, even after everything we said.

Whew
It's exhausting even summarising all this! Thanks to everyone who helped us make this happen, including the powerhouse that is Zanetti productions, and to Mel Hamilton, who produced and co-created Ancient Shrines.

For more documentation of our Scottish sojourn, check out photos of our adventure on instagram, @bingeculture.

Edburg dead ahead

1/8/2017

We've arrived! No time to waste. First job: explore the venues. For Ancient Shrines, that means walking in a park and along streets we've been studying on google maps for months. Oli: 'I'm so much more excited to see an ATM outside of a BestOne shop that I am to see anything else I've seen so far'.

Scoping the Shines spot

Snooping the stranding site

Browsing the Break Up basement

Edinburgh fundraiser performance - Saturday 22nd

21/7/2017

Where: Flux at Wellington Museum
When: 6-11 pm (come and go as you like)
Koha. Come along and donate a little something to our Edinburgh Potato Fund if you can.

Break-Up is a durational improvised performance where we gleefully create and destroy an entire relationship. Audience members are invited/expected to come and go as they like over the 5 hours. It's mostly funny and sometimes a bit serious.

We’re fundraising for support with our living costs to help us pull off 50 performances of 3 shows over 25 days in Edinburgh. Find out more and donate at our givealittle page:
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/edinburghbinge
If you’re in a Auckland you can also watch the livestream at the Basement Theatre bar.
https://www.facebook.com/events/459862517709126/
Or you can tune in via Facebook Live from wherever your are - watch our page, we'll post a link.

Call for performers - Edinburgh

6/7/2017

Are you a mammal? Will you be in Edinburgh during the fringe? Curious about joining the pod for a weekend? Awesome! Find out more here.

Joel illustrates a core concept in rehearsal.

It's Binge Culture vs 3000 other shows

13/6/2017

We're stoked to be mentioned (right there near the top) in Lyn Gardner's picks for the Edinburgh Fringe, alongside old mates Trick of the Light Theatre and Jane Doe.

That's right. After a long and suspenseful build up, Binge Culture will finally be unleashed upon Edinburgh in 2017. We are taking a suite of our best and most varied work to Edinburgh, in a desperate attempt to be noticed.

Embodying the definitely not destructive attitude of go hard or go home, we will be taking not one, not two, but three whole shows for a total of more than 50 performances over 25 days. Will we burn bright, burn out, or crash and burn?

What's that? Stop the press! Turns out you too can see Lyn's pick right here in NZ at our Break Up (Edinburgh Fringe Fundraiser) while simultaneously helping to keep us housed fed and watered while on our Scottish quest. Pure dead brilliant.

To do this you can pop in for a bit of our five hour durational monster, indulge in some schadenfreude, and koha either some real cash $ or mainline it straight into our bank account. Every dollar donated increases the stakes.

We will then fly to Edinburgh and perform Break Up alongside with our brand new work Ancient Shrines and Half Truths, and pod favourite, Whales pretty much nonstop over the month of August.

Call for performers: Dunedin

14/8/2016

We're heading to Arts Festival Dunedin and we're looking for volunteer performers to perform with us as whales in Dunedin’s Octagon on Saturday 1 October, 1pm (wet weather alternative Sunday 2 October)

Being a Binge Culture whale means swimming majestically through the streets, believing you are the largest animal ever to have lived on planet Earth, communicating with your pod through your whale song, flapping your fins against the water, rolling on your back and gurgling in the sun, and stranding and being saved by friendly humans. Being a whale is a wonderful experience. You will strand near the sea and the public will be invited to care for you, placing wet towels on your backs and singing to you, then eventually holding hands and guiding you to safety.

Whales has been staged six times throughout New Zealand. Check out the details here.

Whales is a community event, and always our performers have been volunteers. We really hope you’d like to get on board and join us for this upcoming show!

Show and Rehearsal Details/Requirements

Whales is HEAPS of fun with hardly any time commitment needed - the perfect performance experience :)

2 hours of rehearsal and costume fitting, in which you are fitted into a wetsuit and plastic fins, and trained in how to move and strand as a whale pod. Saturday morning 10am-12pm
-1 hour break and pre-performance preparation: 12pm-1pm
-1 hour street performance 1-2pm

Please contact bingeculture@gmail.com with the following information

1. Are you happy to perform as a beached whale and lie on the ground in the Octagon with people pouring water on your back?

2. Do you have your own wetsuit? If not, please provide your size.

3. Your contact email and phone number

4. Are you over 16? If not, you are welcome to perform with us, but let us know how old you are and we ask that you have an adult caregiver who is responsible for keeping an eye on you during the show

Pigeon Post

31/5/2016

"Sir, a pigeon has arrived, with news from Binge Culture."

"What news?"

"Tis dated 13 March...

"Read on"

"Fringe is Frung! Thanks to everyone who was part of Slow Lane, attended or performed in Scratch Nacht, or entered the New World in Welly, Dunedin or Hamilton. It’s been fun.

"That's all it says."

"Most pleasing"

"Sir..."

"What is it?"

"Another pigeon"

"From Binge Culture again?"

"Yes, this one dated 1 May...

"In April, Joel collaborated with Karin McCracken, Jo Randerson, Anya Tate-Manning, Maria Williams, Meg Rollandi and Nick Zwart to create A Trial.

The show followed court procedures and involved a defamation case about TVNZ's controversial Kiwimeter and took place over 5 nights. Witnesses and the jury were drawn from the public.

"It ends by saying they hope to present another case in the near future."

"How delightful"

"Sir..."

"What is it, my darling?"

"You have a pigeon on your head."