In our final Arts on Tour event for 2024, Granity was treated to a beautiful stage performance by the incredibly talented Martine Baanvinger.
Listen to Martine Baanvinger pre-show interview by Timmi Aplin-Barrett below:
Red Heavens told the story of 16-year-old Angelina Moleta, immigrating from Stromboli to d’Urville Island in 1906 – from one remote island to another. Based on the true story in Gerard Hindmarsh’s book ‘Angelina’, we followed the protagonist as she married her cousin at 16 and moved across the ocean to the incredibly stunning yet outrageously wild island in the outer Marlborough Sounds. There, she discovered herself, through the rugged beauty of d’Urville Island and a beautiful high-born Māori wahine named Wetekia Ruruku Elkington. Through her struggles, insight and internal discoveries, Angelina grew.
D'Urville Island truly came to life and seeped into The Lyric Theatre. Not only did Martine bring the beautiful bush, wild waters and rough rocks into the theatre with her expert storytelling but with the addition of sound and lighting by Colin Minney, we became truly immersed. Martine visited d’Urville Island before completing the writing of her show and actually recorded the incredibly unique birdsong to incorporate into the play. d’Urville Island’s birdsong has long been called rare, unique and incredibly beautiful so to have the theatre filled with a taste of that ancient and otherworldly soundscape produced by Mark Manson was simply magnificent.
Martine expertly used a limited selection of props representing multiple integral items. Strips of cloth morphed from uncooked pasta to newborns to woven harakeke. A large chest full of soft linen became a small boat pitching over mountainous waves.
Martine carried us through the emotional rollercoaster of the story; evoking laughter, tears and awe. Each character had their own amusing callsign and unique voice that Martine effortlessly utilised. Her show also incorporated a piupiu (flax skirt) made specially for this play to honour the family taonga that was originally gifted by Wetekia to Angelina.
The show finished with rapturous applause and Martine shared further stories during a Q&A. Wonderfully, several of the audience members were directly related to Wetekia which further illustrated the beauty the story was telling; family, friends and the rugged beauty of New Zealand.
Martine truly brought the story of Angelina to life and it was an honour to witness this unique and captivating tale told through Martine’s performance.
A massive thank you to Martine Baanvinger and Colin Minney. Furthermore, a huge thank you to Arts on Tour and everyone involved in bringing amazing gigs and stories such as these to The Lyric Theatre.
The Lyric Theatre team were thrilled to be able to host Arts on Tour events this year and we are especially grateful to Buller REAP for their financial support towards securing dates on the 2024 tour circuit during our
change of ownership.
While this was our final Arts on Tour event for 2024, we will be doubling down on our support of this incredible offering next year and look forward to sharing the acts and performances scheduled for 2025 as soon as dates are confirmed.
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