Standing Room Only for Sunday 27 November 2022

12:16  Fiona Samuel on screenwriting in the age of streaming

This is undeniably a new Golden Age of television drama - both in quantity and quality.  So much drama, so much variety of drama and  - most important - so many outlets to play your drama.

But how much has really changed?   One person who would know is one of our finest screenwriters Fiona Samuel.  And not just on the screen - we've just played her radio trilogy Hat Trick in our Classic Drama slot - and Fiona's recently conducted workshops on the secrets of creating brilliant TV.   

Mind you, Fiona's been doing that ever since she first stepped up with a mini-masterpiece called Marching Girls.

Since then she's written too many series to mention - Outrageous fortune, Agent Anna, Brokenwood, Nothing Trivial and the brilliant one-off Consent The Louise Nicholas Story.  

Simon Morris talks to Fiona Samuel about the new landscape of TV series.
 

12:34  Thomas Allely prepares for a Tuba Concerto  

The Christchurch-born principal tuba player with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Allely, is heading home to perform a Tuba Concerto.  

It's been composed for him by his former high school music teacher, Tony Ryan, who'll also conduct him.

Tony composed the original version of the concerto for Thomas while he was still a school student in Christchurch, but says it's an almost complete re-write, recognising that the young musician is now a virtuoso.

​It's third time lucky for the premiere of the concerto - titled A Tuba Comes to Town - with Covid-19 travel restrictions scuppering the two previous attempts.

Lynn Freeman talked to Thomas from Bisbane and to Tony in our Ōtautahi/Christchurch studio.   She first asked Tony when he first saw promise in his young student.

A Tuba Comes to Town is on at The Piano in Ōtautahi/Christchurch next Sunday, 4 December, where Thomas will perform with the Resonance Ensemble.

 

 

12:45  Children's TV champion Janine Morrell-Gunn

Remember Spot On, one of our most popular children's TV shows, that played for 15 years from 1973?   It was fun, engaging and educational and occasionally daring in its content.

Janine Morrell-Gunn worked on the show in its last years, and has dedicated herself to making television programmes for our tamariki ever since.

She's been a producer, Executive Producer of TVNZ's Children's Unit, and for the past 23 years she's been the co-director of production company Whitebait Media with her husband, Jason Gunn

They saved the another much-loved show, What Now, that's gone on to be the second longest running New Zealand TV show after Country Calendar. 

Now Janine's been named as the 2022 Television Legend, as part of the New Zealand Television Awards, for her commitment to children's TV over almost four decades.

Lynn Freeman asked her why she cares so much about what kids watch?
 

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews She said, Emily and Stars at noon.

 

1:32   Proof - a showcase for two decades of NZ printmakers

It's had more than 20 years championing the work of this country's print makers.  Now Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand has published a book featuring a dazzling array of prints by its members.

PCANZ has around 250 printmakers, and many of them are seriously pushing the boundaries with their techniques. 

In Proof : Two decades of printmaking each artist provides a short note describing their work - some breaking new ground, but many using traditional techniques, like screen printing, lino and wood cuts.

Lynn Freeman spoke to two of the print makers who've worked on the book - Kathy Boyle and Heather Partel.

Proof : Two decades of printmaking is published by Massey University Press. 

 

1:45   Paul Gurney back on the road with a lockdown-inspired album

Kiwi muso Paul Gurney loves Americana - that unique blend of country, folk, blues and rock'n'roll.  In fact, he's not long back from Nashville in the States which hosted a festival devoted to the genre.

Tracks from his second solo album Blue Horizon are already getting airplay in America.

Some of the tracks were written during the Covid lockdowns.   Songs like "Riccochet" reflect on the struggles so many faced, but they also offer the prospect of better days ahead.  

For the past 14 years Paul Gurney's also worked as a music tutor to people struggling with mental illness at Toi Ora Live Arts Trust, and he's lead tenor in the famous Jubilation Gospel Choir.

Right now he's taking his new songs on the road - he's touring the North Island with his long time band the DeSotos.  He talks to Lynn Freeman about the appeal of Americana music and why he as so drawn to it.

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Catherine Yates and Johanna Cosgrove

It's back - Auckland's Basement Theatre's annual Christmas show.  And this time they're partnering with Tāmaki Makaurau's hottest improvisers Heartthrobs to create Sleigh!   It's fully improvised, as per, with a celebrity guest every night.

Today the Laugh Track features two of the cast with - considering their tender years - a dazzling array of credits to their names.   

Catherine Yates and Johanna Cosgrove between them have starred on stage, on film, on TV - and in the case of Johanna, in a book of poetry with the irresistible title Crying on the phone.

Appropriately, they join Lynn Freeman live on Zoom from Tāmaki Makaurau as our guests on the Laugh Track.

Their picks include The Simpsons, Sarah Keyworth, Summer Heights High, Caitlin Reilly and Fortune Feimster.

Sleigh! opens at Auckland's Basement on 30 November.
 

 

2:26  Poet Joanna Cho is a people person

There is a right way of washing dishes and a wrong way - and Kiwis do it the wrong way according to Joanna Cho's debut poetry collection, People Person.

The South Korean-born, now Wellington-based, writer has a keen sense of irony and a refreshing honesty in her autobiographical poems.

Joanna completed her MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2020 and received the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry.   She talks with Lynn Freeman about her inspirations, and whether she actually is a People Person!

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2:35  2022 Portage Ceramic Award winner

 

An imagined series of puzzling artefacts from a time travelling civilisation has taken out this year's top Portage  Ceramic Award for their creator, Richard Penn.

His collection's called Artefacts.

Richard and his family moved to Aotearoa from South Africa just a couple of years ago. He's taught ceramics at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland and  Otago Polytechnic and held residencies at Auckland Studio Potters and at Driving Creek Pottery in the Coromandel. 

Lynn Freeman asks Richard about his winning entry, which he says is part of a much larger body of work:

 

2:49  Frank Edwards - the life of an actor further down the cast list!

 

Bit Part Actor is the name of Frank Edwards' memoir, but he's selling himself short.

Over a career of more than 60 years on stage and screen, he's also had some lead and really memorable roles.  But those memories are shared with the disappointments, failed auditions and scenes ending on the cutting room floor that are all actor's lot.

As a jobbing actor, Frank's worked on Wellywood's biggest hits - certainly many of  Sir Peter Jackson's blockbusters - though you won't always see his name in the credits.

Decades earlier he was there as demand for New Zealand stories took off in the 70s - on stage, TV and film.  He also made several hundred programmes for the Correspondence School.

Lynn Freeman talks with Frank Edwards about a lifetime of acting.

Bit Part Actor by Frank Edwards is published by Wayfarer, an imprint of The Cuba Press.

 

 

3.06   Bruce Mason Playwriting Award goes to a team

History has just been made with the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.   For the first time in its 40-year history, the $10,000 prize goes to a team - two writers who together have written several award-winning productions.

Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken are a dynamic duo whose company is called EBKM.   Eleanor is also a stage director who works across theatre and opera.....

Karin meanwhile is a theatremaker and performer who's just back from Canada where EBKM's production of Yes Yes Yes - a show for young people dealing with desire and consent - was performed in Montreal.

Lynn Freeman asks Karin how they came to work together.

The 2022 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award has just been announced at a ceremony at the Hannah Playhouse in Wellington.
 

 

3.17  Maranga Mai audio drama series

Radio drama is making a real comeback.  Aside from the popularity of podcasts, there are new initiatives like the audio series from wāhine Māori and va'ine Pasifika writers' collective Maranga Mai. 

The five radio plays were written as part of the Breaking Ground playwright's festival during the 2020 Lockdown.  They'll all be broadcast here on RNZ National, as well as streaming on Kia Mau's digital platform Moana Nui.

Lynn Freeman invited Mīria George, who worked with the five writers on their scripts, and one of those writers, Stevie Greeks, to come and talk about the series. 

And then we play the first of the series...

3:28 Drama - Unlocked by Tina McNicholas

Unlocked by Tina McNicholas features Tina McNicholas, Roy Iro, Ben Ashby, Te Ani Solomon, Lahleina Feaunati and Waitahi Aniwaniwa.   The sound design was by Karnan Saba and production by Hone Kouka for Tawata Productions.

We'll play two more of the Maranga Mai series next week.
 

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Kate Bush
Song:  Wuthering Heights
Composer: Bush
Album: The Kick Inside
Label: EMI
Played at: 12.30

Artist: Barbara Carlotti
Song: Une rose pour Emily
Composer:  Argent
Album: Les Lys Brises
Label:  4AD
Played at: 12.31

Artist: Theme
Song:  Spot On
Composer: N/A
Album: Television music: TVNZ themes
Label:  NEW ZEALANDTELEVISONARCHIVE
Played at: 12.44

Artist: Luke Doucet
Song: Emily please
Composer: Doucet
Album: Broken (and other rogue states)
Label:  Sixshooter
Played at: 12.58

Artist:  Cliff Richard
Song:  Love truth and Emily Stone
Composer: Lordan-Marvin
Album:  Tracks and grooves
Label: EMI
Played at: 1.07

Artist:  Martha Wainwright
Song: See Emily play
Composer: Barrett
Album: I know you're married but I've got feelings too
Label: Shock
Played at: 1.42

Artist: Paul Gurney
Song:  Ricochet
Composer: Gurney
Album: Blue Horizon
Label: Tailgator
Played at: 1.45

Artist: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Song: Stick with me baby
Composer:  Tillis
Album:  Raising sand
Label: Rounder
Played at: 1.47

Artist: Paul Gurney
Song:  Moonlight waltz
Composer: Gurney
Album: Blue Horizon
Label: Tailgator
Played at: 1.52

Artist: Paul Gurney
Song: Fragile
Composer:  Gurney
Album:  Blue Horizon
Label: Tailgator
Played at: 1.58

Artist: Paul Holmes
Song: For Emily whenever I may find her
Composer: Simon
Album: Paul Holmes 
Label: WEA
Played at: 2.05

Artist: Elton John
Song:  Emily
Composer: John-Taupin
Album: The One 
Label: Rocket
Played at: 2.58

Artist:  Frank Sinatra
Song: Emily
Composer: Mandel-Mercer
Album: Softly, as I leave you
Label:  Reprise
Played at: 3.05

Artist:  All about Eve
Song: Like Emily
Composer: Cousin-Bricheno-Regan
Album: Singles and B-Sides
Label: Universal
Played at: 3.58