Standing Room Only for Sunday 1 May 2022

12:16  Russian composer Tatiana Riabinkina's reaction to the Ukraine invasion  

A Russian composer living in New Zealand has written two works directly responding to the current invasion of Ukraine.

Tatiana Riabinkina says she is horrified at what's happening in the country under attack by her homeland's leader.

Over the past few weeks she's composed a work that the New Zealand String Quartet is about to premiere.  It's called 'No War'.

Tatiana's also composed 'Thinking of Ukraine',  a piano cycle based on the melody of a Ukranian folk song.

In addition, she's written an article in the New Zealand composers' newspaper Canzonetta, expressing her distress at the carnage in Ukraine, a country she's visited several times.

Lynn Freeman spoke to Tatiana from her home in Temuka, and asked what brought her and her husband to Aotearoa three and a half years ago:

The New Zealand String Quartet will premiere Tatiana Riabinkina's composition "No War" in Wellington on the 13th of May. 

The score for "No War" is available for free for everyone by this link:
 

12:31  Award-winning novelist Brannavan Gnannalingam explores marriage in the age of Covid

When a marriage is seriously in trouble, especially where there are children involved, the stakes are incredibly high.

In his latest novel, award winning writer Brannavan Gnannalingam leads the family's main breadwinner Kavita and her hardworking but emotionally drained husband Vishal, to a crossroads.

Slow Down, You're Here is about the need to find yourself, but is also something of a cautionary tale of life in a time of Covid lockdowns..  .

Brannavan reads from his novel, then talks to Lynn about the pressures on modern-day marriage - particularly when an old flame enters the picture.:

 

12:42   Hats off to Hayley May - the screen industry's headwear queen!

If you're in New Zealand's screen industry, the answer to the question "Where did you get that hat?" is often milliner Hayley May.   

Hayley's meticulous hat and glove making skills have been put to the test on many screen projects over the years - on Xena Warrior Princess and Lord of the rings and Mulan.

And when there's a gap in the film schedule, she tops up the bank balance by crafting items to sell to the public. 

These include her trademark reversible sunhats.  Lynn Freeman asks her where her fascination with headgear came from, and what makes a great movie hat?

Instagram @hmbyhmnz 

 

1:10 At The Movies

Simon Morris reviews The unbearable weight of massive talent, Elizabeth: A portrait in part (s) and, from the Scandinavian Film Festival, Everybody hates Johan.

 

1:31  Sherilee Kahui and the deep roots of intergenerational trauma

Māori playwright Sherilee Kahui wants to shake things up with her new work, Mokomoko.

She's asking some hard questions and presenting some hard truths in the play, about a woman suffering from a personal trauma that has its roots in a genocide dating back several generations.

Worse still, it's an atrocity has never been acknowledged. 

Mokomoko tells of a woman whose road to recovery from personal trauma is to discover her origin story,  Sherilee  tells Lynn Freeman she wants her play to empower Wāhine Māori. 

Mokomoko - written and directed by Sherilee Kahui - will open on the 10th of May at Wellington's Bats Theatre in Wellington.

 

1:47  Kylie Rusk on her lithography show Luminous

Lithography, the oldest form of printmaking, is the art-form of choice of Muriwai-based Kylie Rusk.  It's physical - very physical -  unpredictable and time-consuming.  

Landscapes and seascapes are what Kylie loves to represent in her limited edition prints, created on chunks of imported limestone.

Her solo show Luminous is about to open at Auckland's Turua Gallery.   It's a series of prints that focus on her family farm, on islands she can see from the shorelines she's constantly walking, and on Muriwai itself.

Kylie talks to Lynn Freeman about the history of lithography, and what it takes to make a limited edition print:

Luminous - Solo Exhibition by Kylie Rusk opens at Turua Gallery in Auckland on the 6th of May.
 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Jak Mitchell and Lesa MacLeod-Whiting

 

It's unlikely but it seems to be true.  Despite the drastic drop in comedy gigs over the past few months - for obvious reasons - there seems to be an increasing number of new faces getting ready to fill them.

This is good news, now that the venues are opening up again.  So what's on the minds of the new young comedians on the scene?  Are they angrier?  More political?  More engaged with social issues?   

They may not be.   In fact the one word that pops up in descriptions of the new breed is "silly"...

Lynn Freeman talks to two from the growing Wellington scene - Lesa Macleod-Whiting and Jak Mitchell.  Their choices include Rose Matafeo, Lily Tomlin,  Ivo Graham and Hannah Gadsby.

They're both appearing at Wellington's San Fran with Pax Assadi on May 12.

 

2:26  Werewolf comes out on stage

A popular party game has been morphed into a live theatre experience that promises to exploit our fear of the unknown. 

Theatre collective Binge Culture has specialised in interactive productions over the years , finding willing audiences for them here and at the Edinburgh Fringe .

The company's about to tour their latest show, Werewolf.   Lynn Freeman talks to director Joel Baxendale and dramaturg Ralph Upton about interactive shows - and the appeal of parlour games.  .

 

2:37  Michael Steven's award-winning collection Night School

The often difficult relationship between fathers and sons is one of the ideas Tamaki Makarau-based poet Michael Steven thinks about in his latest collection, Night School.

In another series of poems subtitled "Dropped Pins", Michael whisks us from Pigeon Mountain in East Auckland, to New Brighton, even to South India.

There's also a long series of poems based on long-distance bus trips he's taken over the years.

The collection won the 2021 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award, and has just been published.

Lynn Freeman asked him first about the title.

Michael Steven's collection Night School is published by Otago University Press. 
 

2:49  Robert Sullivan poetry examines his Māori and Pākehā​ sides

He's kept us waiting for more than a decade but writer Robert Sullivan has just published a new poetry collection in which he examines both his Māori and Pākehā lineage.

The poems in Tūnui | Comet are deeply personal.  They encompass the distant past and the future, while Te Reo and English stand confidently together in some of the works.

Lynn Freeman talks with Robert - who's currently teachng at Waitaki Boys High School in Oamaru.  He reads one of the poems from the collection - and it's a true story:

Robert Sullivan' s Tūnui | Comet is published by Auckland University Press.

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - New Shorts 2011 finalists

Three short plays from the RNZ competition, New Shorts.  They include Pedantic Shmedantic by Sunil Narshai,  HIS lot, by Sam Burt and Earthlings are aliens too by Emma McGuirk.

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Bright Eyes
Song: Comet song
Composer: Oberst
Album: Down in the weeds where the world once was
Label: Saddlecreek
Played at: 12.12

Artist: Paul Simon
Song: St Judy's Comet
Composer:  Simon
Album: There goes rhymin' Simon
Label: Warner
Played at: 12.28

Artist: Crowded House
Song: Tail of the comet
Composer: Finn
Album: Together alone
Label: Universal
Played at: 12.58

Artist: Greg Johnson
Song:  Comet song
Composer: Johnson
Album: Tour de verse
Label: EMI
Played at:  1.07

Artist: Billie Eilish
Song: Halley's Comet
Composer: Eilish
Album: Happier than ever
Label:  Universal
Played at: 1.44

Artist: Fanfarlo
Song: Comets
Composer: Fanfarlo
Album: Reservoir
Label:  Fanfarlo
Played at: 1.58

Artist: D Super
Song: Calling all comets
Composer: D Super
Album: Straight to the sun
Label: Wildside
Played at: 2.05

Artist:  The Shins
Song: A comet appears
Composer: Mercer
Album: Wincing the night away
Label:  Subpop
Played at: 2.58

Artist: Bill Haley and the Comets
Song: See you later alligator
Composer:  Guidry
Album:  See you later alligator
Label: Axis
Played at:  3.05

Artist: Tom Russell
Song: Haley's Comet
Composer: Alvin - Russell
Album: Beyond St Olav's Gate
Label: Roundtower
Played at:  3.58