14 Jul 2019

Keeping the Wow factor in WoW

From Standing Room Only, 2:25 pm on 14 July 2019

The Australian theatre director in charge of this country's biggest theatrical spectacular - the World of Wearable Art (Wow) - says he's hugely impressed with his Kiwi crew's can-do attitude to any challenges he throws their way. Andy Packer has to take risks with Wow because after 30 years audiences have seen a lot of jaw-dropping spectacle and it gets harder to impress them. Andy is the co-founder of Adelaide based theatre company Slingsby, that's toured to 12 countries as well as around Australia, and picked up a cabinet full of awards along the way. Andy Packer won't share specifics of this year's event other than dropping hints about ancient monuments and ice-caves. But he talked to Lynn Freeman about Slingsby's success story, and the fact they don't only produce Australian work: This year's Wow spectacular opens in Wellington in September.