Capital E Arts Festival

Capital E Arts Festival The Capital E Arts Festival was on in Wellington recently. They had a junior and senior week and schools from the Wellington region were able to see three shows in a day at various locations around the city. This festival was subsidised by the Wellington City Council. WCC provided free buses for the students and we are most grateful for this.

On Thursday the 22nd of March the senior students saw three shows.

The first one was at the Paramount Theatre. The first show we saw was-Orchestra Of The Spheres, aimed at ages 5-13 This show was thoroughly bizarre. This musical based performance had numerous concepts and was hard to look at, and at times you felt almost dizzy. It was made up of 4 performers who would continually encourage us to stand up and dance, which isnt a bad thing, but when the music is something entirely out of this world (that should stay out of this world), its pretty hard. The show began by two big purple eyes, a nose and a pair of lips edging their way towards the centre of the stage, later on in the show proceeded to repeat the phrase “we are of all things”, first of all, what things?! And then they moved onto rolling around on the floor whilst projecting their movements on to a projector and as the show was coming to an end everyone was relieved.

 The second show we went to was called “An Awfully Big Adventure”. This play was on at Downstage theatre. It was about World War One and what happened to the soldiers. It taught us how it began and ended. It was a brief summary of what life would have been like during World War One. Waiting for us was boxs, wigs, unusual things you normally wouldn’t see in a war story, even teddy bears! The map they used was really astonishing, it was a light blue sheet of fabric, with different coloured shirts, shorts and everything else, glued into the shape of the counties! I highly recommend this show because it is very educational and has a lot of humor and it catches your attention with the funny stereotypical accents! I think everyone enjoyed this very educational and funny show, Eva Oliver thought, “the performers use of alternative props was really something, and the amount of work put into it was outstanding I think its a great show for all ages, and I highly recommend it to anyone in need of information about WW1.” By Orla Longdon and Sophia Cave

 The third show we saw was ‘The Ballad of Pondlife Mcgurk’, aimed for ages 7-13 and this show was performed at the Wesley Church Hall in taranaki Street. Andy Manley is the creator and actor of this one man show, The Ballad of Pondlife Mcgurk. In this show Andy characterises a boy called Martin, a boy called Simon and everybody else in this 50 minute fabulous show. This show is brought to life on the floor with just four mats and four wooden boxes. Andy’s sounds are made just from his voice and a soundtrack that supplies whispers, outdoor noises, laughter and the occasional pop song. But, it’s Andy’s consistent physical and vocal work that transforms the room into a classroom, a park, an airport lounge, a school playground or even family home. The main character that Andy performs is called Martin, an American Year 5 boy who betrays his new best friend Simon, horribly. It starts when Martin, who’s stronger, lets his friend take the blame for something he has done. The show grew when Martin realized that his own football talent was going to help him get through the harsh school days of not being popular. We thought the show was outstanding, inventive, very good and breathtaking, because of the way he involved us by focusing in depth on the show and truly acting out the characters personalities and life. The key message in this play is - it can be difficult to stay true to your friends. It is best to be loyal and kind.

 By Mia Lowe