Ignition

Programme 

Performance Café

The Meteor

Fri 13 June at 8pm

Tickets:  $5

Kick off your 2008 Fringe Festival experience with an injection

of 10 minute hits of performance madness.  Let our MC’s guide you through a smorgasbord selection of performance – theatre, stunts, comedy, drag, Shakespeare, sound and visual experiences, wrapped up with music to dance the night away.  Always a great night out, come join us for a staple Hamilton event.  Bar on site.

Cloud Appreciation Society

Mask Workshop

New Place Theatre

Sat 14th June and Sun 15th June, 10am to 4.30pm

Tickets:  $40, Concs $25, Children: $20 (must be accompanied by an adult), Group bookings aval

Ever wanted to transform yourself?  Didn’t think you could do it with paper, cane and paint?  Well, now you can!  Come along and learn mask-making.  You’ll complete at least one mask, learn a little about their history, and then, if you’re up to it take part in a public performance.  Anyone can make masks – you don’t have to be “artistic”!

Limited number of participants – Please register early to fringe

Short public performance in Garden Place on Sun 15th June, afternoon

Moan Enterprises

Moan

The Meteor

Tues 17 June at 8pm

Tickets: Koha up to $5 max

Whether it’s a grumble about the state of the country or a groan of pain or pleasure, we all love a good moan.  This evening of poetry and performance sets out to explore the theme of ‘having a moan’.  Expect an exhilarating evening of superb poetry and music from Hamilton’s underground writing scene, along with some notable one-night-only imports.

Twitch Dance Collective

Three

New Place Theatre

Sat 14 June at 7.30pm,   Sun 15 June at 6pm,  Mon 16 June at 7.30pm

Tickets:  $8, Concs:  $5, Children: Gold coin donation

This triple bill showcase of contemporary dance pieces is by up-and-coming local and internationally recognised dance artists and is sure to be an exciting affair.  The evening kicks off with a solo reflecting on a spiritual journey, followed by two newly developed choreographies especially created for the event.

Germina Stacey

Oops! Wrong Box

Window of Glamz, Garden Place

From Fri 13 June to Sat 21 June, in the afternoon

Koha

The mime is a cliché performance of a person who goes on an adventure with it’s imagination and the audiences imagination.  Most of the time the mime seems to be trapped in a box.  What would happen if the mime’s imagination becomes a reality?  What will it do?  How will it pretend to escape reality?

Dave Wiggins

Yankeeish

Flow Bar, Victoria Street

Wed 18th June till Fri 20th June at 7.30pm

Tickets:  $15, Concs:  $13, Students:  $10

Groups:  $10 each for a group of 6 or more

After a sell out show at the Summer Gardens Festival, award winning comedian Dave Wiggins returns to Hamilton with a new show to tackle the paradox of his American heritage and his recent adaptation to the Kiwi way of life.  Contains play on word jokes.

“…very easy and fluid style…his observations were also very astute…well picked and delivered”    – Texture.co.nz

The Art of Original Thought

Flow Bar, Victoria Street

Fri 20 June at 9.30pm

Tickets:  Koha, up to $5 max

The Art of Original Thought celebrates contemporary poetry with a small team of funky fresh poets (feat. Eryn Gribble of Wellington).  They aim to accuse, inspire and enlighten audiences.  Forget the withered rose cliché!  This is poetry like you haven’t heard before!!  This event features an open mic segment so bring along your works of literacy genius, or just get up and have a rant!!

Tuff Animations

Myth Takes Puppet Show

The Meteor

Sat 14 June at 11am and Sun 15 June at 11am

20 minute show, bring a cushion if you wish

Koha

Myths and puppet shows both have a timeless appeal for audiences, and myth takes combines the two in a quirky mini-extravaganza.  Drawing on the geographical background of the director, the show uses handcrafted puppets to retell a select few Cornish and Kiwi myths as you’ve never experienced them before.

Foolish Endeavours

Completely Mad Bastard – StuntKnut

Garden Place

Sat 14 June at 12pm, Sun 15 June at 12pm, Sat 21 June at 12pm

Koha

A dazzling array of cunning stunts performed by accident prone stunt idiot, Completely Mad Bastard.  Gag at the budget drink of death!  Cringe at the tunnel of love! And lose your lunch as completely mad bastard performs the human judderbar. Not for the faint of heart, or weak of stomach.  This show promises to leave you just a little bit queasy.

The Trons (with Greg Locke)

The Trons – self playing robotic band

Garden Place

Fri 13 June at 11am and at 12.30pm,

The Meteor     

Sun 15 June at 11.30am

Koha

Be part of the debut performance of New Zealand’s first entirely robotic junk pop band.  Mechanical hands with meccano fingers driven by electronic circuits and computer parts play real instruments just like a human band.  Made from salvaged and recycled materials, Ham, Wiggy, Swamp, and Fifi rock out together in this unique Hamilton creation… the Trons.

A Taste of Japan

The Meteor

Sat 14 June at 6:30pm, Sun 15 June at 2:30pm

Tickets:  $15, Concs:  $10, Children:  $7

Groups:  $10 each for a group of 10 or more

Experience the power and the passion of Taiko drumming.  A beautiful vision of grace and strength, Taiko combines movement and music in a dynamic fusion which entices the eyes and ears.  Wai Taiko presents a new show with even more! Powerful drumming, delicate instrumentals and festival dances all combine to take you on a journey to experience Japan like never before.

Big Picture Film Festival

New Place Theatre

Wed 18th June until Friday 20th June, 7pm

Koha

The Big Picture Film Festival highlights the world’s most thought-provoking documentaries interspersed with an intriguing selection of short films. Topics range from lush organic farms in the Jordanian desert to the fascinating history of global oil politics. Whether created by experienced directors or basement geniuses they're sure to challenge and inform.

Sex and Voodoo- the deadman’s pants improv showcase

The Meteor

Mon 16 June to Fri 20 June @ 6:30pm

Tickets:  $12, Concs:  $10, Children:  $6

Groups:  $8 each for a group of 10 or more

A frenetic night of comedy , showcasing Hamilton’s best improvisational talent, featuring “Who’s line is it anyway” style game play as well as the world’s first improvised zombie soap opera – ‘The Young and the Restless Dead’.  Will Sherrilyn realise her mistake?  How will Conrad adjust to life as a walking corpse? Tune in nightly and find out for yourself!

Country Music Entertainment

Celebrating Age Centre

Sun 15 June at 1.30pm

Tickets: $5, Children: free

A group of singers and musicians who delight in sharing their country music with anyone who will listen.  Suitable for the senior generation, a very entertaining afternoon followed by a cup of tea.

Adrienne Grant

Camera Obscura

New Friends Contemporary Art Space

Sat 14 June to Sat 21 June, 10am to 4pm

Free

Experience the magic of being inside a camera.  Two venues in Hamilton will be transformed into camera obscura – essentially giant walk-in pinhole cameras.  A small hole in a darkened room channels light and projects an eerie view of the world outside upside down.  Be mesmerized by this natural, technology free phenomenon - a forerunner to the invention of photography.

OPENING EVENT: Saturday 14th June, 3pm at New Friends

Also showing at Auteur House, 555 Victoria Street

Night of the Freakin Hamiltrons

Flow Bar, Victoria Street

Sat 21 June at 9.30pm

Tickets:  $10, Concession:  $7

From Hamilton’s experimental underground comes a night of electronic pop, garage soundscape, and crazed musical machines.  Ambient minimalist Kill the Zodiac, multi-instrumentalist Doteyes, oscillator maggot man “Bingodisiac”, the stage debut of self-playing robot band The Trons, plus from Wellington special guest Disasteradio.  Capped off with avant-garde film, a night of music on the fringe.

Graeme Cairns

Grave Era

Garden Place

Mon 15 June to Fri 20 June at 11.45am

Free

What surprises lie just beneath the surface?  Recent reshaping of Garden Place on display for one week only, before moving permanently to Te Papa, these unusual gravestones reveal that our colonial past was considerably more peculiar than most of us imagine.  Tours by Dr. Hapuka – Professor of Post-Modern Archaeology each day at noon, and 1pm.  unearthed a long forgotten cemetery.

Two Men: Three guitars

Steal this Play

New Place Theatre

Wed 18th June till Fri 20th June at 9pm

Koha

Five years ago a group of Hamilton artists came together to pool their talents.  The results: catastrophic.  Now only three remain; plucking strings, humming tunes and telling old jokes.  Over the hour they sing songs ranging from the irreverent to the irrelevant, the silly to the also silly.  Steal this Play:  putting the fringe in copyright infringement.

Marion Chastelas

A Slice of Life

Ariki Gallery

Mon 16 June to Sat 21 June, 10am to 4pm

Exhibition opening:  Mon 16 June at 5.30pm

Free

Inspired by New Zealand culture, people, and landscapes, and created rhythmical voices in collages.  Marion goes through magazines and rips off pictures that strike her, and then glues them down in fresh and spontaneous ways.  Colours and shapes confront each other but never merge.  Listen to collages, they relate a state of mind and recount stories.

Photography by Cathleen Tarawhiti

Real Life

Ariki Gallery

Mon 16 June to Sat 21 June, 10am to 4pm

Exhibition opening:  Mon 16 June at 5.30pm

Free

This ‘Real Life’ exhibition features six photographic works sized 800mm x 600mm on canvas.  This is New Zealand life through Cathleen's eyes – each piece tells a story evoking emotions, memories, laughter, and a touch of magic.

James Wilson

Bronwyn gets Her Death on

The Meteor foyer

Fri 13 June to Sat 21 June, 12pm to 10pm

Combining the dramatic impact of street art with the detail and intimacy of portraiture and allegory, all seen through a dark glass, the paintings and drawings of James Wilson seek to revive our respect for such lost virtues as remorse, guilt and failure.  Laconic amusement at human pride takes the edge off, here and there.  Cheap chemotherapy for the soul.

Toadstool Theatre Company

Murder, Hope of Womankind

The Meteor

Wed 18th June till Fri 20th June at 8pm

Koha

Hailed by the Nazis as a ‘degenerate artist’, Oskar Kokoschka enjoyed an eccentric and fluctuating reputation.  His play, ‘Murder, Hope of Womankind’ shocked and outraged audiences at its first performance a hundred years ago in 1908.  A bodice ripping scream fest, the play is still alarming.  It’s poetic intensity and expressionist dreamscape complimented in this production by a carnivalesque musical accompaniment.

Kindness of Strangers

Kindness of Strangers

The Meteor

Thurs 19th June and Fri 20th June at 9.30pm

Tickets:  $9, Concession: $5 (with flowers), Children: free

Flickering and coloured sounds shuffle with audible sights as words and notes expand and collapse upon one another.  Narrative DNA generators.  Time waves.  (E)motion picture sound tracks.  Another seldom manicfestration of the Kindness of Strangers.

The Bivouac et al

The Bald Prima Donna 

The Meteor

Sat 14 June at 9pm

Tickets:  $5

“Words, Words, Words” – said Hamlet.  “How amazing, how extraordinary and what a strange coincidence” says Mrs Martin.  For this play is all about words… and paint!  Inspired by ‘Learn to speak English’ phrase books, this rehearsed reading is a blank canvas that is splattered, daubed and thrown with colour.  Theatre with Art? or Art with Theatre? All written by Eugene Ionesco.

Waikato Moving Image Trust

Eclectic Shorts – A selection of Hamilton Films

Media Arts Moving Image Studio, Wintec R Block, Collingwood Street

Sat 14th June 7pm, Sun 15th at 4pm

All tickets:  $10

A showcase of Hamilton films from some of our premiere short filmmakers. Hamilton has a vibrant and diverse range of filmmakers who consistently crank out wee visual gems for our viewing pleasure. Come and see the next Peter Jackson, Jane Campion or Nicky Caro before they hit the big time.  Contact: mrjoecitizen@gmail.com