Talk Is Free Theatre Takes Three Productions to New Zealand

Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) has partnered with New Zealand-based producer A Mulled Whine to bring a collection of their celebrated productions to Auckland this month for the Talk Is Free Theatre Festival, continuing their tradition of touring tailor-adapted immersive projects around the world.

From January 10-13, 2024, a clearing in the wooded grounds of Corban Estate Arts Centre in Auckland’s west end will serve as the stage for TIFT’s critically acclaimed outdoor, site-specific production of Into The Woods, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, and directed by TIFT Artistic Associate, Michael Torontow. The cast includes Aidan deSalaiz and Alexis Gordon as the Baker and Baker’s Wife, Mike Nadajewski as the Narrator/Mysterious Man, Glynis Ranney as Cinderella’s Stepmother/Jack’s Mother, Noah Beemer as Jack/Steward, and Blythe Wilson as the Witch. The production was nominated for seven Dora Awards when it played the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto in 2021.

Te Pou Theatre, a kaupapa Māori performing arts venue located on the grounds of Corban Estate Arts Centre, will serve as the starting point for Tales of an Urban Indian, a play for one actor directed by Herbie Barnes and set entirely on a moving bus. From January 10-14, 2024, audiences will board a bus at Te Pou Theatre and take in Darrell Dennis’ play about a contemporary Indigenous man who grows up both on the reserve and in “big-city” Vancouver. A perennial favourite, Tales of An Urban Indian features Nolan Moberly embodying several characters, and has played over 500 performances in locations around the world.

Also from January 10-14, guests will be invited to walk into the woods at Auckland Botanic Gardens and retrace steps taken by a classic heroine of Russian folktales with What She Burned, an immersive installation collaboratively created by Joe Pagnan, Clarke Blair, Cameron Fraser and Richard Lam, inspired by the folklore written by Alexander Afanasyev. Featuring mid-century bootlegging techniques fused with modern projection art, this piece is experienced in intimate groups of up to four people.

While producing full seasons at home in Barrie, touring immersive productions is a mainstay for TIFT, having appeared on three continents outside North America over the course of their 20+ year existence. Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak believes touring is integral to the art:

“Touring to other parts of the world has such a profound impact. Not only do we get to share Canadian arts and culture with people in other countries, we also try to connect with new audiences who may not have access to the kinds of theatre that we produce. Touring also provides our artists with a much more enlightened view of the world outside Canada as we build partnerships with other arts organizations and learn about similarities and differences in our cultures.”

In 2023 alone, the company had productions of Tales of an Urban Indian play in Suriname, in Santiago, Chile, and in non-urban communities in Argentina; their production of Adam Meisner’s For Both Resting and Breeding also played in Santiago and in Buenos Aires. Earlier this year, Buenos Aires audiences experienced a roving production of Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as part of the bigger day-long event, entitled The Curious Voyage. In Canada, their production of Sweeney Todd received several Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including Outstanding Production of a Musical. Tales of an Urban Indian will also appear in Fiji in 2024.

This is not the first time the company has brought their work to the other side of the planet: in 2019, Tales of an Urban Indian played to audiences in Brisbane and at the Yirramboi Festival in Melbourne. In early 2020, TIFT partnered with Hartstone-Kitney Productions to bring three productions–Tales of an Urban Indian, For Both Resting and Breeding and Duncan MacMillan’s Every Brilliant Thing–to the Adelaide Fringe, where Every Brilliant Thing, staged inside a suburban home, won an SA Bank Award for Best Theatre.

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