100% PURE TOUR
Wellington Waterfront, leaving from the Albatross statue, near Whairepo Lagoon and Kaffee Eis, Wellington
17/02/2018 - 17/02/2018
Production Details
Audio enhanced new theatre show takes on the New Zealand tourism industry with humour.
100% Pure Tour is an original promenade theatre show that integrates audio technology to interrogate the complex realities of the tourism industry. The show will break out of the traditional theatre space and take performance to the streets, with performances taking place in the open air along the Wellington waterfront.
In the show, audiences are invited on an audio-accompanied tour like no other. While the tour guides recite their sanitised, corporate-approved spiels out loud, inside the audience’s earphones the guide’s inner monologue can be heard, inviting a more nuanced take on the supposed “pure” environment of the waterfront. Full of colourful, eccentric characters and satirical humour, 100% Pure Tour is sure to make theatregoers laugh, learn, and think harder about the ways we package our scenery and stories as a “brand”.
“Audio immersive theatre is a growing experimental form that inspires me,” says director and deviser Bethany Miller. “It’s been a pleasure getting to investigate it… and add something new into the mix.”
100% Pure Tour is the major project of Miller’s Master of Fine Arts degree at Victoria University of Wellington. The cast includes three skilled performers and devisers – George Fenn (Router Sidewalker), Isadora Lao (Like Sex) and Emma Katene (Two Belles in Love) – who are also students and graduates of the Victoria University of Wellington theatre programme. “[Victoria’s] MFA program has been a great basis for working professionally in creative arts,” Miller attests.
Wellington Waterfront, leaving from the Albatross statue, near Whairepo Lagoon and Kaffee Eis
3-4 February and 10-11 February 2018
12noon, 1pm, 3pm and 4pm
Tickets $10/$5
Book through Eventfinda.
Message on 9 Feb:
Hello audience members,
Unfortunately, the weather forecast for this weekend is not looking good. Due to the fact our show is outdoors on the waterfront, bad weather means that the audience experience for a wet weather show would be sub-par, and so we’ve decided to cancel this weekend’s shows and offer an alternate date (Saturday 17th February) for all those who have already booked.
According to forecasts, Saturday 17th should be mostly fine with some light drizzle, so it is our hope that our shows can go ahead as planned then.
ACTORS: Isadora Lao, George Fenn, Emma Katene
STAGE MANAGER: Samantha Burnard
PRODUCTION & MARKETING MANAGER: Cassandra Tse
SOUND DESIGNER: Duncan Phillips
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Ben Emerson
PHOTOGRAPHER: Kacey Collins
Theatre , Outdoor ,
Very funny and often alarming
Review by James Stevenson 18th Feb 2018
When I arrive at the Waterfront, I find an idyllic scene: the sun shining on a chattering crowd. Amidst all this, I make my way to the intrepid performers who have set out to shatter these illusions. Their vehicle for doing this is an outdoor show called the 100% Pure Tour.
The show is framed as a walking tour of the Wellington waterfront, full of Lord of the Rings references and other such Tourism NZ clichés. As they walk, the audience listens to a pre-prepared audio track on mp3 players which they are given before the show starts. The advertising material makes out that the tour guides give us the PR spin, while the mp3 tells us the dark truths behind what we’re told. The reality is more complicated: the audio track often tells us much the same thing as the tour guides do, but at other times it tells us the inner thoughts of the tour guides, revealing what they’re contractually obligated not to say. It’s also used for various other effects, such as the playing of music (including, of course, the Lord of the Rings soundtrack). I won’t give further details for fear of spoilers, but it’s very well done.
The actors, of course, have to keep time with the mp3 track for the 40-minute duration of the show. I can’t imagine this to be an easy task, but they pull it off without any sign of difficulty, and give what would be fantastic performances under any circumstances. Isadoraa Lao displays clownish physicality as awkward, bumbling health and safety officer Shelley. As voice of reason Miriama, Emma Katene conveys all of her character’s exasperation and forced smiles. George Fenn’s insufferable, self-absorbed, racist Neil is full of egotistical energy. All three actors share a great comic timing.
The show relentlessly parodies the New Zealand tourism industry, taking aim at it for presenting the country as a sort of product, selling environment and history while erasing pollution and colonialism. The whitewashed New Zealand the guides present us with is contrasted with shocking facts and statistics about our environment (did you know that our streams are the third most polluted in the world?). However, the parody is very broad and seems to lack nuance. We’re told why the “100% Pure” lies are bad, and what is wrong with our culture and environment, but we get no sense of what might motivate those in power to tell these lies, and the result can often feel one-dimensional.
Still, the show is very much worth going to. It’s very funny and full of often alarming information.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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