Alexa Wilson has produced a series of monthly political performance evenings  this winter at the Golden Dawn bar to mark election year and raise awareness about the need to go out and vote. Under the title Millionaire Prime Minister (John Key being one of those) these performances  have all raised important political and  environmental issues. Since it is election time across the country, I feel this show is relevant, and it certainly gives people the chance to share their opinions.

The final night of the series begins with Djs playing tunes warming everyone up for the show.

Alexa Wilson opens the show up with a mesmerising performance, naked and painted from her knees up to her face. The paint on her face covers her mouth and nose resembling a mask concealing her identity. Two of her fellow performers, wearing protective glasses, look controlling while holding up for her a piece of transparent plastic like a riot shield. Alexa is performing calm tai chi like movements behind the plastic as two other performers proceeded to throw junk at her. She breaks out from her realm of safety to be infected by the restraints of the society attacking her from the other side of the plastic. The movement soon becomes more erratic and vocals are used to ignite the pressure inflicted on her individuality. Some of the audience are at Golden Dawn just having a casual drink after work. Judging by their reactions they are not ready for the sharp edginess of the performance, which I think works well with the nature of the piece.

Following Alexa are pieces of poetry, performed in a non apologetic manner, one of which is accompanied by dancing from Georgia J M Giesen. Jahra Wassasala makes her debut, showcasing a very strong and honest expression of feminism. She switches in and out of male and female roles, expressing anger towards sexist men and touching on the subject that women should be allowed to wear what they like and not be judged or assaulted. “It takes a real man to treat a women right.” Jahra also has dancers dressed in skin coloured tops, shorts and blazers. These dancers added a physical emphasis to Jahra’s words. I admire Jahra’s work and think that she is very well spoken.

The next section is very interesting. Helium balloons are all tied up on stage waiting for people to come up and inhale the helium while reading an article from the newspaper. This  interacts with the audience and motivates them to come up and be a part of the message. It is cute, but it goes on too long.

EVOLP are a rap group from Auckland. They are known for energetic live performances and this time they change their approach to include a range of contemporary performance techniques. The group consists of 3 rappers and one performer. For this piece, each one of the rappers represents one of these words: Conspiracy, Individuality and Politics. Their views on conspiracy deal with different media mediums, throwing around the word conspiracy. Labelling truth, myth and misleading the public. Individuality confronts the issue of the “Ideal man”.  As young men they have certain expectations surrounding them and leaders of society have built pathways to benefit their own plan but not the peoples. Making it harder to do what you want to do for a living and be paid for it. The politics section is dealing with faces and what lies beneath. Implying you never know who could be crazy, evil or a sociopath! Just because the people who lead our countries are always smiling and say great things does not mean we should take that image for granted. This piece contains choreographed movement and merged poetry/spoken word with rap very smoothly, creating a cohesive performance.

The last piece is a woman in a pink wig, performing a song accompanied by a projection. Her message was unclear but her commitment to her performance was convincing.

Millionaire PM is honest, daring, funny, serious, dark and conceptually amazing. A lot of the ideas in the show fly over my head however I am satisfied with what I can piece together. There is much to think about, and this is definitely not a bad thing. I came away feeling small in this big world of power and influence. But I felt bigger knowing performance art through collaboration can create change by connecting people with the same message.

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