Strange Bedfellows is an exploration of the intersections between different art forms and the magic that can happen when we are forced to step out of our habitual our habitual ways of creating.

A warm hearted community project, this assemblage of artists collaborating in shared new works adds up to an evening of unpretentious fun. A generous handful of creative spirits, a church and what must have been a considerable support team deserve applause for the enterprise.

The idea behind the work is that having practising artists collaborate with those from another form of expression can produce surprising and certainly fresh results. On the other hand, things may not gel at all, or not yet. Or the work may need to be shaped some more and appropriate performance skills perfected. Meanwhile an audience can respond to the initiative and diversity of the new.

The Master of Ceremonies, Viktor Kropotski, quoted in the programme, explains the implication of the title and the exploration it suggests.’What that will look like nobody knows. We have to be present. We have to listen. We have to be daring’. Indeed we do all of this patiently, as the four ‘acts’ set up, with much filling in from the cheerful MC. In this setting, delays and sometimes performance techniques do not seem to matter as much as the sense of  sharing we are offered.

First up is What’s in a Name?, an account from a German Kiwi, Anke Richter, of her struggles with the English and Maori language and Kiwis’ struggles with her name. As writer, she speaks the material, with some supportive music from Darren Tatom and William Field. In this case,the intersection of art forms does not really break through familiar process, but for all that entertains us well enough.

There are some exciting scenes in the short film, The Mask we Wear, which follows. The film maker, Richard Humphreys, captures strange masks moving about the local environment and the masks themselves (from Cathy Pollock and Anthea Ungerboeck) are beautifully made. The use of them on live bodies beside the screen is not as successful, although it gives us a chance to see the crafted items up close.

The next piece, we are warned, is unrehearsed, but the three performers seem comfortable enough with the random ideas each explores. Seeking connections could be at the heart of it, but although interesting from moment to moment, the art forms explored – costume,dance, painting,music and recorded speech do not cohere for me. Dylan Hawes, Katiche Tranter and Lee Harper are the brave souls who pose the questions.

The final piece, Communion of Poetry, works well and simply. Lucy Matthews and Ciaran Fox share the reading of a long and charming list of beatitudes, standing each side of a  very large cake. It is in fact the ‘word made cake’ since it is inscribed with the words of the whole poem. The art of cake icing meets the art of declamation most appetisingly, for in a splendid act of generosity, the audience is asked to gather for a slice and the feeling of a community sharing community art  is happily celebrated. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer