Great Opening Weekend for 2013 Christchurch Arts Festival

A world premiere play and sold out performances of cabaret show CANTINA were highlights of the first weekend of the Christchurch Arts Festival. But, says director Philip Tremewan, there’s plenty more to come.

Christchurch Arts Festival opened last Thursday and runs until 22 September with more than 50 shows and events mostly centred across the five weekends.

“We’re thrilled with our opening weekend for the Festival,” Mr Tremewan said. “Ticket sales are good and people are getting involved. We had wonderful openings of our two outside visual arts exhibitions – Fly Me Up To Where You Are and Thx 4 The Memories – capacity audiences for CANTINA and the feedback from Gifted was fantastic.”

Mr Tremewan said the Festival was also delighted to be “backing the bull” and $1 from every ticket sold to any show at the Fletcher Building Festival Club will be donated to the campaign to buy Michael Parekowhai’s On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer for Christchurch.

“We’re delighted to have the bull on loan next to the Fletcher Building Festival Club. It certainly adds to the atmosphere here.”

The Festival this year spans a wide range of genres – music, dance, theatre, visual arts, classical music, comedy, cabaret, circus and a ‘Festival of Ideas’ all rub up against each other offering something to cater for all tastes.

Highlights of the coming weekend include two theatre shows – from England company 1927 comes The Animals and Children Took To The Streets which Mr Tremewan describes as a delightfully gruesome tale which is definitely not a children’s story; and Live at Six which follows the action as a newsreader misbehaves and the two rival television networks scramble for the story. Scottish Opera’s BabyO is on for the youngest members of the family; saucy cabaret CANTINA continues its season; The Words and Music of Jacques Brel is sold out, as is the season of Hotel; the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra performs The Rite; and only a handful of tickets remain for Michael Houstoun’s Beethoven reCYCLE:Part Two.

Christchurch Arts Festival is on until 22 September. More information and booking details are available at www.artsfestival.co.nz

ENDS

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