Sam Neill headlines free public events
Sam Neill headlines free public events at City Gallery
this weekend
High profile New Zealand actor Sam Neill and acclaimed choreographer, dancer and director Michael Parmenter will give free public floortalks at City Gallery this weekend as part of a series of outstanding public events timed to coincide with the final month of the landmark exhibition Colin McCahon - A Question of Faith.
Recognised as one of New Zealand's most highly regarded dancers and choreographers, on Saturday 22 March at 2pm, Michael Parmenter will discuss McCahon's influence on his choreography and thinking in a talk entitled Dancing in McCahon's Landscape. Then on Sunday 23 March at 2pm, Sam Neill will talk about McCahon's work, in an event that is already attracting a lot of interest and is bound to appeal to both arts enthusiasts and the public at large.
In 1999 Michael Parmenter premiered his epic dance theatre work Jerusalem to sell-out houses through-out New Zealand. Set against an enormous McCahon-esque landscape, Jerusalem was described as "A triumph of artistry and imagination. No recent choreographer has quite so boldly challenged the role of the theatre as entertainment or religious experience."
The Great Victory of Colin McCahon is the title given to Sam Neill's talk and refers to the actor's view that McCahon's painting Victory over Death 2 is "the greatest single work of art ever produced in Australasia." Neill will talk about that, along with "rugby, pies and other pressing issues of the day."
Admission to all events
is free. For more information, images and interview
inquiries please contact Anna Davidson, Publicist T: 04 801
3959 / E: anna.davidson@wcc.govt.nz