Full-flavoured Works in Bite-sized Time Slots

Short+Sweet Festival Offers Full-flavoured Works in Bite-sized Time Slots

Short+Sweet Festival 2015 swings into Auckland in September with hundreds of artists performing theatre, dance and song in small but perfectly formed 10-minute works.

New for 2015 is Short+Sweet Cabaret which will be part of the Short+Sweet Song nights, and for the first time Short+Sweet is heading to Wellington for a pilot season in November.

Short+Sweet Festival Auckland 2015 takes place at TAPAC (The Auckland Performing Arts Centre), at Western Springs from 1-27 September and in Wellington at BATS Theatre from 3-7 November.

This year’s festival in Auckland begins with Short+Sweet Dance from 1-6 September followed by Short+Sweet Theatre from 8-20 September with 10 pieces performed per night across two weeks. Short+Song and Short+Sweet Cabaret take place from 25-27 September.

In Wellington Short+Sweet Festival will focus on theatre for this year, although musical entries are also welcome.

Short+Sweet Festival producer Sums Selvarajan said it was exciting adding a special category for cabaret performers and to be debuting the Festival in Wellington this year.

“We’re always looking at ways to make the Festival even better and we’re very keen to spread it further around New Zealand.”

Ms Selvarajan said Short+Sweet has plenty of appeal because no single performance is longer than 10 minutes “and you know that the next work is only ever 10 minutes away”.

“These aren’t snippets of shows – like short films, each piece is a complete work in itself. A night at Short+Sweet is one where you won’t know what’s coming next – it’s a real feast of styles and subjects.”
The festival involves more than 350 creatives including theatre directors, playwrights, choreographers, composers and performers.

Ms Selvarajan said an important part of the Festival was the nightly audience vote – each night audience members cast their ballot for their favourite shows. The top shows are presented in a Gala event for each genre.

Short+Sweet began 13 years ago in Sydney and had its first outing in New Zealand in January 2010. It has migrated to other countries in South East Asia and has been adapted to suit the local performing arts communities in individual countries.

Short+Sweet Festival is on at TAPAC (The Auckland Performing Art Centre), Motions Rd, Western Springs, Auckland from 1-27 September and at BATS Theatre in Wellington from 3-7 November. Find out more at www.shortandsweet.org.nz

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