What's on at the Picton Little Theatre
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Alistair Brown in Concert
Friday 14th February, 7.30 pm Born in Scotland, and now living in Cornwal in England’s balmy southwest, Alistair Brown has been singing the old songs, and new songs written by people who like the old songs, since he was fifteen years old. Audiences at concerts and festivals across North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK have responded enthusiastically to his performances, covering the field from big ballads, comic ditties, songs of struggles (usually unsuccessful) against temptation, odes to conviviality and songs of unashamed sentimentality, to outrageously funny stories from a master of the art - all this accompanied by anglo concertina and button accordion. |
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From 1972 to 2002, he lived in Canada, where he was active in many aspects of folk song and dance, as a recording artist, radio broadcaster, columnist, festival director, dance teacher, university lecturer, and program director at folk music and dance camps. With several visits each year, he continues to make regular appearances in Canadian and US folk clubs and festivals, performing solo, or with the Friends of Fiddler's Green, with whom he has played for over 40 years.
He has entertained groups of elementary and secondary school pupils from 20 to 300 with songs and stories, been MC at many festivals and concerts, including hosting a symphony concert for an audience of 5000, has been guest on numerous radio and television programmes. He has called dances and has played in numerous dance bands. He has run courses on folk music in university and summer music camps, and has taught folk dance for many years. From 1978 to 2002, he was producer/ host of A Sign of the Times, heard on CIXX fm London, Ontario (106.9). For five years he also hosted Off She Goes, syndicated nationally in the USA on National Public Radio.
When he’s at home in Cornwall, he calls dances and performs regularly in folk clubs, festivals, pub sessions and several ancient seasonal rituals that require the presence of accordions.
“He held our discerning audience in the palm of his hand whilst singing two sets of songs from the folk club tradition, beautifully accompanied on concertina and introduced with humour and authority. He would be welcome back here anytime.”
... Roger Giles, Devonport Folk Music Club, NZ
“You can judge a performer by his technical skills and by his ability to captivate an audience. On both counts Alistair Brown came out tops ... Alistair held the entire audience to the end with his engaging manner, his cleverly timed patter and his professional delivery of a wide range of songs. The audience were glued to their seats. He is welcome back to the Illawarra Folk Club any time he is back in the country.”
... Russell Hannah Illawarra Folk Club, New South Wales
“I have heard nothing but praise and many chuckles as people have recounted their enjoyment of your songs and stories- it was just wonderful.”
... John Menzies, Wuurong concert series, Camperdown, Victoria, Australia
“Little wonder that he enjoys a healthy reputation as a much-in-demand performer (proficient and appealing both as singer and anglo concertina/ button accordion player) replete with versatility and good humour - a true folk entertainer." ... Living Tradition Magazine
"Outrageously entertaining" ... John C. Campbell Folk School, North Carolina
Tickets $20 available from Take Note Picton or Alyssums Blenheim.
He has entertained groups of elementary and secondary school pupils from 20 to 300 with songs and stories, been MC at many festivals and concerts, including hosting a symphony concert for an audience of 5000, has been guest on numerous radio and television programmes. He has called dances and has played in numerous dance bands. He has run courses on folk music in university and summer music camps, and has taught folk dance for many years. From 1978 to 2002, he was producer/ host of A Sign of the Times, heard on CIXX fm London, Ontario (106.9). For five years he also hosted Off She Goes, syndicated nationally in the USA on National Public Radio.
When he’s at home in Cornwall, he calls dances and performs regularly in folk clubs, festivals, pub sessions and several ancient seasonal rituals that require the presence of accordions.
“He held our discerning audience in the palm of his hand whilst singing two sets of songs from the folk club tradition, beautifully accompanied on concertina and introduced with humour and authority. He would be welcome back here anytime.”
... Roger Giles, Devonport Folk Music Club, NZ
“You can judge a performer by his technical skills and by his ability to captivate an audience. On both counts Alistair Brown came out tops ... Alistair held the entire audience to the end with his engaging manner, his cleverly timed patter and his professional delivery of a wide range of songs. The audience were glued to their seats. He is welcome back to the Illawarra Folk Club any time he is back in the country.”
... Russell Hannah Illawarra Folk Club, New South Wales
“I have heard nothing but praise and many chuckles as people have recounted their enjoyment of your songs and stories- it was just wonderful.”
... John Menzies, Wuurong concert series, Camperdown, Victoria, Australia
“Little wonder that he enjoys a healthy reputation as a much-in-demand performer (proficient and appealing both as singer and anglo concertina/ button accordion player) replete with versatility and good humour - a true folk entertainer." ... Living Tradition Magazine
"Outrageously entertaining" ... John C. Campbell Folk School, North Carolina
Tickets $20 available from Take Note Picton or Alyssums Blenheim.
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The Dave Upfold Show
Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th March, 7.00 pm One of the world’s busiest and most copied versatile entertainers in the world today. Dave Upfold is a World renowned Comedy Stage Hypnotist, He is one of the busiest Hypnotists, one of the most copied and one of the biggest crowd pulling Hypnotists in the world today, with a vast range of experience, from corporate, conference or club, to school and other fund raisers, to agricultural, City and town shows, to private events. He has entertained in resorts, casinos and theatres, around the world. Tickets $30pp (special offer of two for $50, offer ends 29th Feb) available from Take Note Picton or Alyssums Blenheim. Online tickets available from February on Eventfinda. |
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Caitlin Smith and ARO
Friday 24th April Caitlin Smith has been described by Mike Alexander as having “a voice that imagination created”. When she sings at the keyboard her solo performances are mesmerising and magical. |
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Original songs are interspersed with covers penned by her many heroes and heroines amongst whom Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen are rated by Caitlin as her spiritual parents. Caitlin Smith’s uni-verse is predominantly sonic. Legally blind since birth, it is said she could sing before she could speak.
Aro will be sharing infectious new songs inspired by Aotearoa’s nature and wild life in te reo Māori and English. Husband and wife Emily and Charles’ show is intimate, engaging and atmospheric with songs and stories that celebrate community and a blending of cultures.
Details to be confirmed.
Aro will be sharing infectious new songs inspired by Aotearoa’s nature and wild life in te reo Māori and English. Husband and wife Emily and Charles’ show is intimate, engaging and atmospheric with songs and stories that celebrate community and a blending of cultures.
Details to be confirmed.
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Austen Found - The Undiscovered Musicals of Jane Austen with Penny Ashton, Lori Dungley and Robbie Ellis
Tuesday 19th May Addicted to Darcy? Bonkers for Big Balls? Lost all Sense and Sensibility? Well put down your cross stitching and get ready to enjoy an entirely improvised musical in the style of Jane Austen Arts on Tour favourite Penny Ashton (Olive Copperbottom, Promise and Promiscuity, Hot Pink Bits) is back, with her most excellently accomplished friends! |
World Famous hobbit Lori Dungey (Lord of the Rings, Xena, Hercules, Master of the Improv Universe) and melodical Chicago based musical maestro Robbie Ellis (Second City, Radio NZ Concert, University of Otago Mozart Fellow, NZSO) will use your suggestions and spin instant literary magic as they swoon, romp and pianoforte.
Details to be confirmed.
Details to be confirmed.
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Kitchen Chaos!
Friday 20th July Welcome to another fabulously funny fiasco from the team that brought you The Messy Magic Adventure. When magic is accidentally let loose in the kitchen, everything is turned topsy-turvy. Now, the audience must help sensible Spray and naughty Wipe bake a very special cake before it’s too late, as their kitchen gets messier and messier. Details to be confirmed. |
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The Daylight Atheist
Thursday 6th August An instant hit when it premiered, The Daylight Atheist by award-winning satirical cartoonist Tom Scott, stars Michael Hurst in a not-to-be-missed repertoire experience. Ageing Irish raconteur Danny Moffat retreats from the harsh light of the world to his bedroom. There, under hoardings of old newspapers and beer bottles, he sorts through a lifetime of memories and regrets, from growing up as a boy in Ireland, to the hopes and disappointments of immigration to New Zealand. Tom Scott’s wonderfully inventive and fiercely funny play is a stirring portrait of his father, a deeply flawed yet charismatic bloke. Details to be confirmed. |
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Hammers and Horsehair
Sunday 16th August Hammers & Horsehair brings you Three's Company, a vibrant and varied programme of music from the late Classical period. In between two wonderful piano trios by Mozart and Beethoven are a much loved Rondo for piano by Mozart, a set of lively variations by Beethoven for piano and cello on a theme from Handel's Judas Maccabeus, and a beautiful Sonatina for violin and piano by Schubert. Details to be confirmed. |
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From Scratch
Tuesday 8th September The inventive, highly rhythmic percussion group From Scratch is like no other. It has its own characteristic Pacific-region sound, performed on a unique array of original, DIY invented instruments, including their PVC slaptubes. |
From Scratch guide their audience through a magical journey, part sculpture, part music, part ritual. Rhythmic and instrument invention lie at the heart of From Scratch and have earned the group an international reputation for visually captivating and sonically mesmerizing performances.
Details to be confirmed.
Details to be confirmed.
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Hopetoun Brown
Saturday 10th October Hopetoun Brown light up the night, their antique wind instruments shrieking wildly, evoking the spirit of New Orleans funeral processions or futuristic funk jams. |
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This is Supergroove’s horn section. Expect electric pianos, vibraphones and a van load of horns playing deep down bass lines and jumping sax licks like you’ve never heard! These New Zealand Music Hall of Fame inductees adore rare and antique acoustic instruments such the vibraphone and the bass clarinet, while embracing the bombastic power of the tuba, the tenor saxophone, trombones and multiple trumpets. They’ve teamed up with Finn Scholes, arguably one of the finest improvisers currently playing trumpet in New Zealand to form a unique and musically diverse act that can be at once tender and soulful while at times, anarchic and heavy.
Details to be confirmed.
Details to be confirmed.
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Rail Land
Saturday 7th November A journey of the mind, through song and story, about New Zealand’s on-and-off again love affair with passenger rail. |
Equal parts tragedy, comedy, and personal memoir, Rail Land is a theatrical show that weaves the critically acclaimed songs of Anthonie Tonnon with synthesizer soundscapes, and soliloquy like story-telling. Along with touches like historical letters to the editor, and meticulous notes on taking Aotearoa’s surviving public railways, Rail Land is a story of human enterprise, sabotage, obsession and hope.
The show also travels with an exhibition of historic NZ Rail Advertising Department posters and schematic maps, blown up to large scale.
Details to be confirmed.
The show also travels with an exhibition of historic NZ Rail Advertising Department posters and schematic maps, blown up to large scale.
Details to be confirmed.
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