PRIDE: BEST OF THE FEST
With so much on – Fringe Festival, Pride, Summer Shakespeare, Arts Festival – it’s tricky to separate who from what and to remember what was Pride and what wasn’t. Regardless, it was a feast worth partaking in.
I had four outstanding experiences during Pride, two were theatre works of exceptional depth and quality, one was a conference and the other an odd little creature called ‘A Different Conversation’.
It’s impossible to separate the theatre works because they were simply so different. Mika’s ‘Room 1334’ was a brilliant shift in emphasis from the glam to the unashamedly intellectual and the deviation was beautifully handled. Don’t get me wrong, it was still dazzlingly gorgeous but this show had a depth in the writing and the conceptualisation that challenged its audience in ways that I, for one, love to be challenged.
Mika
Jay Te Wake – producer
‘Girl on a Corner’, Victor Rodger’s new work, was remarkable in quite a different way in that he had the courage to create a massive role inside for a transgender actress in what is essentially an ensemble work. Amanaki Prescott was quite simply brilliant as Shalimar, the direction was taut and exposed the fragility of the narrative, and the script was an absolute stunner.
Amanaki Prescott as Shalimar
Ten out of ten for both of these fine productions.
‘Queers in Tertiary Hui 2015’, hosted this year by AUT University, was an excellent example of just how impressive our queer academics really are. Professor Edwina Pio’s paper, Je Suis Diversity, provided a politicised context to the day, Aych McArdle’s Our Gendered City looked at how we use language to reflect the experiences of gender-diverse Aucklanders, and Professor Welby Ings – perhaps the best presenter on every level that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to – provoked even more than usual with Why We Should Always Write With Pink Chalk. A simply magnificent day.
Professor Edwina Pio
Aych McArdle
Professor Welby Ings
‘A Different Conversation’ was a day and a half forum that explored the interface between the LGBTIQ communities and people of faith, in this case Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians. It’s historically a fraught space, a space of anger and dissention, but this proved to be quite the opposite with respectful dialogue, much laughter and much more than expected harmony. Highlights of the weekend were showings of Maya Newell’s excellent documentary film ‘Growing up Gayby’ and the contribution made by Chairman of the Otara-Papakura Local Board Fa’anana Efeso Collins who talked about yet another, even more complex, interface, that of LGBTIQ, Christianity and the Samoan community. Vivid, funny, moving and rich.
Maya Newell
Incedo – producer
Four experiences that illustrate what an amazing set of communities we belong to and just how a festival such as Pride can illuminate this richness.
PS I didn’t do the parade and fully support the actions of No Pride in Prisons.
Je Suis Emmy.
dykiegirl 