Robbie Ellis

(Design thiefed from mrvintage.co.nz)

The programme for the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival has been released. The whole festival runs from 17 February to 1 March 2012, and it’s held within the grounds of the best thing Hamilton has to offer. There are so many beautiful areas, especially the themed gardens (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, American modernist, etc), and many of the shows take advantage of those onnections.

For instance, in 2010 I performed inside the Victorian Garden Conservatory as the pianist in Austen Found: The Undiscovered Musicals of Jane Austen – a slight anachronism in name (Jane Austen being from the Regency period some decades earlier), but very similar in culture and setting.

In 2012, I’ll be playing keys in two further shows in that same venue:

The First Asian A* B*. A two-hander comedy by Renee Liang about growing up in New Zealand, which I first performed at BATS Theatre in Wellington during the Rugby World Cup. Does Willy Long become the first ever Asian All Black? Well, you’ll just have to see the show to find out.

Four performances (Wed 22 Feb x2; Thu 23 Feb, Sat 25 Feb), $20/$15/$10 – book here. I’ll be wearing my 2009 North Harbour rugby jersey.

Holmes Alone. Greg Ellis from The Improvisors creates a Sherlock Holmes story in the character of Dr Watson. He goes to the audience for suggestions and it’s freakin’ amazing how he ties all the strands together in the end. I provided his musical accompaniment in a season at Circa Theatre during the 2010 New Zealand International Comedy Festival.

Two performances (Fri 24 & Sat 25 Feb), $20/$15 – book here. I’ll be wearing something appropriately late Victorian.

You should come see these shows. Waikato? Why not!

Pride and Pestilence.

I should blog about Austen Found – Zombie Time.

The short of it: I have played pianoforte for 31 public performances of Austen Found: The Undiscovered Musicals of Jane Austen. We debuted it at the 2008 New Zealand Improv Festival in Wellington, sold out our drama school rehearsal room at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe, and were extremely well received in October last year as part of the STAMP Programme in Auckland.

Penny Ashton has more background on her own blog.

This new show, well, it’s a bit of a twist. I won’t have workshopped exactly this format with the cast before I get there, but all of us have improvised together before so I’m sure it’ll be just cooking. It is my first gig under the brand new Instant Kiwis banner – quite exciting.

I am on the 5:10pm flight out of Dunedin, I’ll get to Auckland Airport just before 7pm, allow an hour for the Air Bus to drop me a block away from Q and then I’ve got an hour to warm up before the 9pm show. No pressure, Air New Zealand.

Two weeks ago I played music for a zombie burlesque show. This week I do a zombie Austen show. Two weeks from now I should logically be part of an Austen burlesque show. Two words: ankle pasties.

Anyway, everyone book if you’re in Auckland. It’s at the same time as the Rugby World Cup third-place playoff, but who really cares about that?

So I missed the first night of the New Zealand Improv Festival in Wellington. I was filling in for Kate Mead on Sound Lounge. And I’ll miss the second night too. I’m filling in for Kate Mead on Nights with Bryan Crump. (See what happens when people take leave from work?!)

But I’ll be there the third, fourth and fifth nights, playing musical accompaniment for ten different shows. You should come. Book at BATS Theatre.

Two in particular leap out at me as being very exciting:

The Long Weekend. I blogged about this a few weeks ago but since then I’ve actually workshopped it with the players! The ideas they have will make for some emotionally honest improv – the disconnect between idealised memories of uni days and the reality of late-20s-hood / early-30s-hood is perfect fodder for interpersonal relationships to laugh and cry over. Thu 13 October, 9:30pm.

Rebecca De Unamuno is… Open to Suggestion. I’ve performed with Rebecca in festivals in Wellington, Melbourne and Adelaide. She’s one of the most fantastic improvisers I know, and I think this’ll be the first time I’ve seen her do her solo show. I get to be her musician on acoustic guitar, and I have the feeling I’m going to get a lot out of it. As well as that, John Smythe has high praise. Fri 14 October, 8:00pm.

However, like any good parent, I love all my children shows equally. Just some of them are more special than others.

Finally, I’m particularly looking forward to massive multi-muso on the final night, when I’ll join with Tane Upjohn-Beatson and Sam Smith to make an improv band.

Until then, back to writing my slot for Nights!

The cast of The Long Weekend, a brand new show from WIT debuting at the New Zealand Improv Festival.

Just announced is the programme for the 2011 New Zealand Improv Festival, being held at BATS Theatre in Wellington from 11 to 15 October.

There are guests from Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch. I’ll be playing music for a significant number of the 18 shows.

Tickets can be booked through BATS Theatre, and there are multi-show deals too.

In other news, this website (robbie.co.nz) is still under construction. Had to have a WordPress reinstall a few days ago too. This weekend is the time to work on it.

It was about time for me to upgrade my website – a single HTML page was always just a bit manky. This’ll look a bit transitional for a while as I figure out how to properly customise WordPress, which I’ve never used before.

In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of fun things coming up in the next couple of months, mostly in Wellington but not exclusively:

• Works with Words – this event at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival was recorded by Radio New Zealand Concert. Six works by New Zealand composers, including The Lover’s Knot, text by Renee Liang and music by me. Actor Stuart Devenie, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Young. (Radio New Zealand Concert, Tue 20 September, 9pm.)
• 

  Paul Fagamalo & Benjamin Teh in The First Asian A* B* (13-18 Sept Auckland; 22 Sept-1 Oct Wellington)

  The First Asian A* B* by Renee Liang – it’s a two-hander play which, for trademark reasons, is not called The First Asian All Black. There’s a season in Auckland first (Basement, 13-18 September) and Andrew Corrêa is doing the live music there. I go up to Auckland for the last two shows to see how he does it, then I’ll be taking over his duties for the Wellington season (BATS Theatre, 22 September to 1 October, 6pm).

• Zomburlesque – I’ll be doin’ some old-time rag-time out-of-time trombone playing as part of Right Reverend Dr Splitfoot’s Goodtime Brimstone Band. If you didn’t pick it up, the title is a portmanteau of zombies and burlesque. (Bodega, 2, 3, 5 & 6 October, 8:30pm.)
• The 2011 New Zealand Improv Festival – it’s back at BATS! The programme will be released shortly. (11-15 October.)
• Austen Found: Zombie Time. I go up to Auckland to perform at the brand new Q Theatre with Instant Kiwis – they’re a group of performers who’ll be doing late-night improv every Friday night at Q. This’ll be my 78th improvised musical, a bit of a mashup along the lines of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. (Fri 21 October, 9pm.)

Now, back to finding a decent events listing for WordPress…