NZ International Arts Festival Update

2004 New Zealand International Arts Festival

In this issue: Win Lyle Lovett tickets Film star to play Mrs Rochester Major award for star of 2004 Writers and Readers Festival Hot cakes! The opening week of ticket sales

Nau mai haere mai, welcome to Festival News With less than 14 weeks until the start of the 2004 Festival, things are rapidly gaining momentum. The office is filling up, the telephone rings constantly and the email is running hot. Technical staff have started work on plans for sets, lighting and projection screens, and auditions are underway. Festival staffers are wrestling with the logistics of getting over 100 shows, more than 500 artists, five tons of airfreight and five forty-foot containers to Wellington from all corners of the globe.

2004 marks our 10th international arts festival. Two decades of bringing the world's finest artistic talent to Wellington. They have been 20 fun-filled, action packed and, at times, nerve-wracking years as the Festival has gone from strength to strength. It's been fantastic to have so many people along with us for the journey. Now is the time to take a risk, try some new experiences and bring some friends along for company. Browse the 2004 programme and find something that you have never experienced before. It might be vibrant Brazilian music or Spanish flamenco dance, surreal French circus, or Koreans cooking up a storm. Not to forget swimming with whales. It's all there, the outrageous and the beautiful, the passionate and the political. We look forward to seeing you at New Zealand's biggest arts party, right here in Wellington next year.

Festival News will keep you up to date with breaking news and developments as we count down to the start of the 2004 New Zealand International Arts Festival.

Stay tuned!

Carla van Zon, Artistic Director & David Inns, CEO

Lyle's music? Love it! Texas-born Lyle Lovett is one of the most revered and original singer/songwriters of his time. Originally labeled as a country singer, Lovett's idiosyncratic sound has seen him break away from the rest of the Nashville crowd with an eclectic array of music, ranging from country and folk to big-band swing and traditional pop combined with literate, witty lyrics. Winner of four Grammy Awards, including Best Country Album in 1996, Lovett recently released his first album of original material in seven years.

We have two A Reserve tickets to give away to Lyle Lovett at the Town Hall on 10 March 2004.

Just answer the following question: Who is the Festival sponsor for the Lyle Lovett concert?

Simply reply to this email with your answer in the subject line. All entries must be received by 28 November 2003.

You'll find the answers to this and future competitions on the Festival website:

Conditions of entry: 1. Open to New Zealand residents except employees of New Zealand International Arts Festival and its sponsors. 2. The competition ends on 28 November 2003 and the first correct entry drawn randomly after then will receive the prize. The winner will be notified by email. 3. The judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 4. The prize is not transferable or redeemable for cash. 5. Entries become the property of The New Zealand International Arts Festival and may be used for promotional purposes.

Film star to take Festival stage Bafta and Emmy nominee Diana Quick has just been confirmed to play the lead role in After Mrs Rochester at the 2004 Festival.

The Lexus Theatre sponsored production comes direct to Wellington from the West End where it was described by The Guardian as 'magic, combustible, hugely affecting'. London-born Quick has appeared in over 40 films and television series, appearing alongside such greats as John Gielgud, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Olivier, James Stewart, Oliver Reed, Joan Collins, Robert Mitchum and Christopher Walken.

She has starred in many popular television series, including Minder and Inspector Morse. But it was her role as Julia in Brideshead Revisited which earned her international fame and Bafta and Emmy nominations in 1982.

More recently Quick starred in the popular 2000 big screen hit Saving Grace. And next year you will be able to see her here on stage in Wellington, before she hits the screen once again as Madame Bianchi in a film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.

Lexus Theatre After Mrs Rochester Opera House 17-21 March 2004

Top award for Festival writer Alistair MacLeod, who will be appearing at the 2004 New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Festival, has won a 2003 Lannan Literary Award. The Canadian short story writer and novelist is one of four recipients of the prestigious US$125,000 award announced on 5 November.

Alistair MacLeod won international acclaim for his short fiction but it was No Great Mischief, his multi-generational story of a Scottish immigrant family in Nova Scotia, that catapulted him from 'one of the great undiscovered writers of our time' [Michael Ondaatje] to bestselling author.

No Great Mischief (1999), took ten years to write and received much critical acclaim and numerous prizes including the world's richest literary prize (the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award).

In a recent interview MacLeod reflected on the 10-year gestation period of No Great Mischief.

"I had to work the writing in around raising six children and going to kids' basketball games and my full-time responsibilities at the university ... I told my wife it's one thing to fall asleep reading a book, another to fall asleep writing one."

Hot cakes! There's been a rush of interest since ticket sales opened on the Ticketek website just over a week ago. Early indicators are that a number of shows will sell out quickly. If you've been umming and aahing over the programme, now's the time to get decisive!

Visit to browse the programme and book tickets online.

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