Standing Room Only for Sunday 15 December 2019

 

12:35  Superstar poet Hera Lindsay Bird turns to short stories

She exploded onto - first, the New Zealand then the British - poetry scenes after her first collection won the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Award.   She numbers British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy as one of her fans.

Since then Hera Lindsay Bird has backpacked through Europe, collaborated with musicians and font designers, published more poetry and is now writing short stories.

As she tells Lynn Freeman, this is what she'll be working on next year after being awarded two writer's residencies - at the Michael King Centre and a 2020 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship.

12:48 Taiarola Royal flies like an eagle

Maori and Native Americans share a reverence for their sacred eagles, and this connection is being explored in a new work co-choreographed by New Zealand dance legend, Taiaroa Royal.

He's working with American dance company Exhale, led by Missy and Andrew Hubbard, on a new work for next year's New Zealand Festival in Wellington.

It's called Hookioi me te Vwoohali From Spirit Eagles Land - referring to the extinct Haast's Eagle and the American Golden Eagle, sacred to the Cherokee people.

Tai graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance in 1984.  Since then he's set up Okareka Dance Company, and danced for The Royal New Zealand Ballet, the late Douglas Wright, Michael Parmenter, and the Black Grace and Atamira dance companies. 

He's also an in demand choreographer and teacher.  

Tai tells Lynn Freeman he first met the Hubbards in America in 2008, but the idea for this work took a while to emerge: 

Hookioi me te Vwoohali From Spirit Eagles Land premieres on the 12th of March next year at the New Zealand  Festival of the Arts. 
 

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews AfterThe Wedding, The Dead Don't Die and The Good Liar. 

 

1:31  Paddy Richardson's new novel is set on a wartime internment camp

Wellington's Matiu Somes Island was an internment camp for enemy aliens during both the First and Second World Wars.  It's the setting for a new novel by Dunedin author Paddy Richardson.

Paddy's spent the past six months in Wellington as the Randall Cottage Writer in Residence, and when not writing in the historic building was out in the harbour on the island getting a real feeling for how tough it was for the men there.

It's still in draft form, but the book - tentatively entitled The Green of the Spring - will be a sequel to Through the Lonesome Dark, which followed inseparable friends Otto, Pansy and Clem in the West Coast coal-mining town of Blackball pre the Great War.

Paddy Richardson tells Lynn Freeman she had a clear goal for the sequel when she took up the residency at the 100- year-old cottage earlier in the year:

The green of spring  is scheduled to be released next year. 
 

1:47 Policeman turned novelist Ian Austin

In the third in his Dan Calder crime novels. Ian Austin has the ex-detective take on a cold case that turns him into the prime suspect.

Ian is an ex police office himself, turned novelist. The first in the Dan Calder trilogy was The Agency, followed by The Second Grave.

But Ian's saved Dan - who struggles with depression - his potentially most dangerous and emotionally taxing case till last in Frozen Summer.  .

Years before, Dan woke up to find a young woman dead next to him during an undercover operation. Her murder was never solved and Dan has no memory of that night.

He decides to revisit the original investigation into the death of Zoe Summers, with the support of his partner Tara.

Ian Austin tells Lynn Freeman that once he came up with Dan Calder, he knew he could create a series of novels around this talented but flawed former officer:

Frozen Summer by Ian Austin published by IA Books.

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - featuring playwright Dave Armstrong

Writing stage comedy is one of the most demanding jobs there is - just ask Roger Hall, Tom Stoppard and today's Laugh Track guest Dave Armstrong.

The characters have to be engaging, the plot has to be gripping, but most important, there has to be a regular supply of laughs.

So, all sorts of pressure.  But when it comes off, as it did in previous Armstrong plays like Niu Sila, Kings of the Gym and The Motor Camp, it's the best night out you can have!

Dave talks to Lynn Freeman about his latest comedy, a political farce called The Surprise Party, opening at Wellington;'s Circa Theatre next month.

Dave's picks include Dad's Army, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Monty Python and Ronnie Barker.
 

2:29  Professor David Skegg takes on our health system

The Health of the People by Professor David Skegg outlined a failing public health system, and prompted heated debate when it was published earlier in the year. 

That's just what the epidemiologist, public health physician, former Vice Chancellor of Otago University and long time advisor to the World Health Organisation was hoping for.  That and solid action on the part of the government.

Lynn Freeman chaired a session with Professor Skegg at Wanaka's Festival of Colour in May.  We play highlights from that hour spent discussing his concerns:

Professor David Skegg's The Health of the People is a BWB publication.
 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Karori Mauled by Roger O Thornhill

Today's drama is the award-winning production Karori Mauled by Roger O Thornhill.  It's a black comedy - but we should warn you that it contains scenes and language that may offend some people so listener discretion is advised.

The setting is the not-too-distant future, when New Zealand is torn by civil war - North against South.

It stars Cathy Downes as Heather Boatwrigh, and Geraldine Brophy as Ruth, and features Peter Hambleton, Peter Daube, Eryn Wilson, Patrick Smyth and Jane Waddell as Sergeant Going.
 

Music played in this show

Artist: Bond Street Bridge 
Song: Haasts Eagle 
Played at: 12.45pm 

Artist: Traffic 
Song: When the Eagle Flies
Played at: 12.59pm 

Artist: Laura Marling 
Song: I was an Eagle 
Played at: 1.04pm 

Artist: Dolly Parten 
Song: Eagle When She Flies 
Played at: 1.46pm 

Artist: Steve Miller Band 
Song: Fly like an Eagle 
Played at: 2.24pm 

Artist: Ratatat 
Song: Desert Eagle 
Played at: 2.58pm 

Artist: Eagles of Death Metal 
Song: Wanna be in LA 
Played at: 3.04pm 

Artist: The Eagles 
Song: Take it to the limit
Played at: 3.58