Standing Room Only for Sunday 6 February 2022

12:15  Screen cultural fund

There are several funding initiatives being introduced to support the beleaguered screen industries, but one intriguing one comes via the Screenrights organisation.  Screenrights are normally involved in chasing up royalties and license fees both in Australia and in New Zealand.

But now they're  getting behind a Cultural Fund, encouraging would-be film-makers and story-tellers who maybe wouldn't normally be the first ones in the queue to be funded.   

And these days New Zealand is at the forefront when it comes to mentoring and supporting indigenous film-makers.  Remember Taika Waititi's call out in his Oscar speech?

Simon Morris talks with Screenrights board member and CEO of New Zealand production house Greenstone Rachel Antony...

12:30   The Black Shag Cafe

Transforming a biscuit tin into an artwork is the latest challenge issued to Southland artists by Invercargill artist and cafe owner, Sylvie Boutelje-Chasteau.

This follows a similar project where local artists were invited to send in art works created within drawers and hung on the wall of the Black Shag Cafe in Invercargill.

Sylvie's friend, artist Tracy Williams came up with the idea for both shows and we'll hear from her in a moment.

12:45   The women of the New Zealand gold-fields

Frustrated by the lack of information about the many women who made a living on the New Zealand goldfields in the 1800s, Canterbury Museum researcher Julia Bradshaw went in search of them.

She's uncovered some cracking stories about women who reinvented themselves, often becoming successful businesswomen cashing in on miners with money to spend.

Julia's giving a talk called "Adjustable Marriages; relationships, divorce and bigamy on the goldfields" this week  at Kate Sheppard House in Christchurch.  She talks to Lynn Freeman about life and romance around the mines.

And maybe our listeners can help this ongoing research into these overlooked women.

if you have information you can email Julia Bradshaw at infoline@canterburymuseum.com

1:10 At The Movies

Dan Slevin reviews The Hating Game, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Licorice Pizza and Memoria.

1:40   Props Master Jay Duckworth

For almost 40 years, Professor Jay Duckworth has fashioned realistic props - or "properties" - for American stage and screen productions, from fake steaks to a full-sized guillotine.

The Props Master and teacher works in off-Broadway theatre, independent films, TV and music videos, though the hit musical Hamilton provided some of his biggest challenges.

Jay tells Lynn Freeman that props are often the last thing to be thought about, but they are often as important to the story telling as costumes and lighting.

He believes it's important for props to look as realistic as possible - and to work property - for the sake of the actors using them, even more than for audiences.

2:06 The Laugh Track - Jojo Bellini

It's hardly a secret that these are tricky times for the arts, entertainment and comedy - anything, in other words, that relies on an audience.  But while big festivals struggle and blockbusters look nervous, for one group all this is business as usual. 

For Fringe shows and performers, ducking, diving and improvising is what they do anyway.   Welcome to the club, they say!

So maybe cabaret and burlesque performer Jojo Bellini can offer coping strategies for her more traditional colleagues. She's got - not one but two - intriguing one-person shows coming up at the New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington. She talks to Lynn Freeman about Agents Provocateurs - a tribute to female spies - and A Nifty History of Evil.

Jojo's picks include Maxwell Apse, Sameena Zehra,  Neil Thornton and Justine Smith.

Agents Provocateurs opens at Whitireia on February the 22nd, while A Nifty History of Evil opens at the Fringe Bar on March the 1st.  

2:28  Nikki and Kirsty are wild about Harry Styles

A woman obsessed with former One Direction singer Harry Styles drags her sister along with her to the UK to see him in concert.

That's the opening of the novel How to Marry Harry, written by sisters Nikki Perry and Kirsty Roby.

Nikkki and Kirsty describe themselves as  "best friends, avid readers, writers, foodies and cocktail enthusiasts.... who write quirky, light-hearted stories that we feel are a welcome escape in this current world climate."

They tell Lynn Freeman they decided to write a book about Harry Styles in the hope that he would play himself in the subsequent movie. 

How to Marry Harry is published by Pink Van Publishing.

2:45  Charles Darwin versus Dunedin!

Fiery characters, staunch supporters and insult-slingers - Dunedin citizens were embroiled in a tempestuous public debate over Darwin's Theory of Evolution in the 1880s.

Strongly in the Darwin camp was the curator and director of Otago Museum, Professor Thomas Jeffery Parker, and it's his story that fascinated the museum's current honorary curator of Science History, Dr Rosi Crane.

She's written a paper about Parker and his efforts to persuade the good people of Dunedin - many of them Scottish Presbyterian immigrants -  that Darwin's Origin of Species was true and correct.

Rosi's paper has just been published in the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science journal.

Lynn Freeman asked her first for a brief bio on Professor Parker.

3:06 Drama at 3 - Belonging a devised drama from Dunedin's Talking House

In 2015  RNZ Drama launched a new initiative to celebrate the wealth and diversity of theatrical shows across New Zealand by recording plays live on stage.  They called this project the 'Live on Stage, Now! Initiative'  
 
The shows ranged from experimental fringe theatre and mainstream works by companies like Auckland Theatre Company to the piece we'll hear today.  It's called 'Be Longing'.

Talking House Trust Collective comes out of Dunedin, specialising in verbatim theatre performances.

Stuart Young and Hilary Halba from Talking House explain how verbatim theatre works and introduce Be Longing
 

Songs Played on Standing Room Only

12-1pm

Intro song: Doris Day -Tis Harry I'm Plannin' to Marry

Clannad - Harry's Game

Harry Nilsson - Coconut

1-2pm

Harry Connick Jr. - It Had to be You

Macy Gray - Harry

Harry Belafonte - Jamaica Farewell

2-3pm

Harry Styles - Kiwi

Harry Secombe - This is My Song

Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar

Blondie - One Way or Another

3-4pm

Alice Faye - Wild About Harry

Anoton Karas - Harry Lime Theme (Der Dritt Mann)