NZ Festival Show Wins Critics Circle UK Award

Media Information
For Immediate Release
11.02.02

Festival Show Wins Critics Circle Award

the far side of the moon has won its second British theatre award in less than three months.

Canadian writer / director Robert Lepage has been awarded the prestigious Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director for the far side of the moon, which will be performed as part of the 2002 New Zealand Festival in Wellington in March. Presented by pre-eminent theatre critics from British newspapers and magazines, the British Critics’ Circle Award comes hot on the heels of last November’s Evening Standard Theatre Award, for which the far side of the moon won Best Play.

the far side of the moon is the second Lepage work to be performed in New Zealand. With the help of a constantly changing set incorporating film and video and a score by Lauire Anderson, it twins the immense events that took place during the cold war conquest of space, with the story of two estranged brothers coming to terms with their mother's death.

New Zealand audiences will remember Lepage as the creator of the theatre hit of the 1998 Festival The Seven Streams of the River Ota. He is widely considered one of the most remarkable, innovative theatre directors of our time. His work is known both for its technical innovation and profound human insights, and an uncanny ability to use the personal to explore the global. A master of the wordless moment on stage, his productions are full of startlingly beautiful images that resonate in the mind years after the event.

New York based performance artist Laurie Anderson composed the music for the far side of the moon.

‘Incontestably world class…quietly brilliant…in demand all over the planet’
The Independent on Sunday, London.

The award-winning Far Side of the Moon will be performed in Wellington from March 5-9 at the Queens Wharf Events Centre.

ENDS.

For further information, contact:

Hannah Brown
Media Communications Manager
2002 New Zealand Festival
(04) 4965493
027 22 06 206
hannah@festival.co.nz

OR

Anne O'Brien
Media Communications Assistant
2002 New Zealand Festival
(04) 4730149
anne.obrien@festival.co.nz

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