performances

Free Puppet Shows and Workshops for the Summer!

Stephen Clothier

This summer, we are lucky to be joined by not one, but two prestigious puppeteering theatre companies — Birdlife Productions and String Bean Puppets — bringing us 8 free shows at our libraries and community centres! Read on to find out more.

Box of Birds! with Birdlife Productions

Peter and his new friends in Box of Birds! Photo: Supplied

The magic begins this week, with the exquisite puppet show Box of Birds from Birdlife Productions. This beautiful show features hand-crafted puppets, interactive songs, and percussion, and tells the story of Peter and his Grandma as they build a nesting box for Ruru – but Peter must learn to be patient and wait to discover who will eventually nest in his ‘box of birds’!

The show lasts for 30 minutes and is perfect for tamariki aged 3-6 with their caregivers, but older and younger siblings are very welcome.

Dates and Locations:

Flutter: Puppet Show and Workshop with String Bean Puppets

Pepe and Titi flying in Flutter! Photo: Dianna Thomson//TAHI Festival 2023

Join Anna Bailey of String Bean Puppets for this mesmerising puppet show and workshop during the holidays! Experience the magic of puppetry in Flutter, an expowering and delightful show for young audiences about a bat who is afraid of the dark making friends with a glowworm who thinks she is a star.

The show is followed by a shadow puppetry workshop where tamariki can explore a world of shadows, learning how to create magical and beautiful shadow puppet creatures using natural materials, as well as building their own upcycled shadow box to take home.

The Flutter puppet show lasts for 40 minutes and is perfect for tamariki aged 4-10 with their caregivers. The shadow puppet workshop last for 45 minutes and is most suitable for tamariki aged 6-10, but younger siblings are welcome to participate with help from their caregivers.

Dates and Locations:

Ngā mihi to the Creative Communities Scheme from Creative NZ for making it possible for us to share these experiences with you for free.

Nau mai — everyone is welcome!

Spoken Word Open Mic Night at the Vogelmorn Bowling Club!

Stephen Clothier

Calling all Pōneke poets! Our friends at the Vogelmorn Community Group have organised a fantastic opportunity for tamariki and rangatahi who are interested in poetry to take part in a Spoken Word Open Mic Night, this Thursday, 6.00pm at the Vogelmorn Bowling Club.

Not only will you have the opportunity to perform your own original poetry, but you’ll also be able to contribute to the Vogelmorn Community Poetry Zine, which will be made available for keen poetry readers here at the library once it’s published. Read on to get all the juicy details:

Join us at the Vogelmorn Bowling Club for this awesome community event!

What?

Spoken Word Open Mic Night!

Where?

Vogelmorn Bowling Club, 93 Mornington Road, Brooklyn

When?

Thursday 1 June, 2023. Performances begin at 6.00pm; kai available from 3.00pm

What’s it all about?

Do you enjoy writing poems or want to try writing a poem? Do you have something important to say about community, inclusivity, sustainability, creativity, or any other subject?

Have a go at performance poetry in a comfortable, supportive, friendly atmosphere at the Vogelmorn Spoken Word Open Mic Night. Performance poetry includes any poem that is read, sung, recited, or otherwise performed before an audience.

Your M.C. for the night is young poet and Brooklyn local Bill. School-age and first-time poets are especially welcome at this family friendly event!

Want to take part? Find out more on the Vogelmorn Community Group website or get in touch with them on Facebook.

Explore Beyond the Page in the July School Holidays!

Stephen Clothier

The Beyond the Page literary festival is returning for a mini-festival of awesomeness across the Wellington region during the July school holidays! From July 16-19, join us for five amazing events that will bring the fizzing, creative, and adventurous part of the library to life for you and your whānau. Read on to find out what’s on and how to get involved!

Songs, Stories, Sass & SPLASH by Sacha Cotter & Josh Morgan

Johnsonville Library, Friday 16 July, 2.00pm

Bring the whānau and learn the secrets behind the creation of the multi award-winning picture book The Bomb. Join picture book making team, author Sacha Cotter and illustrator Josh Morgan, for a fun-filled hour of storytelling, music, fascinating ‘behind-the-scenes’ facts and an activity to unleash your imagination designing your own slapping, dripping, soaking, sky-scraping SPLASH!

This event is suitable for children 3-8 years old with their caregivers, and registrations are not required. We may need to restrict numbers on the day for safety due to venue and crowd size, so we recommend arriving 15 minutes before the event begins to secure your spot.

Find out more about Sacha and Josh here.

Family Quiz Night with Gee Quiz

Online (from the comfort of your own home!), Saturday 17 July, 6.30pm

It’s trivia time! We’ve partnered with the capital’s favourite quiz provider, Gee Quiz, to bring you an awesome online family-friendly quiz as part of Beyond the Page. All you need is an internet connection and you and your family can join in the fun from the comfort of your own home. Dress-ups of your favourite book, movie or comic character are encouraged, but if you just want to cosy up in your PJs, that is fine too!

We recommend teams of 2-6 players, but at least one person on the team must be a child under age of 13.

Registrations are required; click here to register. Find out more about the quiz here.

Little Dog Barking Theatre Presents: Rainbows and Fishes

Paraparaumu Library, Sunday 18 July, 10.30am
Upper Hutt Central Library, Sunday 18 July, 2.00pm

Colourful props and puppets are woven together by Kenny King to tell this story in English, te reo Māori, and Samoan. Enjoy an exciting story of change, colour and creation!

Show synopsis: Home to a happy group of people was a small island in the Pacific ocean. They had everything they needed — they grew vegetables and fruit to eat, caught fish, played games with each other, and told stories of old and stories of new. There was one song they sang, of a time when the Rainbow Fish lost its colours, a time when the other fish in the sea had no colours, a time when the wind created great mischief to the people of the island and the fish in the sea.

This event is suitable for children 2-8 years old with their caregivers, and registrations are not required.

Find out more about Little Dog Barking Theatre here.

Superhero Science with Nanogirl

Walter Nash Centre, Taitā, Monday 19 July, 2.00pm

The Nanogirl ‘Superhero Science’ show gets noisy and explosive, as we explore the science behind superpowers and engineer superpowers of our own with Michelle Dickinson (a.k.a. Nanogirl!).

This event is suitable for children 6-12 years old with their caregivers. Registrations are required; click here to register.

Find out more about Nanogirl here.