Stories

New Zealand Opera’s general director Thomas de Mallet Burgess waxes lyrical on his upcoming productions The Human Voice and Eight Songs for a Mad King, and the future of opera. What can you tell us about the creative setting of The Human Voice? The Human Voice takes place in a hotel room, and the audience are brought into close proximity with the character, who is undergoing a profoundly emotional rollercoaster of a journey: a separation with her ex-partner. As the audience listens to that conversation, they’ll realise that she’s lying, and the ex-partner is lying. The audience are stuck in the middle trying to deduce the situation, and they’re so close they viscerally experience the unfolding emotion. The significance of the hotel room becomes clear over the course of the opera. Particularly what a lonely place a hotel room can be. These elements knead together in the performance. Using these alternative...

RNZB head of costume Donna Jefferis has been brainstorming, sketching, mocking up and making costumes for the end-of-year performance of The Sleeping Beauty. She’s been let loose a little on this one; it’s not a standard period piece, it’s magical. A fantasy. She expects a swirling mass of colour, with big skirts filling the stage. And that vision doesn’t come easy – the work starts about a year out. “Once a show has been selected, I work with the choreographer or director to gauge what they’re doing with the story,” she says. “They’ll have a vision of where and when it’ll be set. I take some of that and add my own spin; it’s a collaborative process.” Those sketched designs are finalised six months before production, and Donna gets to work with her team to sew costumes for all 169 dancers in the show, each of whom has at least five...

Christchurch is blessed with an abundance of local beer brewing expertise. Here are few of the most recent drops, and a pint of news, from some of the best craft establishments in town. THREE BOYS THE BRUCE XPA Highlighting New Zealand-exclusive The Bruce hops blend created in honour of a Nelson-based hop farm’s founder, The Bruce XPA starts with a light malt base and leaves you with hints of orange peel, marmalade and a touch of coconut for a light and refreshing extra-pale ale. threeboysbrewery.co.nz SOUTHPAW NOBLE ART PILSNER Noble Art is punchy with noble German hops, zesty with Motueka citrus, and fresh with the aroma of passionfruit and gooseberry, making for the perfect mix of subtle spicy bitterness and easy drinkability. southpawbeer.com LIGHTHOUSE HAZY MANGO IPA Lighthouse is famous for its delightfully fruity, batch-brewed Hazy Mango IPA, light and easy to drink, with low bitterness and full flavour perfect for...

After years of boxy edges and clean lines, the interior design world is once again embracing curves. Nothing celebrates the curve better than an amazing arch. From mirrors and ceilings to entryways and fireplaces, the arch design trend is in full swing. A shape that has stood the test of time, arches continue to be a classic design element that can take a mundane space and transform it into something marvellous. They can be funky, sophisticated, understated or dramatic. If you don’t have any arches built into your home, an afternoon and a tin of your favourite Resene paint colour might be all you need to transform your space. Cut an arched headboard out of a large piece of plywood and paint it in a gorgeous earthy tone like Resene Tussock and play it up with layers of luscious clay-coloured bed linen. resene.co.nz

Anna Dick from Anna Margaret Interiors reveals the little things – and the big things – that can trigger a home revolution. It all started with steam. A client called in an extraction expert because she was sick of stepping into the bath to open a window when her bathroom steamed up. Once she started to look around, the operation turned into a full bathroom remodel and modernisation. I often find the transformation begins with a niggly problem – the oven breaks down, the fridge isn’t big enough, the kids have moved out, the beige walls are too much, there isn’t enough seating. In this case the problem wasn’t a big one, but the solution changed my client’s environment, functionally and aesthetically. Good design creates positive change, giving people a renewed love for their homes. There’s psychology embedded in change, and transformation can provide fulfilment, satisfaction, and control. Interior design is...

Paul Roper-Gee of Canopy Landscape Architects plants some tips on how to make the most of space in a hillside garden with considered retaining, platforms and planting. Christchurch’s volcanic past has created our hill suburbs with varied topography and aspect, making for unique and individual gardens. The dramatic views to the Southern Alps, estuary and seascape together with nearer views of the Port Hills are a key feature of Christchurch hillside gardens. Creating successful gardens on these slopes comes with design opportunities and challenges. One trade-off is the strong winds. To resolve this, consider where your key views are and make them open, while creating sheltered and intimate spaces in other parts of your garden. Use plants for wind shelter, because solid walls do strange things with wind funnels. One approach to gardens on a slope is to work with the hill. Think meandering paths and steps across the slope. This...

Flooring Frontier’s Dani Tia lays down some knowledge on the latest carpet, vinyl and interior design trends. COLOURS Carpet colours have come a long way from the 1990s vintage Axminster and blue carpets. In carpet and vinyl, we are seeing a lot of light earthy tones, warm and cool greys, and natural oak tones. For a long time white walls and contrasting dark grey carpet were a big go-to, but we are seeing less of this style. Carpet Solution-dyed nylon carpet is one of the most popular products around because it’s durable, comfortable, and great for any budget. It is the carpet we recommend for families with children or pets, renovation projects, new builds or simple upgrades. The pricier natural wool carpet in the medium and large loop pile is also trending. We see this in a lot of new builds and older bungalows and villas. The large loop has a...

With more than enough buyers to go around and excellent results for sellers across the board, it’s a good time to be listing. The Christchurch property market never got to the over-inflated point of some other cities, and as a result we’re not seeing a big correction. House sales are moving along very well. In fact, with people returning from overseas and very low interest rates, people perceive that it’s a great time to buy, particularly in Christchurch. Locals aren’t spending money on travel and are looking to invest and get settled down. Buyers are looking for some certainty in uncertain times – with time to spare, it’s an excellent year to find a house to call your own and settle in for some renovations and handymanning. I’m seeing big attendance at auctions, and with the transparency of auction bidding and competition between buyers, excellent sales are coming through. And that’s...

Cityscape rounds up some of Christchurch’s most delectable signature cocktails – original house recipes you won’t find anywhere else. 1. The Dozy Rosie - No.4 Bar & Restaurant Mixologist: Ava Mae — Vodka and bubbly wine with hints of rhubarb, ginger, rosehip and raspberry. Sending messages of a flirty night out with laughter and a whole heap of fun. Be ready to relax in the sun, sip away and feel carefree. no4bar.co.nz 2. The Gold Standard - Gold Aroma Mixologist: PK — Swedish vodka, coconut rum, burnt orange, cacao bitters and pineapple. Inspired by an ideal holiday, bringing the Bahamas to Colombo Street. For when you’ve got summer in your eyes and love on your mind. goldaroma.co.nz 3. Lemon Meringue - Bloody Mary’s Mixologist: Ben Crean — Limoncello, London dry gin, lemon juice, egg white and sugar syrup. The careful blend of Ben's love for gin combined with his fond childhood...

Celebrate the three most important ‘inns’ of craft beer in Ōtautahi: Invention, innovation, independence. Ralph Bungard explains. Hospitality and brewery owners and staff are used to being awake at all hours, but at the moment it’s something less usual keeping us up at night: trying to predict what hospitality and craft brewing will look like post pandemic. One thing we know for certain is the industry is changing. That change will be painful, and some businesses will not survive, but one certainty is that others will make it through and of those, some will thrive. Craft brewers are used to change. They have been at the cutting edge of almost everything that we now see as modern beer. Over recent years they have continually modified how they operate as they invent and re-invent to stay outside the ‘blast zone’ of price-cutting giant multinational brewers and their pseudo-craft brands. Craft brewers are...

This zesty plant-based dish from Green Dinner Table can be served as a satisfying main or a great addition to tapas-style sharing plates. The ingredients are simple and forking out for the high-quality walnuts, olive oil and tahini will pay dividends in flavour. Serves two mains. Ingredients:2 lemonsVegetable oil, for frying60g capers1 medium cauliflower80g tahini1 large clove garlicSalt, to taste80g Canterbury walnuts80g golden raisins1 ½ Tbsp vinegar10g mint10g parsley Method: Heat the oven to 180 °C. Zest the lemons and set aside.Heat some oil in a pan. Pat the capers dry and fry until crispy, about one minute. Pour the oil and capers into a bowl and allow to cool.We want to get two ‘steaks’ from one cauliflower. Trim the outer leaves off the cauliflower (a few soft inner leaves are fine). Carefully cut the cauliflower in half, top to bottom through the base to create two even pieces. Trim the...

Lou Heller is a stylist, personal shopper, and a fashion judge at the upcoming IRT NZ Trotting Cup Day. She sets Cityscape up with race day fashion tips and seasonal style. Are you looking forward to your first year judging The Crossing Fashion Starts Here Best Dressed Competition? To sum it up, when I received the email a few weeks back, I may have done a wee squeal with excitement! I’ve always wanted to enter fashion in the field since moving from Taranaki 21 year ago, and attending Cup and Show week, but I’ve never had the guts to. To be a judge has been a secret dream of mine for years, and for it to come to fruition is incredible. What’s the golden rule of race day fashion? Tough one. I’ve got so many answers for this. Essentially, when I have used my own self as a measure, it has...

Black Origin has brought two centuries of closely-guarded Japanese beef-raising tradition to Aotearoa, with the first grain-fed Wagyu beef raised in New Zealand’s pristine conditions. On the Black Origin farm south of the Rakaia River, carers play soothing music for the specially-bred Wagyu cattle and give them daily massages. A vet regularly checks in on the animals, which live in loafing barns with metre-deep sawdust bedding and oodles of room to move around and go outside. It all started with Arato Tsujino, from Kobe, the home of Wagyu in Japan. He spent his late teens in New Zealand and puzzled over why the country, with its pasture and cattle-breeding success, did not have true Wagyu herds. Back in Japan, Arato met former All Black halfback Andy Ellis – then playing for Kobe’s rugby team, the Kobelco Steelers. The two would go on to become partners in New Zealand’s Wagyu operation. Their...

Cityscape visits Untouched World Kitchen, the health-and-sustainability-conscious café born out of fashion brand Untouched World. The Hippie Bowl with Karaage Chicken is a work of art for the eyes and the taste buds, a round canvas of colour and shapes. We start with the chicken on top and work our way down. The chicken coating is delightfully light and crunchy, the fried tofu has a blissful composition with flavour right through, and the rice and quinoa mix with nuts and seeds is a texture and taste sensation that we can’t stop going back to. Everything from the fresh hummus to the secret-spice dressing on the crunchy charred broccoli is impeccable. We’re fascinated by the pickled pumpkin and its fruity tangy flavour. The red smear of beetroot miso around the outside of the bowl is a fine flourish that brings umami goodness to the mix. We’re making our way through a couple...

With passports gathering dust, Cityscape heads to the Subantarctic Islands to scratch that international travel itch. Your much needed vacay to remote, unexplored and exotic locations needn’t be off the cards this summer. Expand the ‘travel local’ mantra slightly further afield to open up an otherworldly adventure exploring the furthest reaches of New Zealand’s backyard. Remote, rugged and UNESCO World Heritage listed, the Subantarctic Islands are internationally-renowned wildlife havens and just an expedition cruise away. Nesting albatross, sea lion pups and affectionate weaners(!), thousands of penguins and supersized alien flowers combine to offer an experience straight out of a David Attenborough doco, and an escape so complete you’ll feel like you’re not only in another country, but often on another planet. What’s more, they’re all part of New Zealand (mostly). AUCKLAND ISLANDS Once all but destroyed by livestock, Enderby Island, a (not-surprisingly) failed cattle farm, has been successfully reclaimed by nature...

Cityscape ticks off a bucket-list adventure on a 30-day expedition cruise to Antarctica with Christchurch's own Heritage Expeditions. There’s a blinding flash behind my eyelids immediately followed by an all over burning sensation as I hit the -1°C water. In the couple of strokes it takes to reach the ship and our thermally-insulated Expedition Leader Samuel Blanc, who’s waiting knee-deep in the Ross Sea at Cape Adare, the burning sensation gives way to a blanket coldness racing inwards and I’m grateful to see his industrial-gloved hand ready to help haul me out. Alighting the stairs in a jacked up blur of adrenaline and deafening whoops, I’m wrapped in a fluffy towel when I reach the top, and high five my way along the ship’s deck to watch our chef’s impressive leaps (backwards flip and commando) from the top of the gangway. Neurons crackling and bristling with energy I can’t recall feeling...

Heather Straka’s art series Dissected Parlour is not in a gallery, but rather on the walls at Mod’s Hair in Merivale. Cityscape talks to the artist about the works, her previous exhibition Bloodlust, and powerful women. You’re a deft hand with a paintbrush or sculpture, and you’re very experienced in directing as well as photography. What’s your favourite medium to create in? Ooh that’s a hard one, isn’t it? Most of the time I’m a painter but I suppose I quite like to photograph because I get to work with people. And I get to make sets and pick models and dress them up. I like the collaboration. How do you choose your models? It’s generally quite reliant on what the idea is. The Bloodlust boys all had to look sort of Germanic, looking to go with that theme, a bit communist, and they’re all sort of typecast. With these girls...

Christchurch locals Adam Hattaway and the Haunters – comprised of Adam Hattaway, Elmore Jones, Liam Quinn and Ryan Fisherman – are launching their nationwide Wasting Our Time tour. Cityscape picks a tune with frontman Adam. We’re looking forward to seeing you kick the tour off at Blue Smoke in Christchurch. What are you most looking forward to? I’m looking forward to being on the road in general. Even at our level, it feels like I have some sort of purpose in my life and I live for it! What are the best and worst things about touring? The overall feeling of being on tour is great. Obviously playing, and some shows go better than others. Also, feeling like a couple of mates who are in it together is really important. I enjoy driving and listening to music. But I don’t like getting up early and as every touring musician knows, you’re...