SURVIVE - HAU Festival 2025
Mini-interviews with the artists performing SURVIVE, a show featuring three performances celebrating Queer identity and authenticity.
To all my performance art lovers: HAU [te Hī me te Hā] FESTIVAL 2025 is showing at the Basement Theatre until the 28th of June. Presented by the Tuatara Collective, the festival features new and original Indigenous, Māori, Pasifika and Queer stories through songs, dance and text. SURVIVE is one of the shows HAU is bringing to Auckland, featuring three 45 minute solos by local Aotearoa LGBTQiA2+ artists. Craccum received the opportunity to have a chat with the artists involved in the creation of SURVIVE ahead of the opening night on the 24th of June.
Adam Burrell in ESCAPING [a gay exposé about living, loving, losing and learning]
I was lucky to talk to Adam over the phone about all the excitement that he is bringing to us with his show ESCAPING, to give Craccum’s readers a bit of an inside look into his process and learn how much of himself he has put into it. ‘‘
“Extremely different process for this show because it is about my life!” Adam said about his creative efforts, “[It’s] a whole different process in a really weird way — I don’t mean to say easier — but there is a trust in knowing in myself that I tell my story better, and that’s ESCAPING. I’ve been an actor for 25 years; I think that every single thing I have learnt has helped me in this process.”
“It is an absolute culmination of my experiences and my life.”
Q. Aside from the title ESCAPING, is there a singular word that you feel would encapsulate your upcoming show, a theme or idea?
“One word that I think is very apt for me is ‘revelation.’ Revelation of my life or revelation of learning my real self, acceptance of that. And kind of a revelation of accepting and loving the person you are, even as in your mind you may not want to be that person.
“I have done a season in Wellington — I’m very lucky to have done that — and what I learnt through it was mind-blowing. The Auckland season will be even better on so many levels. Even rehearsing now, the whole script is quite different to me. It’s the same script, but I feel there definitely has been a movement in me so that will no doubt come into the show there. I am so excited about it because it’s what every actor wants to do — just release it.”
Q. Will you switch between Ms Adena Delights and Adam throughout the show? How do you conceptualize the duality (if it is a duality for you)?
“I am never Adena or Adam. I am Adam throughout the whole show, and I think why I say that is because there is a massive part which talks to why and how Adena came about. You get a 100% Adam.
“There is [a kind of duality] but in this show I talk to why.” He said, about being Adam and Adena. “I speak to a little bit about what drag is to me. If I’m pretty honest [...], I am discovering that in my life myself, so it has actually been a treasure to bring that into a show like this. What I’m realising is that it’s not separate, it’s all part of me.”
Which is a revelation!
“From the minute you see my show it is 100% me. All of the different facets you experience within that 45 minutes, that’s all in me.”
Q. Will we get to hear your poetry during ESCAPING?
Adam said that all of the poetry he will perform is written by him. “From the first word to the last word is my soul. This [show] is absolutely kind of life-affirming or life-changing moment... It certainly is and has given me a chance to look at my life. Look at how I have escaped from life, what I have done to help me survive... and I think that now I’m on the verge of a place where I appreciate those things, and that’s why I wanna share it [for] so many younger queer people — you don’t really get to see that opportunity, to see the full spectrum of... you know, if you don’t know, it’s all good.”
Adam ended our chat by sharing his excitement for the show. “You are going to see and experience and feel three so different responses to how we survive as queer people in New Zealand. Oh honey, it’s a rollercoaster.”
Nanu Turner-Sarah in LADY SINGS THE OOOH'S
...like the blues, but marae-style...
[a gay exposé of oooh's and aaah's and ew's and nah's...]
Nanu graciously took the time to answer a few questions about her show LADY SINGS THE OOOH’S via email.
Q. I am so curious about marae-style blues! How did the thought come to you, to merge these together?
“It was a collective concept between Jason and I over kai and kōrero. Being Māori and having a love of Blues and Jazz, it seemed an appropriate way to promote my kaupapa in this part of the festival. LADY SINGS THE OOOH’S is borne on a few things; one being a quote from “Dreamgirls” where Effie says, “I don’t do ooohs and aaahs” and the oooh and aaah moments that often happen on the marae, or at home. The irony is that throughout my singing journey, I’ve sung more than my fair share of ooohs and aaahs.”
Q. I've heard storytelling in the Māori tradition can involve dance and waiata, and I'm wondering if LADY SINGS THE OOOH'S is a way of expressing or connecting with that tradition?
“Precisely. Singing has allowed me to convey true emotion where words alone do not. That, and I can think of no better way to embellish my story than a few jazzy numbers.”
Jazzy numbers of some of Lady Nanu's juiciest and most scandalous stories await!
Vincent Farane in PRAY / SLAY [a gay exposé about faith, fa’ataupati, fellas and fellatio]
Vincent was kind enough to take a few questions about his show PRAY over email.
About the show, Vincent said, “Creating this show has been such a tricky endeavour to say the least. Super stressful [...] but we are moving and excited!”
Q. The title PRAY/SLAY is already very indicative of the place faith has had in your life. Has it also been something you drew inspiration from in your choreographic work?
“The title of the work is PRAY after reconsideration and has shifted from a movement heavy work to a show that features more text, which has helped to form a few different characters. I do feature movement in my piece and it is definitely influenced by faith but mainly in the context of faith before the missionaries, our beliefs before Christianity. Indulging in the beauty of our deities pre-christianity, a place where queerness existed and thrived.”
Q. It seems you will be using multiple dance forms during the performance. Will you be incorporating Fa'ataupati into contemporary forms or are you giving it its own sort of center stage?
“Fa'ataupati is featured but in a more contemporary way where it mixes with my typical movement vocabulary which is heavily rooted in street dance and a little bit of contemporary dance.”
SURVIVE will be showing from the 24th through to the 28th of June. For lovers of fabulousness and other racy queer stuff, it is a must watch! Student tickets are only $20 for not one but three exciting performances by these wonderful New Zealand artists.
Get your tickets here!
