Goldie

By Peter Hawes Directed by Colin McColl

22 APR - 22 MAY 2004 — Drama

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Company

Auckland Theatre Company

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None

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A uniquely Auckland story, Goldie is a witty and fascinating account of one of New Zealand's most famous and controversial artists, Charles Goldie.

Auckland 1917. Charles Goldie returns from a prestigious art academy in Paris to cash in on the demand for South Sea art. Brimming with talent, technique and pretension, most practitioners are 'moderns' like Gaugin but Goldie will give them the real thing. He studies aspects of Māoridom, aided by Patara te Tuhi, his hired help, and his studio becomes the centre of Auckland bohemian life for his artist mates, patrons and philistines. Māori and Pakeha argue and celebrate the nature of art, the freedom of the individual, and the responsibility of the artist to his subject.

Colin McColl's first production as Artistic Director, Goldie celebrates Auckland, its history, its artists and its true spirit.

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The play really succeeds because of the tremendous acting of the entire cast. Michael Hurst as Goldie inhabits the part like a glove, the words spill out of him effortlessly and naturally, creating a believable, flawed character...
John Daley-Peoples, NBR
Quite possibly the best reason to see the Auckland Theatre Company's revival of Peter Hawes's 1987 play about Charles F Goldie is for the performance of George Henare. As Patara Te Tuhi, he reveals an eerie ability to make everyone else on stage invisible as he runs philosophical rings around the obtuse Goldie with his epistemologically unnerving Maori koans...
Paul Little, The Listener
In the laced-up Auckland of the first half of last century, Charles Goldie was a vivid and singular spirit, both celebrated and reviled. Today, the man is almost lost to view behind the mountain of his work and the tragedy of his death...
Francis Till, NZ herald