All aboard as performers hit road

Various venues including a bus are being used for Tauranga Arts Festival performances. Photo / Supplied

Visitors to this year's Tauranga Arts Festival will be able to see performances in some unique places, including the back of a bus.

Festival director Jo Bond said organisers welcomed different spaces for the shows to be performed in.

"In the past we've had shows in a hotel, in a salon and this year a bus so who knows where the next show will pop up. We are only limited by the imagination of the writers," she said.

"A bus is the venue for the dance show, Back of the Bus by Java Dance Company.

"The audience get on board and are taken off for a ride like no other."

Besides the usual theatre venues, performances can be seen in the TV3 Crystal Palace, X Space and in other various businesses around the central city.

Ms Bond said the Crystal Palace had been used for the festival since 2003 and each year it is put up in Masonic Park on The Strand.

"It's a special venue for festivals and is almost like a festival home for many performers, festival workers, technicians, security staff, and audience members.

"The TV3 Crystal Palace creates a festival heart in the centre of the city and joins in and adds to the atmosphere and energy of downtown Tauranga.

"The venue is unique for performers too - it is intimate, unique in its aesthetic and really has a magical atmosphere when the lights go down and the show goes up."

X Space, which is based at Baycourt Theatre, is a new development which is being introduced to the Tauranga Arts Festival this year.

"Baycourt's X Space is brand new, the finishing touches are being put in as we speak. It will see some stunning theatre over the next couple of weeks ... from the clowning genius that is The Pianist, to a cooking class with Maggie in the play Rewena, to the story of a squid," she said.

"We have used the black box format in order to attract smaller touring works to Tauranga. It's an extremely exciting development for theatre and the arts in our city."

Business are also involved providing spaces for pop-up galleries and performances.

"Tauranga stores include Blur, Davidson's, High St and Frank Casey. Over in Mount Maunganui we have The Drawing Room, Paper Plane, Zohar and Sisters & Co just to name a few."

Ms Bond said it was important to use a variety of venues because it signalled the variety of performance genres in the festival.

"Theatre shows range from large, high production shows, to smaller works," she said.

"Baycourt's theatres mean we have a space suitable for those. The TV3 Crystal Palace is our music, comedy and cabaret venue and will also have a children's show and a free public forum on Urban Renewal and Place Making."