From the MTG: Busy month ahead for Century Theatre

The MTG Pop Up Shop is available in the Century Theatre Foyer every day, along with the library reserve and collect service. Photo / Supplied

While the museum is closed we're taking the opportunity to redevelop our Māori gallery and ensure when we reopen we have something new to offer.

Based on the style of Rongonui, which resonated well with our visitors, the new gallery will focus specifically on Ngāti Kahungunu taonga held in the collection and share stories of the people, places and events surrounding these.

The exhibition For Home and Country: Women's Institutes in Hawke's Bay will also be on display when we reopen.

This celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Women's Institute in New Zealand, which started here in Rissington, Hawke's Bay. The accompanying book for this exhibition, Lifting Horizons: Anna Elizabeth Jerome Spencer – a biography, covers the life of Ms Spencer who founded the institute in New Zealand along with many, many other achievements – a fascinating woman.

Thankfully the Century Theatre is fully up and running and we have a number of events coming up in it during April.

On Sunday, April 11, the MTG Movie Club will be screening three classic movies - the well-known and popular Casablanca, set during WWII, and starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart; Rebel Without A Cause starring James Dean and Natalie Wood and; from the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, North by Northwest starring Cary Grant.

We hope many of you will come to enjoy these films in the beautiful surrounding of the Century Theatre.

Laura Vodanovich

The following day, April 12, Chamber Museum New Zealand presents Nocturnes, an evocative collection of night-songs for the piano, played by internationally celebrated concert pianist and chamber musician Professor Jian Liu.

This series of nocturnes from a range of composers, including Chopin and Liszt, provides an evening of charm and delight, featuring the purity and power of a solo piano.

Friday, April 16 the annual Big Bike Film Night screens. The 2021 offering provides a rollercoaster ride of action, humour and drama. Films will take you around the world from Canada, to London, to the Arctic and also historical trails to and from one of New Zealand's most significant rivers. For bike lovers this collection of films is a must see.

Running over five nights, from April 23 through to May 1, Napier Theatre Company presents EQUUS, a psychological drama about Dr Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist who's been encouraged to take on a peculiar case by a magistrate. This involves Alan Strang, a teenager who has been accused of brutally blinding six horses. As Dysart traces the roots of Alan's problems, his own also begin to surface.

Meanwhile remedial work at MTG is progressing well and we're excited that the library will be able to reopen soon (likely mid-April).

In the meantime our Pop Up Shop is available in the Century Theatre Foyer every day, along with the library reserve and collect service. We look forward to welcoming you all soon.

Laura Vodanovich is MTG director