‘Joy our region needs’: Free show takes audience on heart-warming adventure

The Worm is a family-friendly free show on at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre at the end of the month.

Here’s your chance to take some time out with your family and enjoy a free show at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre.

Hastings District Council and Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre have partnered with acclaimed national theatre company Nightsong, the Performing Arts Network of New Zealand and local businesses to bring The Worm, a family-friendly show, to the Bay at the end of this month.

The show follows a worm on its adventure to rescue its mother after she’s snatched up by a giant bird beak from above. And while the worm’s journey to the surface is riddled with danger, this heart-warming show uses Nightsong’s trademark visual style of large-scale puppetry, illusion and choreographed movement to bring this extraordinary story to life.

The little worm must travel through a dark subterranean world, full of empty streets and flea-bitten bars, dodging the sharp spade of the gardener, outsmarting poisonous spiders and battling the ruler of the underworld, The Blind Rat, and her henchman, Snail.

Toitoi presenter services manager Glen Pickering says despite the premise, The Worm is a wonderful, uplifting show for the whole whānau.

“We decided to bring The Worm here because it has exactly the humour and joy our region needs right now.”

Starring Anapela Polata’ivao, Yvette Parsons, Albert Latailakepa, Semu Filipo and Andrew Grainger, with original music performed live by Carnivorous Plant Society, this delightfully surreal and anarchically absurd show will entertain and enthral young and old alike.

Pickering describes The Worm as “an amazing show from a top New Zealand theatre company”.

“The Worm is great for the whole whānau. It stars incredible actors and has previously travelled throughout Tāmaki Makaurau schools for free, so coming to Heretaunga to share this delightful theatre with our community here is a great extension of that.”

Nightsong co-founder and The Worm co-director Ben Crowder says the show touches on the importance of balancing an environmental ecosystem.

“The Worm thematically explores travelling from the dark to the light and has great crossover appeal for young and older. It feels like a way to bring whānau together to share in an uplifting experience – particularly after a period of crisis and to lift morale as the recovery begins,” he says.

In addition to two free public shows on Saturday, April 29, Toitoi will also host two performances of The Worm for local schools on Friday, April 28. The four free shows have been supported by several local businesses.

Public shows of The Worm, by Carl and Peter Bland, are on Saturday, April 29 at 2pm and 6pm. Entry is free, but registration is essential. See www.toitoivenues.co.nz to book, or head to the Toitoi Box Office in the Hastings i-Site on Heretaunga Street East. Any schools interested in attending should contact Toitoi directly via email at glenp@toitoivenues.co.nz.