Take a tour of Toitoi - Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre with the ushers like no other

Back from left, Kristyl Neho, Puti Lancaster, Jo Randerson and James McPhail. Front, Cole Sharland and Harriette Cowan.

Interviewing those involved in this weekend's Grand Opening at the Toitoi - Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre was such a hoot.

These people are so funny. They bounced off each other laughing and joking with each other and me.

Grand Opening is presented by Wellington's Barbarian Productions and promises a journey like no other through the Toitoi Arts and Events Centre.

Participants will be ushered from room to room all the while getting a glimpse of what is behind those beautiful plush curtains.

The tour will take 45 minutes and along the way the "audience" becomes part of the show as do other tour groups they meet.

Along the way the "ushers" will be vying for the title of head usher although local actor Kristyl Neho says she has no doubt she will be named Chief Executive Usher.

"I'm very flexible and dramatic and I have the most amazing gumboots," Neho said. And she has - she showed me her gumboots which have a folding top — very cool.

The other ushers, Harriette Cowan (Eileen) and Cole Sharland (Henry), will have their work cut out for them if they want to beat Neho.

Cowan, who by day is a school teacher in Wellington, said her aim is to ensure the audience enjoys it.

"There's a surprise around every corner. Our directors keep us in slight fear as we never know what they are going to throw at us," she said.

Sharland, who is also from Wellington, said he was thrilled to be an usher. "It's my first work outside drama school and it's amazing to actually get work," he laughed.

Well-known Hawke's Bay actor Jamie McPhail will be lurking about and popping up when you least expect it.

The co-artistic directors, Wellington's Jo Randerson and Hawke's Bay's Puti Lancaster, are just as funny as the actors.

"We are aiming for a blur where there is no hard line between the actors and those taking part in the tour," Randerson said.

"There's no sitting down and watching actors on the stage. This is a moving experience as we go from room to room, and surprise to surprise, there might even be a scavenger hunt.

"Everyone can come. We have wheelchair access, the kids can come. even babies. They might not get the jokes though," she laughed. "Bring everyone and join in the fun and liveliness."

Lancaster, who directed The Contours of Heaven after creating it with Ana Scotney in 2017 for the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival and also Freedom is Behind My Breath alongside Auckland-based performance designer Owen McCarthy, said she was loving working in "this beautiful building".

"We are all working to bring everyone together in this amazing place. Many people who live here have never been inside — now's their chance to have a look around."

■There are limited tickets for each show time, on Saturday and Sunday so get in quick! For tour details, call 06 871 5289.
■ Accessible tour is Sunday at 3pm.