The festival that keeps on delivering

Full house: La Vie Dans Une Marionette, a performance by White Face Crew, was just one of the many sold out shows in the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent. Photo/ Duncan Brown.

The Harcourt's Hawke's Bay Arts Festival has reached its halfway point but the quality of entertainment certainly has not.

Festival director Pitsch Leiser said he was amazed by the number of people who had been soaking up the atmosphere of the festival garden and enjoying the cultural performances the festival has had on offer.

"The ambiance created by designer Isaac McCormick has been a huge attraction and the wide spectrum of cultural shows has drawn people from around Hawke's Bay."

Mr Leiser said the festival tried to create a place where people could witness high-quality art which challenged, provoked and made them feel good.

"We are so pleased with how it is going, as people are coming to relax and treat themselves. They are able to be surrounded by creativity and interesting people so they can escape the mundane."

Mr Leiser said that last weekend the festival had 3000 people through the gates of the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent and every show was performed to a full house.

"We had fun shows for families, late-night shows, lots of audience participation and ones which were deep, meaningful and moving."

He said Trash Test Dummies was one of the brilliant performances from the weekend and featured high-energy acting, slapstick comedy and acrobatics.

"Families came down and enjoyed the performance before the older crowds moved in to see the evening shows."

Mr Leiser was thrilled with the support for White Guitar, as it was a serious and true story about Scribe and his family.

"It was my pick of the festival, it was a story about hope. It was an important show for people to see so I was very happy with the turnout there."

"The variety of shows has not stopped and will not be stopping this week, as we have aimed to keep the quality of all performances very high."

He said Hinepau was an example of one of the fantastic productions the festival has on offer this week for families, and Ben Hurley's first solo production, Earth Planet World, was another exciting one for festival goers.

The festival garden continued to pump out "beautiful food, coffee and chocolate" and the festival bar kept up with the daily cocktails, wine and beer.

"We invite more people to come down and enjoy this temporary environment we have created, as we have worked very hard to create high-quality service and entertainment."

The festival closes on this Sunday, October 16, and Mr Leiser was thrilled with the feedback organisers had already received.

"People have been coming up to us and thanking us for bringing this festival to Havelock North. It has been a boost of morale for everyone and a great boost for the village."

There are still tickets available for a range of shows before the final day on Sunday and these can be found on the festival website: http://www.hbaf.co.nz.