Laugh Your A** Off Festival returns to Hastings with top local talent
It's time to smirk, snicker, chuckle, guffaw, chortle, cachinnate and laugh your bottoms off again Hawke's Bay as comedy returns to Hastings.
The Laugh Your A** Off Festival starts at Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts and Events Centre on Thursday, kicking off a run of national and international comedians who will
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NZ Herald
12-08-2025
- NZ Herald
Laugh Your A** Off Festival returns to Hastings with top local talent
Florence Hartigan is bringing her one-woman show Me, My Mother and Suzy Cato to Hastings as a part of the Laugh Your A** Off Festival this week at Toitoi. It's time to smirk, snicker, chuckle, guffaw, chortle, cachinnate and laugh your bottoms off again Hawke's Bay as comedy returns to Hastings. The Laugh Your A** Off Festival starts at Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts and Events Centre on Thursday, kicking off a run of national and international comedians who will
Otago Daily Times
05-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Valued art, but not valuable
Fayum Coffin Lid Portrait, from Me, According to the History of Art, by Dick Frizzell, 2019, is on show at Eastern Southland Gallery. Photo: Ella Scott-Fleming The works on show at the Eastern Southland Gallery have one thing in common: they did not cost the collector a cent. "Seriously Valuable Art" running until September 14 in the main, curved-wall of the gallery, features the works of an unnamed collector from Christchurch. The exhibition argues that art need not be expensive to be beautiful, important and life-enhancing, the press release said. Nothing in the show, featuring prints, paintings and sculpture from the past 100 years and beyond, has cost the collector a "huge amount" of money. Artists can be generous, and market forces are not always kind to the later, historically recognised creatives, the release also said. Buried in the show, however, was a secretly pricey work, and gallery-goers were encouraged to guess which fetched more of a price on the international market. Each piece was labelled with humorous comments by the collector including Dancing Frogs by New Zealand painter Joanna Braithwaite. Underneath, the collector simply said, "A tribute to the French?". The coffin portrait by famous New Zealand pop artist Dick Frizzell was accompanied by an amusing exchange as the artist and collector were friends. The label said the collector remarked that the portrait resumed the "adorable" big-eyed depictions of women and children by 1950s kitsch icon Margaret Keane. The artist was not flattered by the comparison, the caption read, but the two remained good friends. A talk by art historian and collector Mark Stocker, who may or may not be the mysterious collector, organisers said, was planned for August 24, at 2pm. Mr Stocker will guide the audience through the selected works and share insights into what was worth collecting — and what was best left behind. .
Scoop
05-08-2025
- Scoop
From Whitney Houston, Sci-Fi Epics, To Supernatural Cabaret: C. Penrose Returns Home To Bring Monster Songs To Toitoi
Auckland-based performer Caitlin Penrose is heading back to her Hawke's Bay roots this August, starring in the supernatural cabaret Monster Songs at Toitoi – Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre as part of the Laugh Your A** Off Festival. Performing for one night only on Friday 15 August at 7.30pm, Monster Songs invites audiences into a dark and dazzling world of cabaret where Bowie meets Britney and Rocky Horror meets Moulin Rouge—a high-energy and hair-raising musical theatre spectacle, celebrating the misfits of music through explosive pop vocals and theatrical flair. For Penrose, who grew up in Napier, bringing the production home is a full-circle moment. 'Coming back to Hawke's Bay with a show like this with its killer score of musical theatre hits is a dream come true.' says Penrose (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Rongomaiwahine). 'I performed at Toitoi as a teenager with my school choir, so it feels very special to be returning to the iconic venue with Monster Songs. We made this show as a love-letter to the theatre kids, misfits and of course, the pop iconic of individuality like Gaga and Bowie who lit the way. I can't wait for audiences to feel as exhilarated and joyful as we do on stage.' Penrose has toured internationally with Showtime Australia singing Whitney Houtston, Lent voice work to the film Dune Part II, and she recently graduated from The Actors' Program. With a growing list of stage and screen credits, including an upcoming Netflix series, her return to Toitoi represents not just a homecoming, but a hometown star on the rise. Glen Pickering, Presenter Services Manager at Toitoi, says audiences are in for something truly unique. 'Monster Songs is an incredible show and with its powerhouse vocals, big energy and a lot of heart is going to be epic in the Opera House.' he says. 'And having Caitlin return to her home region for this performance makes it even more special. We're thrilled to showcase a local talent making big waves across the globe.' Monster Songs blends musical theatre with saucy cabaret, featuring everything from freakishly fun showtune bangers to gut-wrenching pop ballads. It's a genre-bending, high-octane show for anyone who's ever felt like an outsider—and everyone ready to howl along.
