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Flora Knight and Sean Donald play traditional old time country music. Flora Knight and Sean Donald play traditional old time country music. Fiddle player and singer Flora Knight (The Eastern, The Lonesome Pine Specials) was raised in New Zealand, where singer and guitar picker Sean Donald (The All Day Breakfast Stringband) was raised in Canada. Flora and Sean’s songs and tunes have been plucked from a time when the entertainment in rural communities was music and dancing at the local hall. When the men would ask women to dance, and people shared stories amongst themselves.

Flora and Sean have dedicated their young lives to gathering songs, fiddle tunes and stories from small communities around the world.“…a superb set from Sean Donald and Flora Knight, fiddle and guitar, both singing. Close your eyes and it’s music from a crackling old American country and western radio show.

“Does anyone here know Lefty Frizzell?” asks Knight. Frizzell would be three-and-a half-times Knight’s age if he were still alive.” North and South Magazine

Month: February
Venue: Any suitable theatre, music venue, house concert, hall, church or barn
Set up: 2 hours for sound check in venuePersonnel: 2
Duration: 2 x 45 minute sets with intervalPrice: $600+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Folks interested in the revival of country and folk music in New Zealand, lovers of old music with a fresh spin on it, storytellers, historians, students, teachers.
Website: www.facebook.com/floraandsean

Leading comedians Raybon Kan and Nick Rado team up to perform a two hour show in which stand-up lights the way to Rado and Raybon solving problems posed by each night’s audience.

The first half is a stand-up comedy set by each comedian. In the second half, they take the stage together and answer questions, throwing fuel on the burning issues as determined by the audience on the night. They guarantee the world will not end during the show.

Nick Rado is the Head Writer for TV3’s award winning panel show 7 Days, guest comedy writer for TV3’s The Project. He’s won the NZ Comedy Guild’s Best MC award four times. Raybon Kan (Best Comedian, Metro; Best Comedian, North & South) has performed at major comedy festivals such as Montreal’s Just for Laughs (twice), Edinburgh and Melbourne, where The Age declared his show ‘Dazed and Confucius’ one of the festival highlights.

Month: March
Venue: Any suitable comedy venue, theatre, café
Set up: 1 hourPersonnel: 2
Duration: 2 hours with interval
Price: 1500+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Anyone and everyone above the age of 18
Website: www.nickrado.com www.raybonkan.com

A new musical by Charles Dickens and Penny Ashton.

Following the sold out global successes of Promise and Promiscuity, Penny Ashton (Radio NZ The Panel, Hot Pink Bits) swaps Austen for Dickens and brings orphaned hero Olive, and a squalid gaggle of Victorian characters to pox-ridden London life.

Will Olive find a family amongst the brothels, toffs and gruel? Or will Mrs Sourtart break her heart as well as her teeth? One woman portrays 15 characters in an hilarious musical journey that will fulfil your greatest expectations and be the best of times and well… the best of times.

“very very good…very very funny.” Radio NZ National“

“I rarely resort to the accolade ‘tour de force’ but here it is entirely appropriate.” Theatreview

“…her vitality and drive is relentless.” The Dominion Post

Month: April
Venue: Any suitable theatre, hall or venue of choice
Set up: 3 hours for pack into venue
Personnel: 2
Duration: 75 minutes, 90 with interval though not is preferred.
Price: $950+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Theatre/Comedy audiences of ages 14+(mild Innuendo)
Website: www.hotpink.co.nz

Horn-heavy duo Hopetoun Brown are joined on stage by arguably the country’s finest trumpet player Finn Scholes. These three multi-instrumentalists travel with a boot-load of exotic instruments. You may know Hopetoun Brown as the horn section and founding members of local chart-toppers Supergroove.

Bass clarinets, tubas and trombones are swapped for trumpets, saxophones and an assortment of strange keyboard instruments throughout the two stomp-heavy sets. Lead singer Tim Stewart’s large boots will rattle floors throughout the nation as the band work through their repertoire spanning blues, soul, funk, jazz, Americana and stomp.

The set-list will be peppered with tunes from Hopetoun Brown’s latest album Look So Good which features guests turns from Tami Neilson, Marlon Williams and their touring buddy Finn Scholes.

If you’re looking for a jazz journey that starts in New Orleans and ends at your back door this could be your night.

“It’s the pervading sense of fun together with a respect for antique jazz, blues, plantation work songs, doo-wop and funk that gives Hopetoun Brown their edge” Metro magazine

Month: April 19th-May 28th
Venue: Any suitable music venue, hall, gallery, church or woolshed
Set up: 2 hours for sound check in venue
Personnel: 3
Duration: 2 hours incl. interval
Price: $900+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Music lovers
Website: www.facebook.com/hopetounbrown

Every culture has riddles – they keep company with runes and spells and Christmas crackers, they challenge and entertain us, they remind us just how mysterious the world can be. Poets especially love riddles and over the years Bill Manhire has translated Old English riddles.

For Tell Me My Name he has composed a range of new riddles to be presented as songs. The settings range from meditative ballad to joyful stomp, with Hannah Griffin’s sublime voice woven in counterpoint with Martin Riseley’s violin parts. Composer Norman Meehan performs at the piano, and the trio make music in which Béla Bartók seems to dance with Billie Holiday. Tell Me My Name invites audiences to solve these riddles as they reveal themselves in musical performance.

Month: June 9-July 16
Venue: Any suitable music venue, theatre, café, church, performance venue
Set up: 2 hours
Personnel: 3
Duration: 1.5 hours with interval
Price: 900+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: All ages and lovers of music and literature
Website: www.normanmeehan.co.nz/tell-me-my-name/

IVF isn’t fool proof and IUDs aren’t failsafe. I-Phones come with ovulation apps and being married doesn’t mean you have to breed. Seed follows four women as they try to get pregnant, stay pregnant or become un-pregnant – the dilemmas of modern reproduction.

Seed by Elisabeth Easther was the winner of the 2014 Adam New Zealand Play Award, and was described by the award judges as “highly entertaining, funny and sophisticated”. Seed is about the horror some women experience when they’re pregnant, even while in loving relationships, and the pain some women feel when they’re not – and the hope that a baby can cement the bond with their partner in a way a ring, a house or a promise just don’t.

Seed is a drama that’ll have you laughing till tears run down your face, and a comedy that’ll make you cry and it’s all about us.

Month: July
Venue: Any suitable theatre, performance venue
Set up: 3 hours
Personnel: 6
Duration: 90 mins with interval
Price: 1800+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Anyone who has been born
Website: www.playtimetheatre.co.nz

Driven to the brink by the infidelity of his wife and a lack of acting opportunities, an aging thespian confronts his demons in what he hopes will be a final “dark night of the soul”. The problem is, his demons are as crazy as he is. A glorious tour de force in which four of Shakespeare’s greatest creations (a foul-mouthed Macbeth, a confused Hamlet, a know-it-all Othello, and a really hungry King Lear) come kicking and screaming into the bursting, deranged brain of a single man.An outrageous and, at times, profound view into one actor’s attempt at self-destruction.

In a career spanning over 40 years, Michael Hurst has become one of New Zealand’s leading actors and directors. In the 1990s he came to international prominence as Iolaus in the US television series “Hercules – The Legendary Journeys”. Renowned for his work with Shakespeare, Michael received an ONZM in 2005 and is a New Zealand Arts Laureate. Includes 30 minute Q&A with Michael Hurst after the performance.

Month: August
Venue: Any suitable theatre, community hall
Set up: 2 hr for pack in
Personnel: 2
Duration: 1 hour performance followed by Q&A
Price: $1000+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Theatre audiences, comedy theatre, classical theatre
Website: www.facebook.com/MichaelHurstNZ

Helen Webby will unpack her harp, the Concert Grand and present an intimate tour of the world of harp: Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Bach and the Baroque, to Paris and La Belle Epoque. It is ideal for a house concert or soiree. The concert will showcase the latest pieces written for Helen from her solo CD Pluck, including NZ composers Mark Smythe, Claire Cowan and Anthony Ritchie. Pluck was commissioned after the Christchurch Earthquakes, nominated for Best Classical CD in the 2013 NZ Music Awards, and was made into a DVD film Harps Make Fine Companions, recently screened by Television New Zealand.

Principal Harp with Christchurch Symphony, Helen Webby loves to take her harp out from the back of the orchestra, and tell the stories: made by her brother Kim Webby from South Island Red Beech, the Concert Grand harp is a work of art. Helen’s dancing fingers will pluck her strings and your hearts in this magical night of harp music.

Month: September
Venue: Any suitable theatre, community hall, music venue or house concert
Set up: 1 hour
Personnel: 1
Duration: 70 minutes with interval (Q&A afterwards)
Price: $600+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Lovers of fine music
Website: www.harp.co.nz

Adam McGrath is a folk singer stationed where ever he lands. The lead singer and songwriter for the almost mythic mongrel country band The Eastern, he takes to his solo adventures with the same intensity, passion, love and humour that has given his day band a firm foothold into the hearts and minds of New Zealand. Described by Radio New Zealand and the NZ herald as a “National Treasure” McGrath’s work with The Eastern has become legendary across the many bars, lounges, halls and street corners they’ve graced in their ten year, 2000 show career. Barry Saunders from the iconic Warratahs simply described McGrath as “the truth”. On this tour he’ll be joined by a small but mighty rhythm section (The Roaring Days) who promise to help drive McGrath’s songs and get the hearts beating against the chest.

Month: October
Venue: Theatre, music venue, community hall, cafe, home or church
Set up: 2 hr for sound check and set up in venue
Personnel: 3
Duration: 2 x 45 minutes with interval
Price: $1000+GST (or 70% of gross after reasonable costs whichever is greater)
Appeal: Lovers of full-on music from the heart
Website: www.forteastern.com

From the creators of the 2016 hit Mr and Mrs Alexander: Sideshows and Psychics …Ladies and gentlemen, step right up as Rollicking Entertainment turns up the heat to celebrate seven of the most notorious stunts in carny folklore. Seven Deadly Stunts (For Adults) is a nail-biting experience, inspired by the life and times of Harry Houdini. Escapology, chainsaw juggling, walking on broken glass and other famous feats are performed along with the stories of how they came to be. Exciting, terrifying and genuinely funny, join the dastardly duo of real life husband and wife Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman, for what could be the last hour of their lives…

The Messy Magic Adventure (for children and families). Spray and Wipe are two cleaners who have been hired for their most exciting job ever, cleaning a magician’s house! But when they accidentally let the magic out of its box, everything is turned topsy-turvy…

“Plays out in a terrifically unexpected way… Highly recommended for big kids and little kids alike.” Theatreview

Month: November
Venue: Theatre, community hall, school hall, performance venue
Set up: 2 hr for set up in venue (minimum 2 and a half hours needed between start of first show and start of second show)
Personnel: 3
Duration: Seven Deadly 90 minutes with interval; Messy Magic 50 minutes no interval.
Price: $1000+GST for Seven Deadly Stunts or $1500+GST for both.
Appeal: Seven Deadly Stunts Adults.  Messy Magic Adventures Families.
Website: www.rollickingentertainment.com

FRIENDLY GUIDLINES

Please complete our Online Form to book your selections, or downdload our printable Booking Form (PDF) and return it by email or post. To ensure inclusion your completed form should reach us by Friday September 1. Every effort will be made to satisfy demand. Flexibility may be required regarding dates.

AOTNZ will provide transport, accommodation, artists’ daily allowance, promotional material, technical equipment, tour management and national/regional media exposure. We strongly recommend that presenters use social media and the printed material we provide to initiate a promotional campaign.

It is your responsibility to forward media releases and photographs to local media. Supplied promotional material should not be modified in any way as this may contravene AOTNZ design standards and damage the brand.

A “venue” could be a theatre, community hall, marae, school hall, church, hotel, cafe, private home, art gallery or acoustically suitable place.

In exceptional circumstances fees may be negotiated to take into account limited population, after agreement with artist or group.

As the presenter, you will be expected to provide the venue, the agreed fee, and a brief report detailing ticket price, response to show and attendance.

There is no cancellation fee outside four weeks of the commencement of the tour. However, within four weeks, a cancellation will require payment of a 50% penalty fee. All fees are exclusive of GST. Please call Steve Thomas at AOTNZ, at any stage, to clarify details of any arrangement.