Fabulous Arabia opened last week's smorgasbord of cultural delicacies - the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour - with a short but sweet concert in the Queenstown Events Centre on Tuesday night.
A ''silly fun'' cocktail mixed with arch knowingness by singer-songwriter Lawrence Arabia, also known as James Milne, and Mike Fabulous, of the Black Seeds, they and cohorts from Fat Freddy's Drop, Trinity Roots, Head Like a Hole and Panther and the Zoo had the crowd dancing with their irresistible grooves, bouncy rhythms and cruise-ship cabaret act vibe.
Playwright Dave Armstrong set the bar high for himself with the satirically hilarious Le Sud and poignant Rita and Douglas and again reached those heights in Kings of the Gym.
Politically incorrect physical education teacher Laurie (John Leigh, Golden) is the sort of gruff, sarcastic and demanding PE teacher most men will remember. Laurie is master of his department and loved by his pupils in the struggling decile two Hautapu High.
His testosterone-soaked PE office, where the play is set, becomes a crucible for the hearts and minds of Laurie's overqualified and unambitious subordinate teacher Pat (Brett O'Gorman, Short Poppies) and bright young student teacher, born-again Christian and netball star Annie (Cian Elyse White, The Blue Rose), versus Laurie's nemesis, the ingratiating principal Viv (Bronwyn Bradley, Go Girls) who has big plans for the school.
Armstrong through Laurie took swipes at creationism, the Black Caps and modern education priorities. The teachers bet how many times ''wellbeing'' features in the new curriculum, compared with ''winning''.
''Come on, Laurie, no-one fails around here, we agreed,'' Pat protests, when Laurie prepares to retaliate against Annie in her job review.
Kings of the Gym earned an ''A'' on its report card with the audience on Wednesday night.
Aidan Roberts and Daniel Holdsworth, the black-clad barefooted duo behind Tubular Bells ''For Two'', let their audacious recital of Mike Oldfield's landmark album do the talking on Thursday.
Where 30 musicans once performed Oldfield's cosmic Celtic-rock-pop-folk odyssey in 1973, the Australians between them played more than 20 instruments like mad professors working in their laboratory of music, to the crowd's amazement.
The hottest ticket in Queenstown was for Auckland modern dance collective Black Grace and its showstopper Vaka on Thursday night. The full house was treated to exceptionally fluid and synchronised choreography which told a story in either explosions of movements, or moments of subtle tenderness. The audience was spellbound.
It was a family affair for Wellington outfit Electric Wire Hustle on Saturday night when their blend of hip hop and soul with a psychedlic twist was given an accent with a little help from their parents.
Tribal met industrial when Strike delivered Elemental as the final festival performance on Sunday night. The multiethnic drummers discovered rhythms in everything, from drums and xylophones to pipes, pans, engine parts, oil drums and even bursts of fire, the pouring of water and the slicing of air.
