Sunday 5th July . 3.00PM . Lyttelton Arts Factory
Shakespeare's Greatest Comedy
Joe Bennett
Joe Bennett is back. Last time he tackled Shakespeare's tragedies. This year it's the comedies.
But which one? As You Like It? Twelfth Night? Much Ado About Nothing? All's Well That Ends Well? You'll have to come along to find out.
If you know Joe, you know he is a writer. If you don’t, here's what you need to know. He's one of Aoteartoa, New Zealand's most celebrated writers, multiple times ‘Columnist of the Year’, and the author of a novel that sat at number one on the NZ fiction bestseller list for five weeks. He lives in Lyttelton and he knows how to work a room.
this imperfect light
Ben Brown
Sunday 5th July . 6.00PM . Lyttelton Arts Factory
Ben Brown previews his next book at an intimate evening at LAF for this year’s festival, featuring original artwork by Bill Hammond and an opening set by Dominic Hoey.
This Imperfect Light spans Browns work from 1994 to 2025 and is published by Dead Bird Books. New poems, old stories, last chance saloons and unexpected consequences with Lyttelton resonating throughout.
This evening will explore his creative friendship with Bill Hammond, working with his daughter, making it and losing it in Lyttelton, and the bigger questions underneath it all. Informal but structured, the audience is invited into the conversation. Hammond's original artwork projected throughout.
"The poem is a brief conversation with the late Bill Hammond. In 2011 just a few weeks before the killer February EQ, I got cheeky at the Lava Bar one weekday night when he was taking a break from his paints n brushes. Shouted him a pinot noir - a good one - and asked him if he’d maybe consider illustrating a book of poems one day . . .So it’s 2013 on a cold day going nowhere else and he just walks up to me on London Street right outside the library, slaps a plain brown A4 sized paper bag hard and flat to my chest and says, ‘I got something for you. Do what you fuckin like with them... ‘ then he hit up LCC for a coffee..."
Great Comic
Writing
Joe Bennett
Sunday 12th July . 3.00PM . Lyttelton Arts Factory
How to raise a laugh, from Chaucer to Wodehouse and everyone in between. Also how not to. Led by the one and only Joe Bennett who has asked to be described as a writer who is 69.
Over the Desert
Comedy and poems from a lifetime.
Gary McCormick
Tuesday 14th July . 7.00PM . Lyttelton Arts Factory
Poet, broadcaster, raconteur and Lyttelton local, Garry McCormick needs little introduction. But if you haven't seen him live in a while, this is the one to come back for.
Over the Desert is an evening of comedy and poems drawn from a McCormick’s lifetime of remarkable experiences. From touring the country with Sam Hunt and the late David Lange, to the beloved TV series Heartland that took him into the far corners of Aotearoa, Gary has always had a gift for finding the humanity, the humour and the poetry in everyday New Zealand life.
This is Gary at his most intimate — on stage, in his town, sharing the stories, the laughs and the verses that have shaped a life well lived.
Pull up a seat. You already know you're in good hands.
Folk Tales
Lizzie Tollemache, Kim Pairi Garrett and Criss Grueber
Sunday 19th July . 7.30PM . Lyttelton Arts Factory
Folklore from two cultures, to bewitch and inspire. Internationally acclaimed theatre makers Kim Te Pairi Garrett (Tūhoe) and Lizzie Tollemache (Pākehā) weave stories from the Scottish Highlands and Te Urewera together with live music from Criss Grueber, following the threads that connect us across oceans.
From ancient tales to modern folklore, stories have always provided us with a path out of the woods; Selkies and Taniwha, witches and brave girls, temptation and hope.
We invite you to gather together, snuggle up and be spirited away by the oldest human tradition on the planet, making sense of our world through storytelling.
From the creator of Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups.