As part of the community celebration and activity that Company of Giants has been instigating at 116 Bank Street in the last 8 months, we will create another theatrical extravaganza for and with the people of Whangarei called Milk and Honey. This piece will be based on work we developed in collaboration with Quarry Nights last September. We will develop this into a theatre piece to be presented to Whangarei audiences in a two week public season at ONEONESIX in November.

M & H will be like a night circus, both alluring and alarming, nimble and on the edge. It is a family vaudeville show of sorts – its cast includes a diverse range of people from our community – both professional performers and non-professional performers, fathers, daughters, little sisters and older brothers.

There is no set – the actors, like travelers who have left their homes, carry everything they need – suitcases, bikes, lamps, desks, boxes, buckets, violins, balloons, bubbles and guitars. These rogue humans are anthropomorphic and starkly dressed. A vaudevillian family show about loneliness and the search for the land of milk and honey, using Noahʼs Ark as a starting point.

We will use the power of a huge group being continually stopped in action, frozen in space, weaving a narrative of lonely characters looking for a land of hope. The show is a series of introductions - through song, narration, music and magic. As usual we will embrace the acute musical talent we have in our group and community pulling in original harmony, acapella song, music boxes and megaphones. This work is visually extreme and highly theatrical. We plan to make a big splash in town with strong imagery, roaming performers and lots of use of the outdoor public spaces around ONEONESIX.

Everyone will know about us!