Festival just the fun-filled tonic needed

CHARLIE GATES

Build it and they will come.

It's a risky mantra to follow, but it worked for the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch this year.

It was a major achievement that the festival returned after such a tumultuous year for Canterbury.

The city centre is cordoned and many venues from last year have been demolished.

A small town was built in a corner of Hagley Park, complete with banks, cafes, stages, food outlets and temporary venues to allow the buskers to return to Christchurch.

It was a new approach that was not without its challenges.

The dearth of tourists in Christchurch took a chunk out of audiences for day-time shows, while Hagley Park sometimes felt a little exposed, with high winds kicking up dust and strong sunshine making crowds sweat.

We sometimes missed the shade and shelter our central city used to provide.

Heavy rain and high winds on a couple of nights also stepped on punchlines for some standup comedians in one of the temporary dome venues.

But these challenges were overcome with ingenuity, defiance and, naturally, good humour.

A great example of this was the large white marquee pitched in a car park at the back of the Colombo Mall in Sydenham. It was erected to replace the demolished Bedford venue in Madras St, which hosted the Late Night with the Buskers show last year.

It was a great white tent of hope, filled with defiant laughter each night.

But when a howling wind and hail got too much for the marquee, the show still went on. It was just moved a few metres to the atrium of the mall.

These challenges made it a festival of contrast.

There were sellouts and washouts; rain and shine. But ultimately it worked.

There was a huge appetite for the evening shows, with many selling out in minutes.

It was exciting to see a queue of people lining up to buy tickets for comedy shows.

A good laugh was needed now more than ever.

The challenges also proved that great buskers can transcend their settings.

Two performers even returned with their own atmospheric venue packed away in travel cases. Le Tigre Bleu is a small big top that seats 50 people. It is the brainchild of festival favourites Jonathan Taylor and Anne Goldmann, also known as the Daredevil Chicken Club.

It is a beautiful little venue.

The husband-and-wife team has created a safe and welcoming performance space, complete with red velvet stage curtains, where performers can thrive.

Catch it over these last two days of the festival this weekend.

It was also good to see great buskers like Hilby, the Lords of Strut, Fraser Hooper and The Back Up Dancers wowing crowds across Busker Park. The Back Up Dancers once again reduced me to uncontrollable laughter.

The triumphant return of Canterbury performer Sam Wills with the sequel to his hit The Boy with Tape on his Face show was a highlight that inspired hundreds to queue for hours to get hold of the hot ticket of the festival.

The festival is perhaps the only chance for Christchurch people to see daring and unconventional performers like Australian absurdist Sam Simmons.

But it is hard not to look back on last year's festival.

Last January, the city was cranking again for the first time since the September 2010 quake.

Big crowds gathered for daytime buskers in Cathedral and Victoria squares, in the shade and shelter of buildings now gone.

At last year's festival, it felt like the city had finally turned the corner after the September 4 quake. That was a hopeful feeling about to be proved wrong.

So here we are one year later in Hagley Park. The festival has become part of what is known as the transitional city, where temporary facilities pop up in the central city until the rebuild is complete.

The transitional city is experimental, temporary, challenging, defiant, understandably ragged and improvised. It's not perfect, but it is kind of exciting.

The festival has become a part of the city's rebuild.

It's inspiring that laughter can play a part in the recovery of Canterbury.

The best international or Kiwi act will be honoured with The Press Critics' Choice Award before the Comedy Club show in Hagley Park tonight.

WHAT'S ON Who to catch this weekend: Javier Jarquin: slick, likeable, hard-working and one mean card ninja. The Back Up Dancers: Poster girl dancing divas that get the party started. Lords of Strut: Cheeky Oirish duo combine comic sibling rivalry with acrobatics. Hilby: A masterpiece of non- stop cheesy one-liners and genuinely impressive tricks. Street shows in New Brighton: Support the east. Sam Simmons: A cacophonous cavalcade of profound nonsense. The Boy with Tape on his Face - More Tape: A triumphant sequel. Bigger, better, faster, stronger.

 

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