After many months of preparation we are finally ready to open tonight. There are so many people that deserve our heartfelt thanks for helping to make this possible. I remember about a year ago sitting having a coffee with Tony and having the first conversation about the possibility of Different Light performing in the Ludus festival. It seemed so distant, to take a show to the other side of the world, and with all the changes around us how could any of us know what we would be doing a year from that point?! Christchurch has undergone such a devastating transformation, so much destruction and loss, there is a toll to being a resident of a city that can not stay still, we all carry with us an uncertainty, a possibility of upheaval at any moment, and it has been from this that we have created this performance. Since that coffee and conversation there have been a further 2600 earthquakes (10500 since the September event), there has been little in the way of re-development and even now most of the city centre is still closed, the infamous: "Red zone".
An empty, broken Christchurch projected in the background.
The last two days have been all about the final push to create a space for Glen, Ben and Isaac to tell their stories, but it really is not the technology, or the space that is important. We are all just about to head over to the venue, warm up and realize a years worth of planning and work.
Best seat in the house.. my home for the next three days.