Culture 101

Tamar Torrence is three years into a PhD in neuroaesthetics at the University of Auckland, studying what happens neurologically when people have peak experiences with art.

Perlina wanders through the Hamilton Gardens with director Lucy Ryan where she explains that the gardens' founder, Peter Sergel, designed all 30 gardens before a single one was built.

Kate Rodger joins Culture 101 with reviews of The Weed Eaters and Devil Wears Prada 2.

Nigel McCulloch grew up in Rotorua with a garage full of VHS tapes, courtesy of his father's video delivery business. He never connected that upbringing to his career until recently.

Morgana O'Reilly's one-woman show Stories About My Body started as an idea she half-jokingly pitched to a friend: run onstage topless, read from a 1998 form two diary about hating her body, tell the story of working fetish parties in New York to fund an airfare home, and show her birth video.

Poet Carin Smeaton didn't plan a trilogy. She started writing Hibiscus Tart for her sister, then Death Goddess for her mother, then Age of Orpah for her Arab niece, with one eye on what was happening in Lebanon and Gaza.

Karl Puschmann joins Culture 101 with his television and streaming picks for May, including New Zealand Spy on TVNZ+, Jazz Thornton's story Stalked on Sky Open, and BBC crime drama Mint.

Hastings Art Gallery launched a free art bus for schools last November, providing transport for students from Hastings, Napier and Central Hawke's Bay to visit the gallery, with priority given to high-equity and rural schools and those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Hundreds of students have already visited. The Gallery's audience and Learning Manager Elham Salari joins Culture 101 to talk about what happens when transport stops being a barrier.

The Southside Queens of Comedy are six Maori and Pasifika wahine from South Auckland who came together through a free community comedy workshop in 2025 and haven't stopped since. Their NZ Comedy Festival show, Once Upon a Struggle, runs 7-9 May at Poppy's Comedy in Manurewa. Ama Mosese, MC, radio host and podcaster, joins Culture 101 ahead of the shows.

Rose Matafeo came home from London to star in New Zealand Spy, a new local comedy set in the 70s about the country's intelligence agency recruiting the only three people who applied to protect the nation from the threat of Australia. Written by Paul Williams, the show also stars Bret McKenzie, Joe Thomas and Tim Key, and is streaming on TVNZ+ now. Matafeo, who won Best Show at the Edinburgh Fringe for Horndog and wrote and starred in three seasons of BBC series Starstruck, joins Culture 101 to talk about the show and what it means to be recognised at home.

Marion Crawford, known as Crawfie, was nanny to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret for 16 years before a very public falling out with the royal family. The Queen's Nanny, written by Australian journalist and radio presenter Melanie Tait, puts her story centre stage at Takapuna's Pumphouse Theatre. Actor Anna Jullienne plays Crawfie and joins Culture 101 to discuss power, loyalty, sacrifice, and perfecting a Scottish accent bedtime story by bedtime story.

Artist and book cover designer Todd Atticus is parked up in the window of Unity Books in Wellington this week, designing cover artwork for Mia Farlane's new novel And How Are Things With You in real time, turning his practice into a performance. Atticus has designed covers for Catherine Chidgey, Duncan Sarkies and Tusiata Avia. He joins Culture 101 live from the shop window.

The Weed Eaters is a Kiwi comedy-horror set in North Canterbury, following two couples on a New Year's camping trip who encounter a particular strain of weed with unexpected consequences. It debuted at the NZ International Film Festival, won Best Feature at SXSW Sydney, and is currently touring the country. Made for $19,000, the film stars writer Finnius Teppett and Alice May Connolly, known for Sweet Tooth, Wellington Paranormal and The Power of the Dog. Both join Culture 101 live.

Lisa Reihana has spent more than three decades using film, photography and installation to centre Maori and Pacific perspectives in history. She represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and her work sits in collections from Te Papa to the Brooklyn Museum. Right now her installation ANZAC, eight metres high and twenty metres long and made from 180,000 shimmering discs, runs along the Auckland waterfront as part of the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail. She joins Culture 101 live to discuss the work, her shimmer-disc technique and thirty years of using the computer as her carving tool.

Dan Slevin reviews three new releases: Michael, Antoine Fuqua's biopic of Michael Jackson starring the pop star's nephew Jaafar Jackson; The Time Traveller's Guide to Hamilton Gardens, a documentary about the transformation of a former city rubbish dump into one of the world's great gardens, launching the Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival this week; and Sgt. Haane, Tearepa Kahi's ANZAC Day release about 28th Maori Battalion soldier Haane Manahi.

Laura Jean Shannon is a superhero speciality costume designer whose credits include Iron Man, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Murderbot. For the past seven years she's been working on The Boys, the Amazon Prime series about a group of corrupt celebrity supervillains led by Kiwi actor Antony Starr, with the fifth and final season now streaming. Shannon is in Auckland this weekend for Armageddon Expo and joins Culture 101 to talk about what it takes to dress a superhero.

Brett Graham has been a prominent figure in contemporary Maori art since the 1990s, with work shown at the Venice Biennale and in collections around the world. His latest work, Doorway Into Night, is a large, near-entirely black Whare Mate at Gow Langsford Gallery in Onehunga, shrouded in dyed cabbage leaves and accompanied by a text from Ngahuia te Awekotuku and an original soundscape. Perlina caught up with Brett at the gallery in the final hours before the exhibition opened.

Taumarunui-based artist Tyrone Te Waa's latest work draws on the mattress room of the wharenui at his marae, a space associated with play, sleep and hosting visitors. The resulting exhibition, Dreaming from Afar, features stretched cotton across four single mattresses, painted and incorporating sculpture, and is showing at Gus Fisher Gallery in central Auckland until May 2. Te Waa, who received an Arts Foundation Springboard Award in 2022, joins Culture 101 to talk about his creative whanau, marae life and the links between the work and his nan.

Canadian-Serbian actress Nina Kiri is best known for playing Alma in The Handmaid's Tale, but her latest role leads Undertone, an A24 horror film built almost entirely on sound design. She plays the co-host of a paranormal podcast who receives disturbing recordings from a pregnant couple, while caring for her comatose mother in a single house setting. Made for $500,000, the film has grossed $20 million worldwide. Kiri joins Culture 101 to discuss how she got into horror, her Serbian heritage, and reading the script alone in her apartment on a Friday night.

Silo Theatre's new production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge features a mainly Pasifika cast and is playing at Q Theatre in Auckland until May 3. Miller's 1956 play follows a Brooklyn dockworker whose obsession and jealousy unravel his family and ultimately destroy him. Beulah Koale, who plays lead Eddie Carbone, joins Culture 101 to discuss honouring the text without making it Samoan, the comedic roles he wants to explore, and the moment he landed his first US film and realised he could charge anything to the room.

Donna Hay's cookbooks have been a fixture in New Zealand homes since the 1990s. Now the Australian food stylist and author has a new series on Disney+, Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations, filmed against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour and focused on hosting with what you already have. She joins Culture 101 to share tips for seasonal shopping, her surprisingly relaxed views on air fryers, and why she thinks it's fine to photograph your food at restaurants.

The Global Book Crawl runs until next Sunday, connecting independent bookstores across 73 cities worldwide through a shared passport readers get stamped at each store they visit. Canterbury is joining for the first time this year, with ten stores taking part from Kaiapoi to Timaru. Jared Raines from The Great Kiwi Bookstore in Kaiapoi, and Canterbury spokesperson for the crawl, joins Culture 101 to explain how it works and why indie bookshops are worth the trip.

Ant Sang broke through in the early 2000s as head designer of bro'Town and has since become one of New Zealand's most respected graphic artists, with award-winning novels and character designs published around the world. His work has featured at the Auckland Art Gallery and in Rip It Up and the Listener. He joins Culture 101 live for Fast Favourites, and to talk about his new animated kung-fu short film Wing Chun, currently in the final hours of its Boosted crowdfunding campaign.

& Juliet is a jukebox musical built around the back catalogue of Swedish songwriter Max Martin, the most successful chart producer in Billboard Hot 100 history. A Broadway and West End hit with three Olivier Awards and nine Tony nominations, the show reimagines what happens if Juliet decides she's done with Romeo and writes her own story. It opened in Auckland this week and runs at the Civic until May 3, before heading to Wellington and Christchurch. Director Hamish Mouat joins Culture 101 alongside audience reactions and a word from cast members Matu Ngaropo and Lavina Williams.

For 30 years, Depot Devonport has been a home for artists, makers and audiences on Auckland's North Shore, nurturing local talent and connecting communities through art. Anna Thomas visits the space to speak with Director Amy Saunders, studio engineer Nate Selway and artists including Fiona Mackay about what three decades of a community arts hub looks like.

Film critic Dan Slevin reviews three new releases: Undertone, a Canadian supernatural horror film in which a paranormal podcast host receives mysterious recordings that push her toward fear and paranoia; You, Me & Tuscany, a romantic comedy starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page; and Solo Mio, a comedy about a jilted groom who continues his honeymoon alone through Italy, made by a filmmaking collective of eight brothers.

It's Music Therapy Week, and Chris O'Connor is a registered music therapist at the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland whose career has taken him from jazz studies and ethnomusicology to touring the world with Don McGlashan, Neil Finn and The Phoenix Foundation. He joins Culture 101 to talk about how music functions as therapy and what drew him to the field.

Creative New Zealand has released two landmark strategies. Tu Mai Ra, Toi Aotearoa sets a new course for the arts through to 2040, marking the agency's first 15-year strategy, while the Toi Ora Strategy will guide support for nga toi Maori to 2030. Chief Executive Gretchen La Roche joins Culture 101 to discuss what both strategies mean for artists and the wider arts sector.

Dr Sue Watson has written publicly about her adoption journey, and now she is taking that story to the stage. Working with writer and director Renee Lyon, Watson is currently in rehearsal for a theatrical adaptation of her memoir, in which she will also act. She joins Culture 101 to discuss the process of turning personal history into performance, the lines that come easily and the ones that take longer to settle, and what it means to revisit connecting with her birth mother and the mystery of her birth father.

Sarah Adams has spent years researching and compiling a book on the first 100 years of Queen Anne Chocolate, tracing the brand from its origins through to its revival in the late 1990s. She joins Culture 101 to talk about her grandfather Ernest Adams' influence on her life, being among the first female baking apprentices, a 50-year-old box of chocolates unearthed during her research, and how the brand went from a seasonal treat to a year-round staple.

British actress Natascha McElhone has worked alongside Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey and George Clooney, and spent seven seasons on Californication opposite David Duchovny. Her latest role is Cordelia Holmes, mother to a young Sherlock, in Amazon Prime's new series Young Sherlock, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin. She joins Culture 101 to discuss the show, her Kiwi connections and a cat named Chekhov.

Theatreview turned 20 this week, having gone live on 2 April 2006. Founded by John Smythe, the site now holds nearly 15,000 reviews and remains the only platform offering comprehensive nationwide coverage of professional theatre in Aotearoa. Smythe, whose own theatre career stretches back to the 1960s, joins Culture 101 to reflect on two decades of reviewing, the funding challenges facing the site, and what memories his 60 years of watching theatre holds.

Angela Bloomfield first appeared as Rachel McKenna in 1993 and became one of Shortland Street's most recognisable characters, known for ambition, chaos and a long-running will-they-won't-they with Dr Chris Warner. She left the role in 2016 and spent years acting, directing and working in real estate before returning to Ferndale this year as Rachel. She joins Culture 101 for Fast Favourites to share her cultural picks and reflect on dating apps in her 50s, the furniture design career she almost had, and what it took to step back into the Shorty Boss's high heels.

Weaving the People is a new documentary available on RNZ Video, following ten Waikato artists who spent a year embedded in their communities as part of the Whiria te Tangata pilot programme.

Auckland Theatre Company's Helen Clark in Six Outfits opens in just over a week. Written by Fiona Samuel, the play follows Helen Clark's journey from a Waikato farm to the prime ministership, with Jennifer Ward-Lealand playing one of two versions of Helen.

New York-based photographer Austin Bell specialises in aerial landscapes, and his project Shooting Hoops has taken him to over 4,500 outdoor basketball courts across 21 countries and 19 US states.

Florian Habicht is one of New Zealand's leading documentary filmmakers, best known for finding ordinary people and drawing out extraordinary stories. His latest project is a 24-part mini-film series made with Griffin's, capturing each hour of a single day across Aotearoa.

The Auckland Arts Festival's Young Critics Programme pairs rangatahi with festival shows, asking them to file reviews within 24 hours. Two participants in this year's programme join Culture 101 to reflect on what it means to write critically about the arts in Aotearoa, and where the next generation of reviewers might take it.

If you don't notice Saana Kelley's work, she's done her job well. Almost three decades into her career, the foley artist has earned an Emmy for Shogun and credits spanning Ted Lasso, Jurassic World and Only Murders in the Building, while building a social media following of nearly three million by sharing the behind-the-scenes of her craft. She joins Culture 101 to talk stilettos, handcuffs, and the art of making sound.

Crackhead is a bold new local drama created, written by and starring Holly Shervey, drawn from her own experience in psychiatric care.

For the first time, four New Zealand artists are exhibiting at the Shanghai Biennale, China's longest-running art biennale and one of the most influential in the region.

Daniel Pengelly spent more than twenty years in theatre as a performer, director, and former artistic director of both The Court Theatre and Centrepoint Theatre before finding a new home in the auction room.

After 15 years as a psychologist, Rachael Mayne decided it was time to take a break and pursue her painting full time. What started out as an escape and hobby has become a second career.

For the past 30 years, Kyle Balda has been involved and behind some of the most successful animated films of the century.

Thirty-Six is a new play inspired by the viral New York Times article about the 36 questions designed to lead to love.

Internationally renowned UK artist Luke Jeram is known for large scale installations including the global Play Me, I'm Yours piano project. His latest work Helios is currently suspended in the Concert Chamber at Auckland Town Hall. The installation recreates the sun using hundreds of thousands of astro photographs and NASA solar observations, allowing audiences to experience the star up close. Jeram discusses the work and its journey to Aotearoa.

Kristian Lavercombe holds the world record for the most performances in The Rocky Horror Show and is now touring New Zealand as The Narrator.

Country Calendar Producer and narrator Dan Henry reflects on the legacy of the series on its 60th Birthday.

Actor Bronwyn Turei and director Amber Curreen discuss debuting Wet by Dr Tui Matelau.

Journalist, broadcaster and entrepreneur Brodie Kane joins Culture 101 for Fast Favourites.