Friday, September 2, 2011

Ngaio on the 'Quake Case: one-night only fundraiser

“Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen”

A Film Screening – One Night Only

A fundraising screening for The Court Theatre
Hosted by Peter Elliott as Inspector Roderick Alleyn

When: Monday 26 September 2011, 7.30pm
Cost: $25 per ticket
Where: The Aurora Centre for The Performing Arts, cnr Greers Rd & Memorial Ave
Run time: 70 mins – plus a Q&A for 20 minutes with the film makers.

DVD’s: DVD’s of Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen will be sold with tickets and on the night at a reduced price
Cost: $20 – with all proceeds also going to “The Shed.”

Books: Harper Collins NZ is presenting the compendium of Ngaio’s detective stories and a signed copy of Joanne Drayton’s biography of Ngaio Marsh which will be raffled. on the night. Cost: $10 per ticket (Retail value $300+)

Total package: Ticket & DVD - $45
bookings@courttheatre.org.nz or Ph: 03 963 0870

All funds raised will go to the Court Theatre’s fundraising appeal for “The Shed.”

This event is funded by Creative New Zealand.

You can read more about the film, Ngaio Marsh - Crime Queen, below.

“Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen”

(The Unsolved Mystery)

Detective Inspector Alleyn on the case of his creator, Ngaio Marsh

Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn (Peter Elliot), the urbane English police officer and the detective who stars in all thirty two of Ngaio Marsh’s internationally renowned best selling detective novels, comes to life to go in search of his creator, Ngaio Marsh.

In his investigation Alleyn is teased by glimpses of Ngaio as she walks down a London street, sits reflecting in a café or slips into a radio studio for a recording. ‘Ngaio’ is adept at luring her Detective on, only to evade and escape revelation. This is a cat and mouse game played by two professionals. Who is stalking who and why? Does Ngaio want to be discovered, to finally reveal who she is behind her masks? If anyone can coax out the fact behind the fantasy, it is her Detective Inspector.

Alleyn leads the investigation into what is behind the masks and hidden in the fantasies - the contradictions and controversies of his mistress’s life. Ngaio Marsh has been the architect of his fictional world; now he explores her factual world. Does his investigation enable him to better understand the complex nature of his creator?

Does he discover that Ngaio Marsh’s fictional and factual worlds blur – or that he, a fictitious creation, is, in fact, an essential character in his mistress’s life. Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen is on the case.

Dame Ngaio loved her city and she loved the theatre; this is her night to help out.

The filmmakers will hold a Q & A following the screening, which will include producer/director Aileen O’Sullivan, and actor Peter Elliot who features as Ngaio’s Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn in Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen.

NZ on Air and TVNZ funded the making of “Ngaio Marsh – Crime Queen”.

For more information contact – Ali Jones, Ali Jones PR (for The Court Theatre) on 027 247 3112

NB – Remember - $10 for raffle of Compendium of Ngaio Marsh books (ALL 32)

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This sounds like a terrific evening out - and I'd heartily encourage anyone in the Canterbury region, or driving distance away, to head along and support a great cause. Dame Ngaio actually received her 'damery', as she called it, largely for her work with New Zealand theatre - she was a driving force behind creating a theatre culture in New Zealand, and I'm sure she would love that a documentary about herself is being used to raise funds for the Court Theatre, an iconic theatre in Canterbury that, like many other things there, has been adversely affected by the series of devastating earthquakes over the past year.

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