Access

Access is a new, award-winning interactive performance artwork by interdisciplinary artist Hamish Annan.

WINNER
NZ Fringe Touring Award

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…
ArtsHub

The Age Australia’s Festival Top Pick

Experience Access

Access is a provocative performance experience exploring human connection and emotional vulnerability.

A semi-interactive work, Access invites you into direct contact with authentic emotional expression. Raw human emotion unfolds before your eyes, on demand.

Feelings ripple through the performer and audience as this dynamic work moves between the personal and the communal.

Winner of the NZ Fringe Touring Award, Access is a living, breathing, ever-changing performance.

It's electric, visceral, playful, confronting, and each interaction is unique.

Made in collaboration with Katie Burson and Rob Byrne, Access was developed with support from Creative New Zealand and the Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme.

WINNER: NZ Fringe Touring Award (Auckland Fringe)

Experience Access

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  • "The audience, even in attempting to passively view the work, is pulled in and made part of the experience. As a result each state becomes more than witnessing, it is a communal construction, an experiment in triggering the empathetic responses of a group… such a moving and curious piece..”

    Irene Corbett, Theatrescenes

  • β€œIt’s an incredible exercise in empathy, and an experience that feels unique and personal, and also communal.”

    Madeleine Crutchley, Craccum

Here's what audiences are saying about Access

  • "It is difficult to make audience participation approachable. Hamish gracefully explores human connection in a way that is simple and deeply powerful for those who sit opposite him. A true gem."

    Georgie

  • β€œUncomfortable yet strangely familiar! It was powerful to surrender to the emotions that are so natural in us - a reminder of what it means to be human in its purest form.”

    Andrew Tui, Depot Artspace

  • "I laughed, I cried, I was scared. It's a wild, honest, vulnerable, and beautiful show."

    Shannon

  • β€œThank you for this unique show, it was mesmerising and so well put together. I went on a variety of journeys as I observed and participated. Hamish is brave, vulnerable and experimental.”

    Julia

  • β€œConfronting… in a thrilling, anticipatory way… It was moving and weird and funny.”

    Katherine

  • β€œVery intense, extremely thought provoking!”

    Malcolm

Reviews

β€œThe audience, even in attempting to passively view the work, is pulled in and made part of the experience.”
- Irene Corbett, Theatrescenes

β€œI only hope it can exist in more times and on different streets, so that more people can have access to the beautiful discomfort and transgressive power of this work.”
- Erin O'Flaherty, Theatrescenes

β€œThe nervous and curious energy that fills the room as audience members watch on is electric, and stepping out of the room afterwards is a disorienting experience. It’s an incredible exercise in empathy, and an experience that feels unique and personal, and also communal.”
- Madeleine Crutchley, Craccum

β€œAnnan performs with grace and conviction.”
- Art Murmurs

β€œAccess, presents an opportunity to analyse this form of human expression more closely.”
- The Wellingtonista

β€œProvokes bubbles of genuine laughter or small in-breaths of empathy.”
- Cordy Black, Theatreview

β€œAnnan’s vulnerability and commitment to conjuring each emotion was breathtaking, and he delicately played with emotions without ever toying with them, creating a profound and affecting spectacle. β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β€
- Lakshmi Ganapathy, ArtsHub

Media

Access premiered at Studio One Toi TΕ« and the Ellen Melville Centre as part of the Auckland Fringe (2022), with the support of the Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme.

ONEONESIX as part of the Whangārei Fringe (2022), with the support of the Whangārei District Creative Communities Scheme.

A return season at the Ellen Melville Centre for Auckland Pride (2023), supported by the Access Pride Fund.

Te Auaha Gallery at NZ Fringe (2023), with support from the NZ Fringe Touring Award.

Yours at Dunedin Fringe (2023), with the support of Dunedin Fringe Festival Trust & Creative New Zealand.

Festival Hub: Trades Hall - The Square at Melbourne Fringe (2023), with support from Cash for Equity through the Fringe Fund, as part of Radical Access.

Testing Grounds at Public Art Park β€˜23 (2023), by invitation from Testing Grounds.

Previous Seasons

Credits

Hamish Annan
Writer/Performer/Producer

Katie Burson
Director/Collaborator

Rob Byrne
Production Design and Marketing

Alistair Greenwood
Movement Consultation

Access is available for local and international performances in 2024/5. It’s a flexible and low-risk work that can be programmed in various indoor and outdoor spaces. Access can be performed as a standalone work or alongside other events.