Culture 101
by RNZ
Latest episode
Isabel Haarhaus: Feral and Other Stories, 12 years in the making
Isabel Haarhaus: Feral and Other Stories, 12 years in the making
About this podcast
Perlina Lau hosts a weekly show about creativity and culture in Aotearoa.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 1,000 episodes
- Isabel Haarhaus: Feral and Other Stories, 12 years in the making · 21 minWhen Isabel Haarhaus got Tracey Slaughter's comment comparing her book to Katherine Mansfield, she was staying in the house next door to Mansfield's in Wellington, looking out on…
- Josie Hunter-Annand: Taranaki gets its first Fringe festival · 7 minThe new Taranaki Fringe Festival is on in New Plymouth until 15 November, with comedy, theatre, cabaret, dance and circus, and international acts alongside local talent. Artistic…
- Queen Noveen: the live voice of God behind award shows · 13 minWhen you hear an unseen voice introducing stars at an award show, it's usually a real person sitting backstage, or in a trailer outside, reading live. Queen Noveen is one of…
- The Big Screen: Dan Slevin on Wicker, You Can See Everything and Godzilla Minus Zero · 20 minDan Slevin reviews three new releases. In Wicker, Olivia Colman plays a lonely fisherwoman whose basket maker (Peter Dinklage) builds her a husband from wicker, played by…
- Maaka Pohatu: human jukebox heads Back to the 80s · 19 minMaaka Pohatu's nickname is the human jukebox, and Perlina Lau puts it to the test with a quickfire round of choruses, from Al Green to Peter Andre. He's one of the singers in…
- Cheryl Scott: ten years of opening Gisborne’s She Sheds · 6 minThe She Shed Tour began on a morning beach walk. Cheryl Scott knew plenty of women with she sheds along Gisborne's northern beaches, and when out-of-town visitors were surprised…
- Karl Puschmann: It Gets Worse, Dead Ahead and Stick · 12 minKarl Puschmann joins Perlina with his November TV picks. He starts with It Gets Worse, out on Neon and narrated by Zadie Smith. Three university friends in their twenties face…
- Shane Cotton and Anthony Byrt: a decade of conversations behind their new book · 23 minPainter Shane Cotton and writer Anthony Byrt talk about their book, a mix of history, biography and personal storytelling rather than a conventional art monograph. Byrt quotes…
- The Big Screen: Kate Rodger on Primetime, Pressure and Black Sheeps · 13 minKate Rodger reviews Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim and released by A24, which stars Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo in an unauthorised biopic about Chris Hansen and…
- Pacific Contemporary Artist Award winner Benjamin Work · 23 minTongan and Scottish artist Benjamin Work talks about his Pacific Contemporary Artist Award, presented at the 30th Arts Pasifika Awards in Tamaki Makaurau, which hosted the…
- Arnav Taode: from a first-year Diwali visitor to festival event manager · 14 minArnav Taode, event manager of the Auckland Diwali Festival 2026, speaks to Perlina from the festival. Originally from Pune in India, he grew up moving around the country with his…
- Sarah Ell, author of Tarawera novel A Sky Full of Fire · 20 minSarah Ell was a sixth former camping on the shores of Lake Tarawera when she first imagined writing about the eruption. That was 1986, a century after the mountain blew. Forty…
- Kirsten Vangsness Criminal Minds · 21 minKirsten Vangsness was halfway through an ab workout when a distinguished voice across the gym announced that it worshipped at her throne. It was Tim Curry. She went straight to…
- Nicky Brzeska: Raglan Arts Weekend 2026 · 4 minIt's Labour Weekend, which in Raglan means the studio doors are open. The Raglan Arts Weekend is in its 16th year, with more than 70 artists inviting thousands of visitors in to…
- Composer Luke Di Somma on co-creating TV3's Happiness · 17 minThere's a lot more singing in season two of Happiness, and Luke Di Somma is the one writing it. This time the show within the show is a Sherlock Holmes musical. Luke helps run…
- Johnny Chan: AI micro-dramas and the one-more-minute trap · 14 minNot many people decide to sit down and watch a 40-minute drama on their phone. Plenty of people will watch 40 one-minute episodes, though, one easy decision at a time. That's the…
- Fast Favourites: Jonathan Smart · 16 minJonathan Smart knew artist Mark Braunias since 1988, the year Jonathan opened his gallery and Mark graduated from Ilam with a remarkable class of artists. Almost two year's after…
- Todd Karehana: the story behind Socks and his Venice dream · 13 minTodd Karehana is a Maori and queer writer-director from Kawerau, and his short film Socks is in Show Me Shorts. He says the story starts with his own childhood in the Mormon…
- Dylan Reeve: why reality TV deserves a closer look in The Reality Machine · 22 minDylan Reeve takes Perlina through The Reality Machine, a seven-part RNZ podcast with two episodes a week. He has worked in and around reality TV for more than 20 years and was a…
- The Big Screen: Dan Slevin on Sense & Sensibility, Whalefall and La Bola Negra · 16 minDan Slevin joins Perlina on Zoom to review three films. Sense & Sensibility is Georgia Oakley's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, written by Diana Reid. The Dashwood sisters…
- Duncan and Erin McKellar: A Box of Memories turns dementia into a musical · 23 minDuncan and Erin McKellar talk about turning their family story into a musical. Duncan is a psychiatrist who works with people living with dementia, and his mother was diagnosed…
- Jason Te Mete: strangers singing disco at the Nelson Arts Festival · 9 minJason Te Mete explains how Battle Chorus works. The audience is split into two teams, learns a set of choruses on the night, then sings off. Jason co-created it with Rutene…
- Megan Brown: Tauranga Arts Festival highlights · 4 minMegan Brown, Artistic Director of the Tauranga Arts Festival, gives Perlina a heads up on this year's festival highlights.
- Zoe Moon: Real Black for Me and finding her voice through Roberta Flack · 14 minWhen Roberta Flack died, Zoe Moon felt like she'd lost a teacher. Flack was the singer who helped Zoe find her own voice, away from the sonic expectations she felt as a Black…
- Rebecca Jensen: waltzes, wrestlers and the referee’s three count at Tempo · 9 minAuckland-born, Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer Rebecca Jensen brings two works to Tempo Dance Festival, and both are about threes. Natural Basic is a trio built on the…
- NZFC ends core funding: Alice Shearman, Roseanne Liang and Patricia Watson respond · 18 minThe New Zealand Film Commission is ending its Core Funding Programme, which gives just over $1 million to 10 screen organisations and guilds, including Equity, the Directors…
- The Big Screen with Kate Rodger · 19 minKate Rodger reviews three new releases: Verity, The Social Reckoning and the Netflix documentary Unabomber.
- Tom Eslinger: Saatchi’s old desk and why it’s brutal out there (and that’s good) · 21 minIn 2000, Tom Eslinger became the first global creative director of digital at any agency network, at Saatchi & Saatchi, in a role that had no job description. It started in 1989…
- Taarati Taiaroa: a fallen kahikatea and Aotearoa’s strong showing at the Lyon Biennale · 10 minTen of the 120 artists at this year's Lyon Biennale are from Aotearoa, after curator Katherine Nichols was told to return to where she's from. Taarati Taiaroa was at the opening…
- City Gallery Wellington reopens: director Charlotte Davy after two years of upgrades · 5 minAfter two years of major upgrades and earthquake strengthening, City Gallery Wellington is open again. The work covered the internal masonry walls, the roof, heating and…
- Karl Puschmann's October TV picks · 15 minKarl Puschmann joins Culture 101 with his picks for October. He recommends Happiness Season Two on Three and ThreeNow, the local musical comedy about an ex-Broadway director…
- Rose McGrannagan: keeping Nelson's Magenta Creative Space open · 9 minMagenta Creative Space is Nelson's only fully resourced creative studio, giving people the chance to try their hand at a range of artforms. Strategic director Rose McGrannagan…
- Candice Tutauha on Rua, her debut novel a decade in the making · 13 minRua is the debut novel of Candice Tutauha, who completed a Master of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland and has spent close to a decade developing the story. It…
- The Big Screen with Michelle Langstone · 18 minMichelle Langstone reviews three new releases: Big Girls Don't Cry, Paloma Schneiderman's Sundance Audience Award-winning debut feature and New Zealand International Film…
- Cornelia Parker asked the British Army to blow up a garden shed · 20 minCornelia Parker is one of Britain's most celebrated contemporary artists, known for large-scale installations that begin with acts of destruction. Her 2022 retrospective at Tate…
- 2026 Sargeson Prize winner · 9 minThe Sargeson Prize is New Zealand's richest short story competition, named after Frank Sargeson and sponsored by the University of Waikato. Conceived by writer and lecturer…
- Chris Thorpe on his week-long intensive helping Kiwi writers tackle big issues · 18 minManchester writer and theatre maker Chris Thorpe spent the week in Aotearoa running an intensive workshop, Conversations for Impossible Times, organised by Playmarket and the…
- Michael Norris and Ed Cruikshank: Orbital at At The World's Edge Festival · 20 minAt The World's Edge is a non-profit chamber music festival running 3 to 16 October across the Queenstown Lakes, founded by violinists Benjamin Baker and Justine Cormack. This…
- The Big Screen with Dan Slevin: family animation special · 19 minDan Slevin reviews three family animation releases: Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, a Halloween special from Aardman in which Shaun accidentally mixes a pumpkin…
- Jason Chasland: MCing World of Wearable Art 2026 is anything but straight · 16 minJason Chasland, known as cabaret performer Leather Lungs, was discovered at WOW in 2004 when Dame Susie Moncrieff came into his Wellington performing arts school while he was…
- Kiwi Romy Hooper's crowdfunding mission to produce her film in the USA · 15 minActor and filmmaker Romy Hooper won the global CinemaStreet Women's Short Screenplay Competition with her script The Gap, becoming the first New Zealander to take the award from…
- Josiah Morgan's plans at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage · 15 minJosiah Morgan is a Christchurch-based poet, theatre practitioner and editor heading to Dunedin this week as Young Writer in Residence at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage, as part…
- Sefton Rani: losing his home in Cyclone Gabrielle and the show that came from it · 11 minSefton Rani lived in Piha and lost his home and studio in Cyclone Gabrielle. His first institutional solo exhibition, Clear My Throat, is now showing at Pah Homestead in Tamaki…
- Nomi Cohen on playing Sally Bowles as Cabaret turns 60 · 14 minCabaret turns 60 this year and is closing out Auckland Theatre Company's season at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, running 22 September to 25 October. Nomi Cohen plays Sally Bowles…
- The Big Screen with Kate Rodger · 15 minKate Rodger joins Culture 101 with the latest from the big screen.
- Peter Salmon on directing Good Bones and After the Party · 17 minPeter Salmon directed all six episodes of After the Party and came out the other side burnt out, so his next move was a comedy. Good Bones is a horror-comedy on ThreeNow and Neon…
- In(Visible) Stories: the first-ever online archive of Pan-Asian screen creators · 13 minIn(Visible) Stories is a new online archive tracking the history and current movements of Pan-Asian film, television and screen creators in Aotearoa, created by Dr Sarina Pearson…
- James Dansey on Reo Journeys, cycling Te Tai Tokerau and sounds of the trail · 10 minReo Journeys: Te Pou Herenga Tai is a new five-part RNZ podcast debuting this afternoon, following documentary makers Eugene Bingham and Adam Dudding as they cycle the 90km Twin…
- Ashley Turner and Lissy Turner on designing the world of Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant · 20 minProduction designer Ashley Turner and costume, hair and makeup designer Lissy Turner are the pair who built the world of Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant, the local body-horror comedy now…
