Yes We Candide - Part 1 of 2

The Best of All Possible Worlds! My first cliffhanger. An outline of a modern adaptation of Candide by Voltaire, me and Geoff Pinfield that was strangled at birth by Creative New Zealand.

The Story

If you’ve never read Voltaire’s novella Candide, you’ll enjoy Yes We Candide. If you have read Candide, you’ll be blown away by how perfectly a story first published in 1759 can be tailored to our present moment. Our adaptation closely follows the original chapters and journey structure. We updated the settings, characters and scenarios. It didn’t take us long. We had a lot of fun doing it. Thanks Geoff for bringing this idea to the creative table.

The Story of the Story

It’s no one’s right to receive public money. I accept that CNZ - New Zealand’s arts funding body and chief project validator - told us to get lost (twice). It’s a shame because The Wanaka Festival of Colour had committed to stage the premier and 5 other regional festivals had written to say ‘if they make it, we’ll buy it’. We assembled a stellar creative team including actor Anya Tate Manning, composer Gareth Farr ONZM - who’s work featured at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics - playwright Dave Armst…