RAIL LAND

Rail Land is a tour celebrating public transport in Aotearoa.

The show is a journey of the mind, through song and story, about New Zealand’s on-and-off again love affair with its railways, and its public transport system.

Where possible, we accompany the show with an experience - a communal journey by rail or other means of public transport. Where the services no longer exist, we aim to charter them, and bring Rail Land to life for one night.

In its first two summers, Rail Land took myself and audiences to community venues by rail or other public transport. In 2020/2021, we had the chance to bring the show to more than 20 towns, thanks to the work of Arts On Tour, Auckland Arts Festival, The Festival of Colour and Papaioea Festival of the Arts.

The Rail Land concept started as a way to celebrate our video for Old Images - which you can watch below. But it became so much more. The show, and the experience of the journey to get there, is a poetic and practical exploration of public transport, and a meditation on what it means to us in the modern era.

Our railway lines, bus and ferry networks are miraculous, poetic, and mysterious things. The are gifts from the past to the future, and if they didn’t exist now, they would be impossible to build from scratch. Each has a story, and Rail Land aims to tell a little of each one.

Below are some stories that came out of previous Rail Land tours.