Anthonie Tonnon’s immersive live show Cinematographer at the Hannah Playhouse last night was a striking multimedia hybrid of a gig, film screening, and francophile performance lecture.

Operating as part disco club set and part intellectual journey, the performance cleverly weaves together two distinct timelines: the radical 1960’s European avant-garde and a provincial New Zealand at the turn of the millennium. Tonnon channels the spirit of the Situationist International – invoking Guy Debord’s critique of the “society of the spectacle” where active life is swallowed by passive observation – and brilliantly maps those revolutionary European ideals onto the physical and civic architecture of Whanganui.

Through custom cinematography and electronic soundscapes, the show explores the psychogeography of Whanganui, drifting through its streets, public spaces, and distinctive provincial architecture. By examining how built environments shape human behavior and emotion, Tonnon transforms local urban design into a canvas for political and artistic disruption, making a small-town New Zealand landscape feel charged with the rebellious energy of Paris ’68.