Important lessons in a life devoted to coffee and art.
“Coffee with Eelco” live interactive show with free coffee and dessert.
Nowadays nobody thinks twice about popping down to the local cafe to get their favourite brew, be it soy latte, cappuccino or long black, but there was a time when the art of making a good coffee had not come to our shores.
Enter Eelco Boswijk, a young immigrant from Holland, on an adventure to discover a new life and finding a home. His adventures take him all around the country, working in shearing gangs, milking sheds, discovering the beautiful New Zealand countryside and its inhabitants and eventually arriving in Auckland to work for Otto Gruen, creator of the country's first gourmet restaurant, The Gourmet, where he learned the art of hospitality.
Eventually he would settle in Nelson and create what would become an iconic cafe community gathering place, Chez Eelco. Chez Eelco coffee house proved far more than a cafe. It became known nationally and internationally as the place where musicians, writers, actors and all who delighted in cafe, food and the gentle art of good living would find kindred spirits. Under Eelco’s kindly eye the Chez was, from 1961 until its close in 2001, the very heart of Nelson. Many famous artists careers were launched from the Chez, with Eelco supporting them at the very beginning of their fame. Eelco was also responsible for financially supporting WOW World of Wearable Art at the very beginning of its creation. Today WOW is the country's biggest international event and Eelco remains its patron to this day.
Enter Grae Burton, actor, writer, director, whose career was also launched by Eelco at The Chez. In 2008 Burton, with collaborator Tim Coughlin created “Coffee With Eelco”, a biopic stage show about the life of Eelco and his impact on New Zealand art and culture. Three years later a revamped and expanded version of the show will be performed in a special fundraiser season at The Pumphouse Theatre.
The show is described as a light hearted, intimate, interactive experience, which transports the audience through Eelco's life, touching on important moments in history and showing the very beginnings of cafe culture in this country. It mixes immersive performance and art with storytelling direct form Eelco’s lips and in the tradition of the Chez, a half time coffee and dessert will be available to all.
Burton (who recently seen appearing as Peter Miller in “Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud”) is excited to be able to bring the life of one of his real life heroes to audiences. “It’s a great story for everybody about a NZ history and culture, life and legacy, and the secret to making a really good coffee. If you want to find out what the secret is, you’ll have to come to the show!”
“Coffee with Eelco” is proudly supported by the Wallace Arts Trust.
