Flights of Fancy

“Flights of Fancy” by the Hummingbirds Co-operative


The Hummingbirds are a new collective, debuting at the 2012 Fringe festival. Their show, “Flights
of Fancy”, is a cabaret-style show, weaving songs from (mostly) the 40’s and 50’s into a narrative
themed around the lifespan of a love affair in charming girl-group, three-part close harmony. The
original dialogue interspersed between the songs combines humour, true stories and tall tales to
follow love from Cupid’s first, ecstatic bolt to the duvet-wearing, Bridget-Jones watching sadness
of loss. The three characters are the cabin crew on the audience’s flight into the past, and lay bare
their experiences, hopes and fears to each other and the audience, all the while making sure the tea
doesn’t stew, calming down the nervous lady in 4C and keeping perfect pitch and time.

Written and directed by the Hummingbirds (Meg Smith, Kate Schrader and Jen Jewell), the show is
funny, nostalgic, sweet and hopeful. The Hummingbirds are showing the world (well, Wellington)
that it’s ok to be heartbroken, and equally ok to be all disgustingly gushy about your new amour.
Plus, a fresh new show with singing, wit and pretty dresses is fun for the whole family and a good
antidote to worrying about GFCs, CFCs and the fact that Coro’s been bumped for Masterchef.

While all three girls are now based in Wellington, only Meg was born here. Jen moved to wonderful
Wellington from England when she was 2 years old, while Kate spent her formative years in Timaru,
coming to the capital after completing her degree at Otago University, where the girls met. “It’s such
a fantastic place to live – really alive and full of arty people” says Kate of her move. Sharing their
experiences of performing (Meg in a jazz band, Kate and Jen in the famous Otago Capping Show),
the girls decided to form the Hummingbirds to create a fun, fresh show which they could cram full
of their favourite music. With only Jen having written or directed a show before (2011’s Wellington
Law Revue), and the girls tackling all the writing, directing and producing themselves, the process
has been a huge learning curve for all three, and one they’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

“I’m having a great time putting the show together and I’m so excited (though a little terrified) to see what we end up with” says Meg. Jen agrees – “It’s so different to anything I’ve done before, especially having just the
three of us involved. It’s more fun, in lots of ways, but definitely more nerve-wracking as well!”

When they’re not dreaming of the 50s and singing Andrews Sisters songs, Meg works for a civil
engineering and environmental firm, Kate recently joined Trade Me’s jobs team and Jen has spent
the last two years at the Māori Land Court.