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  • Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Mary Poppins (The Civic)

    [Spit-Spot On] In a time where attending a live theatrical show is undoubtedly a luxury, we all filed into The Civic with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to live in this bubble. The show began [...]
  • Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Heatwave (Basement Theatre)

    [Take Action] It’s no coincidence that two works responding to the climate crisis, Heatwave and Our Modern Earth, have been programmed one after the other in Basement’s Reunited season. The effects of human-made climate change [...]
  • Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Yātrā (Prayas)

    [Eight Journeys, Many Perspectives] Yātrā is a curation of eight play extracts from leading South Asian playwrights, delicately woven together to revitalise community spirit in the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic [...]
  • Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Sunflowers (Pumphouse Theatre)

    [Leaning Towards the Sun] The world has changed irrevocably since the last time I reviewed a theatre show. The spaced-out chairs in the PumpHouse’s Coal Bunker – an already intimate area – are a testament [...]
In the Spotlight

Dead Bird: Reflections on The Seagull (A New Version by Auckland Theatre Company)

by Nathan Joe in Auckland Theatre Company

During the Covid-19 lockdown, Auckland Theatre Company launched a four episode adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull created within the constraints of social distancing at the time. Using the now widely used Zoom app as its mode of production, it was also set within the world of Zoom too, placing its characters squarely within the circumstances of our global pandemic. Nathan Joe responds.  ADAPTATION This isn’t the first time either co-writers Eleanor Bishop (BOYS, Mrs. Warren’s Profession) and Eli Kent (Peer Gynt: Recycled) have adapted a classic from the theatre canon. It is, however, certainly the adaptation that feels the [...]

REVIEW: Our Modern Earth (Is A F*cking Mess) (Basement Theatre)

October 21, 2020
[Our Current Moment] Intense, explosive and beautiful. Our Modern Earth (Is A F*cking Mess), created by Amber Liberté and performed by an ensemble cast of 13, is another chaos-fuelled response to the climate crisis in the Basement’s main space. A fusion of dance, theatre and art installation, it immediately announces itself as an experimental work. Not least because the experience […]

REVIEW: Mary Poppins (The Civic)

October 18, 2020
[Spit-Spot On] In a time where attending a live theatrical show is undoubtedly a luxury, we all filed into The Civic with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to live in this bubble. The show began with songs that were immediately familiar to most of us.  We caught ourselves mouthing the lyrics to the songs but very soon stopped to avoid […]

REVIEW: Heatwave (Basement Theatre)

October 15, 2020
[Take Action] It’s no coincidence that two works responding to the climate crisis, Heatwave and Our Modern Earth, have been programmed one after the other in Basement’s Reunited season. The effects of human-made climate change are increasingly apparent, and young people are all too aware that we are out of time. It’s election season – and this election feels more […]

REVIEW: Yātrā (Prayas)

October 4, 2020
[Eight Journeys, Many Perspectives] Yātrā is a curation of eight play extracts from leading South Asian playwrights, delicately woven together to revitalise community spirit in the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic lingers in the shadows of this show – until a fortnight ago, it was yet to be confirmed whether Yātrā would go onstage to mark […]

REVIEW: Sunflowers (Pumphouse Theatre)

October 2, 2020
[Leaning Towards the Sun] The world has changed irrevocably since the last time I reviewed a theatre show. The spaced-out chairs in the PumpHouse’s Coal Bunker – an already intimate area – are a testament to that. The apocalyptic setting of this romantic two-hander feels perfectly timed, and its tone reflects the surreality of our current moment, in which our […]

REVIEW: 48 Nights on Hope Street (Auckland Theatre Company)

September 17, 2020
[Hope abounds, the theatre is alive] 48 Nights on Hope Street is a triumphant addition to an anthological tradition.  Drawing on Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Auckland Theatre Company has brought together the works of five talented young writers, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Leki Jackson-Bourke, Nathan Joe, Ana Scotney, and Cian Elyse White.  Set during the Black Death epidemic, the Decameron is a story cycle […]

REVIEW: Black Lover (Auckland Theatre Company)

September 13, 2020
[Unearthing the realities of Anti-Black Racism] Black Lover is a tale about colonial violence during the mid-1960s prelude to Zimbabwe’s fight for independence, sparked by increasing resistance to rule by a White-only minority. Written by Stanley Makuwe, it follows the fever-ridden agitation of Rhodesia’s former colonial leader, Garfield Todd (Cameron Rhodes), who is trapped at home due to a house […]

STREAMING REVIEW: Change Your Own Life (BATS Theatre)

June 14, 2020
[Potent in Any Medium] Jean Sergent’s solo show returns from Fringe to the stage and your nearest screen. Change Your Own Life is a guide to navigating where the body, immense love, and overwhelming grief intersect.  With the lockdown and social distancing closing theatres and keeping audiences apart since March, transitioning to an online platform has become a popular alternative […]

Dead Bird: Reflections on The Seagull (A New Version by Auckland Theatre Company)

June 10, 2020
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Auckland Theatre Company launched a four episode adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull created within the constraints of social distancing at the time. Using the now widely used Zoom app as its mode of production, it was also set within the world of Zoom too, placing its characters squarely within the circumstances of our global pandemic. […]

STREAMING REVIEW: Butcher Holler Here We Come (Ad Hoc Economy)

April 11, 2020
[Coming to (home) theatres] American theatre company Ad Hoc Economy was due to play Wellington’s BATS Theatre in the final week of the NZ Fringe before travelling on to the Dunedin Fringe, but performances were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company filmed scenes from the show while at BATS, which has been spliced with scenes recorded by individual […]

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