REVIEW: Seed (The Basement)

June 20, 2014

Inconclusive Result  [by Matt Baker] Working in the arts industry is by no means a secure trade – especially in New Zealand. The independent contractor status coupled with the number of people versus number of jobs means that diversifying and creating self-instigated works is often a key component to longevity in one’s career. Actress Elisabeth Easther clearly understands this, and […]

REVIEW: La traviata (NZ Opera)

June 20, 2014

Shines, not sparkles [by Sharu Delilkan] Auckland really set the scene for the opening night of Giuseppe Verdi’s renowned opera La traviata with grey skies, cutting winds and the occasional burst of cold rain. On a night like this one might wish for a tragi-comedy or an uplifting story of trials and tribulations overcome by love and devotion. However clearly […]

EDITORIAL: Where’s my Concession?

June 18, 2014

[by Matt Baker] In the first half of this year, I saw two plays that had one ticket price: adult – $25.00. It was the maximum ticket price that the venue in which these shows were performed allows, due to their want of maintaining the cost of theatre to their patrons at a reasonable amount, and $25.00 is perfectly reasonable […]

REVIEW: Once On Chunuk Bair (Auckland Theatre Company)

June 17, 2014

Once was Enough  [by Matt Baker] The fact that the temporary capture of Chunuk Bair was the only success for the Allies in the Gallipoli Campaign at the expense of hundreds of men’s lives is a perfect example of the futility of war. It is a landmark in New Zealand history and requires little reminding: lest we forget, indeed. The […]

REVIEW: Annie (The Civic)

June 16, 2014

We got Annie! [by James Wenley] Did the Global Financial Crisis lead to an increase in Annie revivals? Set in 1933, four years after the stock market crash, the tale of the 11-year-old red-headed orphan has as its backdrop the haves and have-nots of the Great Depression era. Six years after the 2008 crisis, the Broadway Musical is now playing […]

REVIEW: Always my Sister (The Basement)

June 12, 2014

Sometimes, not always  [by Matt Baker] Michelanne Forster has a penchant for dramatising historical New Zealand murders, from the highly acclaimed Daughters of Heaven, based on the infamous Parker/Hulme murder, to the shooting of John Saunders by Senga Whittingham in My Heart is Bathed in Blood. In her programme notes for Always My Sister, Forster writes that “What interested [her] about the story […]

COMPETITION: Win Tickets to Annie

June 12, 2014

Musical Theatre’s favourite red-haired orphan is visiting Auckland’s Civic Theatre this month. “Inspired by Harold Gray’s famous comic strip Little Orphan Annie which first ran in the New York News in 1924, ANNIE is set in Depression Era New York City at a time when the economy looked bleak, government seemed ineffective and the average citizen was desperate and frustrated.  With its […]

REVIEW: Sunday Roast (Silo)

June 9, 2014

Not how you remember it  [by Matt Baker] For her directorial debut as Silo’s Artistic Director, Sophie Roberts has presented both Silo and Q Theatre audiences with a theatrical flavour that will (hopefully) induce a new craving on the palate of Auckland theatregoers. That’s not to say that this production has been chosen simply for its untraditional ingredients, but anyone […]

REVIEW: Deans, Ward-Lealand and Rizo at The Auckland International Cabaret Season

June 6, 2014

Music and Sequins  [by James Wenley] “Jubilation heartache and everything in between. Here are your tickets. It’s almost showtime”. My branded ticket pouch seems to hold even greater anticipation than I as I head into the Town Hall Concert Chamber for the International Cabaret Season. And I had a great deal of anticipation. With the colourful squiggles beloved my logo […]

REVIEW: Shadowland (Pilobolus)

June 4, 2014

Out of the Shadows  [by James Wenley] My immediate response to Shadowland is an eerie chill: disembodied clothes – two dresses and  a suit – dangle from The Civic stage,  giving the feeling that I’d walked in on a hanging in which the bodies had decomposed long ago. This grim reading was not something I’d expected from the “enchanting tale” […]

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