Optimistic and Exuberant [by Matt Baker] The human condition is a universal concept, one which art helps us to understand. The human experience, however, can be much more personal and potentially humourous. It’s an incredibly broad topic, so comedian Tim Batt has narrowed his show’s narrative down to a significant period of his life: post break-up. It’s not an inherently hilarious one, […]
Global Greening [by Matt Baker] Brendon Green is changing the world, one show and one problem at a time – or trying to at least. The show is structured on a familiar television format which has proved popular to New Zealand audiences via 7 Days. But the format also has the potential for not quite hitting the mark, as New Zealand’s version of […]
Grindr Profile: Looking for Laughs [by James Wenley] The font is bold and cartoonish, a pretty blue and pink wash covers the poster, which suggests one should expect a bright and breezy comedy. But the photograph sells a different show. Co-stars Chelsea McEwan Millar and Jordan Blaikie lie strewn on the floor, a look of earnest despondency on their faces. The […]
Dangerous Dreaming [by Lucy Noonan] This week Blackbird Ensemble have transformed The Basement into a magical boudoir complete with three beds, clouds, a glittery ladder and nine fabulous musicians for their latest show, Dreams. As the audience finishes arriving, seven of the musicians gradually wake from their slumbers and begin to play their respective instruments. Almost instantly the audience is lulled […]
Bravura Recital [by Amanda Leo] As a child, my parents very occasionally took me to the circus as a type of rare treat, which has resulted in much anticipation when going to watch any type of circus act in my adult life. My anticipation of a night full of magic wasn’t disappointed as I arrived at the foyer of the Hearld […]
Beardiful [by Amanda Leo] With a piece entitled Beards! Beards! Beards!, I had no doubt that theatre-watching beard-enthusiasts were going to enjoy this show about, well, a girl trying to grow a beard. I’m not exactly what you’d call an avid beard-enthusiast myself, but this show had me questioning why I wasn’t one. We are greeted with a beautiful simple layout […]
Escape from New York [by Tim George] Directed by Benjamin Henson, this new revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s pressure cooker of disaffected youth in Reagan-era New York is by turns claustrophobic, bleak, and nihilistic. It is also blackly comic and surprisingly profound. A young man steals $15000 from his father and holes up with his only friend, who also happens to be […]
Life is Krapp [by James Wenley] It is tempting to interpret Breath as an encapsulation of the ultimate message of all of Samuel Beckett’s plays: you’re born, life is rubbish, you die, and then it happens again to someone else. Breath is all of 40 seconds. Spoiler alert: we hear a baby’s cry, the lights fade up as we hear the […]
Fold again [by Matt Baker] There are certain recurring words associated with Jo Randerson’s writing: witty, refreshing, grotesque, absurd, surreal, irreverent; but it is only these last two I would attribute to her first play, Fold, which is currently playing in The Basement Studio. Its self-proclaimed “…mockery of pretension, self-obsession, and self-delusion…” is nothing more than that, a mockery, and while […]
Missing Pages [by Matt Baker] When the book that inspires a play has been called a modern classic, when the play itself has been self-attributed with “…beautiful, magical, surprising, touching, terrifying, joyous, inspiring, funny, and ultimately uplifting…”, and when the premiere was critically acclaimed as a “hilarious, honest, and beautifully rendered play”, there is a lot to which any other production must […]
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