Actus reus [by Matt Baker] “To be frivolous about frivolous matters, that’s merely boring. To be frivolous about something that’s in some way deadly serious, that’s true comedy.” So said Alexander Mackendrick, who directed the 1955 film upon which Graham Linehan’s 2011 stage adaptation is based. Farce requires dangerIt requires an expertly balanced combination of drama and comedy played at both extremes. While […]
The Mark of the Talented Performer [by Matt Baker] While the rise of clowning in the Auckland theatre scene is gaining momentum, Taylor Hall’s solo show is nonetheless a unique theatrical experience. An Auckland season of a Toi Whakaari monologue-derived solo-show is a common one, but what Hall has created is a show that is a true culmination of all his training, […]
Living Life on the Fringe [by James Wenley] Here’s Theatre Scenes day by day break down for Week Two of the Fringe, with everything nicely in one place (and way less annoying to scan then the Fringe website’s calendar!) Monday 16 Feb City: 5:30pm The Basement – Gift of the Gab 7pm The Basement – Beast 8:30pm The Basement – Robin Goblin Suburbs: 7pm Portland Public House […]
Come back here [by Matt Baker] Walking out of the theatre is the strongest statement an audience member can make, and I have never regretted it until I walked out of Break Up. To clarify, the six-hour show allows its audience to come and go as they please, and it was only due to personal commitments that I left after the […]
Mouthful [by Matt Baker] When a friend asked me what Gift of the Gab was about, it took more than a few run-on sentences and backtracking to explain. If you can’t describe a show in one or two sentences at the least, something is wrong with the plot. That’s not to say that the show doesn’t make sense, simply that the […]
Time for a Bang [by Matt Baker] Sam Brooks is a playwright with a stutter, but his most autobiographical play is not about stuttering, it’s about love for others and one’s self. Stuttering is instead a subplot in this unique fringe performance by one of Auckland’s top young playwrights. Sharing the space with a multitude of shows (The Basement’s Sophie Henderson’s […]
Too Cruisey [by Guest Reviewer Amanda Leo] From the offset, what you might expect out of Suri. Vs. Shiloh seems clear. Our two fictionalized protagnoists of real life Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are alive on social media, if you have visited the play’s facebook page. Celebrity […]
Barely [by Matt Baker] As a mature performer, Jennifer De Leon presents a unique physicality, and there is no ignoring the athleticism and talent that she has acquired over the years, but a unique and talented performer does not a successful performance make. From the incompetently read and poorly recorded voice over, which for the life of me I cannot understand […]
May the legacy continue [by Sharu Delilkan] Having not seen the Legacy Project‘s inaugural outing at the last Pride Festival, I am unable to make any comparative commentary. However that doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion about the works that were presented at this year’s showing. The six plays were a good mixture of personal, heartfelt stories. And […]
Mentalist in a Bun [by Guest Reviewer Tim George] Going into this, I had no idea what this was going to be about. Everything from the title to the press photos to the description seemed perfectly designed to give you absolutely nothing. For Fringe, that seems like the right idea. After all, the whole point of the festival is that anything […]
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