[Comic Communion] It’s the first time the Irish brothers Famous Seamus and Seantastic, the Lords of Strut, have performed in New Zealand. We apparently look like an audience that have no idea what to expect. We really don’t. They have no idea either. We are warned by a Sean, playing a priest, that this isn’t the type of show to […]
[Forced Humour] Casual Star Wars fans might know Admiral Ackbar as the alien who turns to the camera during the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi to utter those immortal lines: “It’s a trap!”* This has helped Ackbar find latter-day day fame as an internet meme. I could also tell you the Mon Calamarian fought with Anakin Skywalker […]
[On a LOL] If you like jokes about ending monotonous conversations at parties, dating short men, and future scenarios in which gender fluidity is a fashion choice, you’ll get a lot out mileage out of this. Melanie Bracewell and Angella Dravid are your classic double act. One tall and loud, one short and quiet. While Bracewell regales you with stories […]
Leg-Warming It would seem like a no brainer to turn Flashdance into a stage musical. Nostalgia is a powerful seller, and many an 80’s kid rewound their VHS copies to oblivion. The 1983 film is told with the logic of a musical, with just enough dialogue to get us to the next MTV-like dance montage. The film, for all its […]
[White Noise] “I feel most coloured when I am thrown against a sharp white background” —Zora Neale Hurston While never explicitly quoted in the show, this statement seems to inform the entire world of WHITE/OTHER. From the text to the set design to performer Alice Canton’s very own biracial identity, whiteness is everywhere. And Alice’s otherness—specifically, her Chinese half—becomes the […]
[Lightweight Material] Which came first, the artistic intention or the audience interpretation? Without the former to react to, can an audience truly respond with the latter? While Fabricate does not lack intention, what intention it does have is limited. As recent graduates, Reece Adams, Lydia Connolly-Hiatt, Caitlin Davey, Cushla Roughan, and Rodney Tyrell have the right collective purpose in presenting […]
[Generation Gap] The experience of watching a play clearly not designed for you can be an alienating experience. You Can Always Hand Them Back is unapologetic in this regard, directly addressing the intended audience right from the get go: “Are any of you grandparents? Of course you are or you wouldn’t be here!” And yet, here I am: gay, Chinese […]
[Big-Hearted] I absolutely loved the joyous, poignant, hilarious and expressive storytelling from Massive Company’s The Wholehearted. The hugely talented ensemble cast displayed absolute heart and soul through their committed revelation of numerous stories that were immediate, relevant and easily accessible to the enthusiastic audience. Despite running for a quarter of a century, Massive Company have definitely not rested on their […]
[Cleopatra comin’ atcha] I have not read Antony and Cleopatra in years. It was never one of my ‘go-tos’, so my knowledge of its intricacies and minor details is almost non-existent. However, even if you have not read the play, Antony and Cleopatra are not exactly obscure. Ask anyone on the street and they could tell you something about them— the […]
[More Fool Us] The most dramatically interesting part of the opening night of Auckland Theatre Company’s You Can Always Hand them Back was actually what happened after the bows. The production marks 40 years of playwriting from national treasure Roger Hall, and the occasion was quite rightly used as an opportunity to pay tribute to Hall’s enormous contribution to New […]
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