[Auckland Fringe 2017: Auckland Needs You] As we head into the finals days of the 2017 Auckland Fringe, it’s weird to think that it almost didn’t happen. The Fringe has bumped along biannually since 2009, but after decoupling from Auckland Live support, its long-term survival has been precarious. After funding decisions did not go its way, late last year Fringe […]
[It’s Something] A solo show from Sam Brooks, Say Something Nice is an attempt to strike out from the pack with something different and new. The show looks and feels like a self-help seminar. You walk into a large room filled with tables – each table is big enough for two people. On each table are pads and pens. In […]
[Choose to Listen] It is difficult to write about We May Have to Choose since there is no way you can possibly describe the effortlessly fluid experience of sitting in front of Emma Hall for just under and hour not even noticing the minutes tick by. Lack of conventional structure helps to create this feeling. But more than that, we […]
[Speed on Stage] A fast-moving blend of singing, ranting and waterboarding, Tomás Ford’s Chase! is like a fever dream during a drive-in movie. Framed in front of two large screens, secret agent Tomás Ford (Tomás Ford) regales the audience with the story of his chase around the globe to locate the woman he loves. Behind our psychopathic anti-hero, black and […]
[Into the Void] Theatre is a visual medium, I was reminded shortly after viewing Beth Kayes’ solo performance Once There Was a Woman. Its an observation more commonly applied to film, but if anything it’s more true for the stage. Theatre withholds as much as it shows, drawing magic not just from what we see, but from what is absent […]
[That’s the Way I Like It] It’s refreshing to return to the Auckland University Clock Tower space for Summer Shakespeare this year. Despite the excitement of the Pop-Up Globe, there was always a level of intimacy sacrificed in the massive space. There some productions were often at the mercy of the venue, servicing the stage rather than the script. Here the […]
[Countdown to the Apocalypse] Sitting in the audience for the return season of The Last Man on Earth is Trapped in a Supermarket is a real joy. Ben Anderson has created an engaging and aesthetically stunning piece of theatre. Once again Auckland is introduced to Tom, played by Ryan Dulieu, an unfortunate protagonist who finds himself locked in the local […]
[Worth Catching] A man (played by Daryl Wrightson) has unprotected sex with a work colleague. Unbeknownst to him, he has contracted four STDS: Gonorrhea (Zak Enayat), Syphilis (Rebekah Head), Chlamydia (Ash Ogden) and HIV (Tyler Warwick). These STDs are portrayed as a quartet of horny teens on a camping trip. Before they can get comfortable in their new environment, a […]
[Cumming of Age] Queer revolution is the name of the game in “Ze”: Queer as Fuck!, a deeply personal one-person show that explores the vast depths of identity politics. It’s a show deliberately designed to appeal to those who identify with an anti-assimilation, non-conformist attitude. But, more than simply agitprop, everything is backed up by personal anecdotes and experience. Beginning […]
[Ghost in the Shell] Frequent collaborators Carl Bland and Ben Crowder join forces once again, co-directing Bland’s latest play Spirit House. Not unlike their previous work Te Pō, a mystery drives the narrative. But, where in that play the stakes and plot hinged on the metatheatrical, Spirit House centers on the metaphysical. Two men, situated in the same art studio […]
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