REVIEW: O Nofoa – The Chairs – Sāmoan Season (Te Pou) [Two Reviews]

July 28, 2018

[Welcomed to the Fale] by Gabriel Faatau’uu Satiu Under the direction of Aleni Tufuga (also translated by him in gagana Sāmoa), O Nofoa serves as one part of Te Pou’s multilingual season of Eugene Ionesco’s play The Chairs. The show is an absurdist tragic farce. Paying homage to Ionesco’s absurdity through the deliberate nonsense and broadly stylized performance, the timing of […]

REVIEW: Sightings (Massive Company)

July 27, 2018

[Unclear Sightings] Morphing through different movements and times, Sightings is a non-linear story centred around one night out. Five young actors deliver a number of twist and turns, essentially through the eyes of Nora (Akinehi Munroe) and Chilli (Ebony Andrew). A product of a writing team comprising Miriama McDowell, Fiona Graham and Denyce Su’a, this new script is a reflection of its various […]

REVIEW: Run Rabbit (The Basement)

July 26, 2018

[Fight or Flight] The one-woman show has become a prominent staple of The Basement’s repertoire over the last few years. While offering individual theatremakers the space and opportunity to develop deeply personal and politically-charged works, audiences have been regularly gifted the chance to witness our most talented artists create highly responsive work in a volatile political climate. What surprises (but […]

REVIEW: Valerie (Last Tapes)

July 21, 2018

[Theatre at its Finest] Mental health in New Zealand is a prevalent issue and, by consequence, necessary to discuss. 16% of New Zealanders are diagnosed with a mental health issue in their lifetime, comorbidity increases the risk of death, and our suicide rate is the second highest in the OECD. Mental health is also prevalent in the arts, especially theatre, […]

The Pop-up Globe ‘Abuse of Power’: In their own words [UPDATED – POP-UP GOES 50/50]

July 21, 2018

[Words, Words, Words] Located in the beautiful gardens at Ellerslie Racecourse, Pop-up Globe will throw open its doors on 16 November to present four of Shakespeare’s masterworks tied together with the common thread of the “abuse of power”. As always, there’ll be a twist! Headlining this showstopper season is the most famous play in history, Hamlet, alongside controversial “battle of […]

REVIEW: He Tūru Māu – The Chairs – Te Reo Māori Season (Te Pou)

July 20, 2018

[An Adventure into the Absurd] Reviewing theatre is a strange activity. It involves sitting self-consciously within and without your own viewpoint, inhabiting and interrogating your own responses to what’s on stage, striving for some kind of balance between subjectivity and objectivity. I say ‘striving for’, because I suspect this elusive balance doesn’t really exist; perhaps it’s more constructive just to […]

REVIEW: Mammoth (The Basement)

July 19, 2018

[Hair and Now] As artist in residence for the Basement this year, Mammoth is Tallulah Holly-Massey’s second work following Tender is the Night.  Mammoth is a poetic and intimate display that combines the art of dance, story-telling and multi-media.  A ‘supernatural hair dance’ presented by four talented performers — Sione Fataua, Ariaana Osborne, Arlo Gibson and Benjamin Mitchell — Mammoth is an investigation […]

REVIEW: First World Problems (The Basement)

July 19, 2018

[Energy and Heart] In the curator’s own words, First World Problems is “a mischievous anthology of a show” – mischief abounds and anthology is the perfect structural description. Ahi Karunaharan has curated a project designed to explore and explode some of the contradictions, injustices, comedy, confusion and conflict belonging to South Asian experience in Aotearoa. With a cast of twenty […]

REVIEW: Upu Mai Whetū (The Basement)

July 13, 2018

[Celestial Navigation] Upu Mai Whetū literally means words from stars. Under the direction of Fasitua Amosa and curated by Grace Taylor, the performance showcases poems from our Pasifika and Māori literature pioneers using Māori and Pacific stars of stage and screen. The set-up is simple but effective. The seating block is end-on and laid out front are tables and chairs […]

REVIEW: The Chairs – Pākehā Season (Te Pou)

July 13, 2018

[Park your Bum] Te Pou Theatre presents a night of absurdity, hilarity, and larger-than-life character work in its inaugural Pākehā season of Ionesco’s The Chairs. Opening Te Pou’s quadruplet of productions of The Chairs in different languages – Te Reo Māori, Samoan and Cantonese are to follow – the English language Pākehā show sets things off to an outrageously energetic start. […]

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