REVIEW: PINAY (Proudly Asian Theatre)

August 19, 2019

[Writing a New Chapter] As I watch PINAY I feel like I’m being enveloped in a familiar warmth. It’s a warmth reminiscent of the comfort of a home cooked meal, or the intimacy of a well known embrace, or the rays of the afternoon summer sun kissing your skin. PINAY is a story of family relationships and identity wrapped up in […]

REVIEW: Bold Moves (Royal New Zealand Ballet)

August 17, 2019

[Decade Defining] Bold Moves presents a mixed bill of contrasting dance works, each definitive for its decade, each contributing to the living vocabulary of ballet in the modern era. The Royal New Zealand Ballet website promotes the show as a triple bill of ensemble works featuring George Balanchine’s Serenade, Andrea Schermoly’s Stand to Reason, and William Forsythe’s Artifact II. At […]

REVIEW: Sicko (Basement Theatre)

August 15, 2019

[Existential Crisis] A story of existential dread for the millennial set, Sicko is based around Francis (Zak Enayat), a young man who is trying to figure out his place in life. While he contemplates a new job that he has no interest in, his great Aunt Kay (Victoria Abbott) and best friend Ellie (Chye-Ling Huang) are afraid he is on the […]

REVIEW: I am Rachel Chu (Basement Theatre)

August 10, 2019

Here’s looking at you, Rachel Chu I Am Rachel Chu is a pleasure to watch. It is perfectly pitched for The Basement but has the ambition to travel further and spread the ‘crazy’ young Asian vibe that brings enjoyment, enlightenment and encouragement to anyone lucky enough to experience this fun-filled production. Taking inspiration from the book and film Crazy Rich […]

REVIEW: Mrs Krishnan’s Party (Indian Ink Theatre Company)

August 8, 2019

A Warm and Joyous Memory My mother and I attended Mrs Krishnan’s Party during Indian Ink Theatre Company’s September 2018 tour – the first NZ-South Asian production we had experienced together. I remember her commending the impressive production values and the talent of Kalyani Nagarajan and Justin Rogers, who play Mrs Krishnan and James. I found the show to be a […]

REVIEW: The Children (Plumb Productions)

August 3, 2019

[Uncomfortable Chuckling in an Apocalyptic Setting] Inspired by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear explosion of 2011 in Japan, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children first premiered in London in November 2016 and was follow by a season on Broadway in the Winter of 2017. Set in an undefined time following a nuclear disaster, the play unfolds as a barb-ridden domestic drama between a […]

WELLINGTON REVIEW: ORCHIDS (Foster Group Dance)

July 25, 2019

[Dance Taonga] “I want to place in your mind, the Orchid as a symbol of the feminine divine.  A mysterious and potent allegory for the dark and light masks of the female psyche”. ORCHIDS returns for a second staging having sold out its premiere season at Tempo Dance Festival in 2017. Choreographed and directed by Foster Group Dance’s Sarah Foster-Sproull, […]

CHRISTCHURCH ARTS FESTIVAL: Six Picks

July 23, 2019

The Christchurch Arts Festival opens this week. Critic Nathan Joe selects his six must-see events that offer vastly distinct flavours and genres.  When you first look at the programme for the Christchurch Arts Festival you might be struck by the lack of international acts. What seems like a glaring omission, upon closer inspection, is an acknowledgement of Ōtautahi’s fiercely creative […]

REVIEW: ORCHIDS (Foster Group Dance)

July 22, 2019

[Women in Full Bloom] Inspired by the orchid flower as a symbol of the divine feminine, ORCHIDS is an emotional and visceral contemporary dance work that celebrates the multifaceted layers of the female experience.  Directed and choreographed by Sarah Foster-Sproull, ORCHIDS features seven strong and expressive dancers spanning three generations — Marianne Schultz, Katie Burton, Rose Philpott, Jahra Wasasala, Joanne […]

REVIEW: Read My Lips (Basement Theatre)

July 17, 2019

[These Lips are Smiling] Embers Collective have produced a wonderful second original work in Read My Lips, a devised piece which draws from stories from Auckland’s Deaf community.  Read My Lips is the bubble of laughter from best friends performing dance choreography together in the living room, it is the bowed head and slumped shoulders of sadness, it is the […]

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