[Sisterhood and Solidarity] With its name a clear nod to the #MeToo movement, it is reasonable to expect an engagement with power structures in #UsTwo. That this show roots the political within the personal is signalled right away by its intimate set, resembling a bedroom shared by two sisters. It is in this room that real-life siblings Catherine and Sarah […]
[Playing by Different Rules] Content Notification: Discussion of eating disorders. Honest discussions of beauty and body image – and their truly damaging consequences – are still not common enough in our culture. Talking about eating disorders remains somewhat taboo and, despite many brands attempting to reframe themselves as allied with ‘body positivity’, we are still bombarded with messages about how […]
[Time Lords] Critic and practitioner Nathan Joe previews the five 4-hour long durational shows taking place at Basement Theatre for Auckland Fringe 2020. With the official announcement of Nisha Madhan as the new programming coordinator of Basement Theatre, it seems appropriate that the 2020 Auckland Fringe Basement Programme (her first Fringe in this position) has her artistic fingerprints all over […]
[Tainted Love] A small audience of about thirty people arrive into a large theatre. Most members seem to arrive from next door, where No Homo comedy played to a full house,and from the second row the empty stage feels too far away from the action. I hope our combined enthusiasm can create atmosphere for the drag stars as they perform. […]
[Playing with Plays] It’s a story we’ve heard before – Shakespeare’s works were not written by the man named William Shakespeare, but by someone else, or maybe even a group of people. The list of suspects usually ranges from Christopher Marlowe to Sir Walter Raleigh and Francis Bacon. But this show proposes something different: that the plays we all know […]
[Theatre Time is different to Earth Time] Two women, a silver survey machine with the power to turn back time, dozens of bananas, and a pair of letterboxes are the difference between knowing who you think you are and finding out you are a quarter Costa Rican. Get Out of My Letter Box builds a world of wild imagination, subterfuge, […]
[Conversations with the Dead] Set in the afterlife, Aroha Awarau’s latest play Provocation is a study in grief. Not the grieving of others but the grief of oneself. Two gay men in limbo, confronted by the hate crimes committed against them, and desperate to find some sort of peace. This isn’t the first time Awarau has mined the depths of […]
[Dysfunctional Families Meet Cheesecake] Odd Daphne, a semi-autobiographical play by Joshua Iosefo, invites us on a journey to explore the bonds that tie families together, as well as how understanding can morph into drastic reactions – especially when large families try to intervene to resolve challenges faced by younger generations. Grief, trauma and self-acceptance are explored in the context of coming […]
[Gender Training] A solo performance piece by New York-based clown and theatre artist Ania Upstill, Transhumance is the funny and poignant story of one clown’s exploration of gender, as they try on different genders and live through each one’s pros and cons. Clad in gender-neutral one-piece undergarments and a coat, Upstill’s clown is charming and captivating, immediately setting us at ease even […]
[A Night Without Fear] I’m in the TAPAC foyer, waiting for my male friend to arrive. The atmosphere around me is light as eclectic and alternative beauties mingle – one woman wears little more that a fishnet body-stocking and a big smile; towards the bar, the crowds part intuitively for numerous wheelchair users as they join friends. Instantly, I know […]
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