REVIEW: Birdland (Auckland Fringe)

February 28, 2021

[Back in the Cage] Content Notification: Sexual Assault Did you hear about the big star whose only friend is his lawyer? The former sitcom actor who attends a homophobic church? The Oscar nominee who has his own cult? The square jawed wannabe leading man who’s into non-consensual cannibal fantasies? Well, of course you have.  Celebrity was once this unknowable, almost […]

REVIEW: Sunrise (Auckland Fringe)

February 25, 2021

[New Light] Created by a team many of whom are still in High School, Seed Theatre Company’s Sunrise is receiving a second season this Fringe after a run at Pitt Street Theatre last year. The play is both an exploration of mental health and a plea for open communication about the issues surrounding it, seeing a quartet of young people […]

REVIEW: GHOST MACHINE (Auckland Fringe)

February 24, 2021

The Anxious Ghost As the audience enters the Basement theatre there is an anxious ghost waiting for us. It flaps its ectoplasmic limbs about and counts the people attending with neurotic urgency. Apparently even the dead need to worry about ticket sales. In fact, as we’re about to discover, this luminescent spectre is a bit nervy about a lot of […]

REVIEW: I Wanna Be Mark Wahlberg (Auckland Pride)

February 10, 2021

[Brief Examination] Melody Rachel’s description of her solo performance piece I Wanna be Mark Wahlberg talks about it as an exploration of identity and gender and the way her understanding of these was impacted by a conservative Christian upbringing. Her show manages moments of insight into these concepts, but the clarity of the statements she’s made about her work doesn’t […]