[Engaging with our Worlds] The meme that gained exponential currency as 2016 trudged along was that 2016 was a terrible year. Aleppo, terror, celebrity deaths, Brexit, Harambe, and the coming of Trump – what started as a joke seems to have become a genuine expression of the globe having entirely written off this fucked up year. Yes, this contemporary perception is all […]
[RIP Maidment] In his update to staff, the University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon announced today that the Maidment Theatre is to “be closed permanently and eventually demolished”. Opened in 1976, the Maidment had been closed indefinitely since December 2015 after it was deemed an earthquake risk. Until today, the university had been silent on its future. McCutcheon’s internal email […]
[Guy Masterson Presents] The last time Guy Masterson visited Auckland’s Herald Theatre with his solo version of Under Milk Wood, he helped inspire a future classic of New Zealand Drama. A young Toa Fraser had been working on a Fijian story, but after watching Masterson, went in a very different direction. One chair. One actor. Multiple characters. No 2 was […]
[And so you’re back… from overseas] When the Priscilla bus last made a stop at the Civic in 2008, it was the first time that the Aussie musical had made an international trip. We were a try-out as they continued to evolve the show, and Aucklanders certainly showed their love with a rush for tickets. Since then, the Queen of the […]
[Queen St Riots] Frisky and Mannish are quick to put the audience in their place. Those seated closest to them are clearly the best people in the room. The middle section is okay. This reviewer was seated at the back, fittingly, with the rest of the scum. The Town Hall Concert Chamber is a hotbed of injustice and inequality. Their […]
[Fleet Street Clean Sweep] While he has never stayed in one place for all that long, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, first seen in 1979, has continued to set up his establishment in production after production world-wide. Written by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by the incomparable Stephen Sondheim, it has attracted headliners like Angela Lansbury, Kelsey […]
[Which is to say, it doesn’t] Yesterday playwright/director/lip sync dynamo and “professional theatre critic” Sam Brooks went full Addison DeWitt against his own profession, dripping venom over the crappy theatre criticism in this country. On The Spinoff he argues: “theatre criticism in this country is fucked… the result: a critical culture muddied by hobbyists, people who aren’t truly passionate about engaging […]
[Side-Step] One of the challenges for comedians is keeping things fresh while maintaining the thing that makes them funny. Whether that thing is a particular style or further exploration of reoccurring subject matter, you can’t rely on the basis that just because an audience found them funny once, or even multiple times, that they will find them funny again. Rhys Mathewson is […]
[Hold your nerve] My anxiety levels rapidly increased as it got closer to 7:15pm. Going to theatre is normally the most natural thing for me, an everyday routine. But this time I was genuinely apprehensive. Why? I knew Red Bastard was interactive. I knew that there probably would be some abuse thrown out at us, considering the title character is based […]
[Comic Communion] It’s the first time the Irish brothers Famous Seamus and Seantastic, the Lords of Strut, have performed in New Zealand. We apparently look like an audience that have no idea what to expect. We really don’t. They have no idea either. We are warned by a Sean, playing a priest, that this isn’t the type of show to […]
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