No Time to Wait Basement Theatre’s Studio is so tightly packed with eager audience members before the premiere of playwright and director Lucy Dawber’s latest comedic offering No Time to Dry, that a Basement staff member ends up giving their seat to the final person to enter the room. There’s an anticipation in the air that I’ve rarely experienced like […]
[Punctum’s punk-infused offering packs a punch] When entering Basement Theatre’s main stage, the first thing I notice is the set design by Minsoh Choi, as the back wall of the stage has been painted a bright, baby pink. Given the show’s punk aesthetic, it’s a bold and fairly bad-ass move and I’m silently impressed after estimating the cost for a […]
[More than white-hot rage] The First Prime-Time Asian Sitcom is a New Zealand premiere and screenwriter Nahyeon Lee’s (Kainga) theatre debut, billed as a ‘genre-messing’ black comedy. Pre-show marketing denotes a play which interrogates the sitcom writing process and considers the evolution from the TV writers’ room and onto the screen, where characters and narratives are often modified and sanitised […]
[Timeless and timely] Empty of performers, the main stage at Basement is adorned with eye-catching intricacies to represent a living area and kitchen – there’s a sumptuous green velvet couch, colourful map of Haiti and a potted plant… with browning leaves. After house lights dim, our central characters Jo (Layla Pitt) and Flo (Estelle Chout) enter with varying states of […]
Opening night, and the mood is celebratory as Basement studio visibly fills up with queers and allies. The tag line for Joni Nelson’s new play screams ‘lesbian apocalypse,’ so I’m mentally prepared for an over-the-top zombie style attack, wondering how the narrative will unfurl. The stage before us is plain, laid with white polythene. After the house lights dim, our […]
[Krishnan’s Heart] Krishnan’s Dairy premiered in 1997 and was the Winner of the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe First Award, and two Production of the Year Awards in New Zealand. Brightly coloured sheets of material hang from the ceiling, evoking the sari. Centre-stage, the Dairy counter is made from simple wood, patchworked with coloured new-stories and painted blue. Jacob and his musician […]
When entering the Basement’s main stage, the first thing I note is that the theatre space is laid out in traverse – with audience members facing each other, all fully masked. This leads my Pākehā companions to comment on whether the reactions of the people opposite will be a welcome, or unwelcome, distraction. Given the subject matter – and as […]
[Stories for Every Body] Originally booked for a debut season in 2021, Stories About My Body is one of the first rescheduled performances in the indoor space and heralds a welcome return to the Basement’s post-lockdown programming. Writer and performer Morgana O’Reilly, known for her role in the Emmy awarding winning short-form series INSiDE and Naomi Canning (Neighbours), is fresh […]
[Pulled from the Past] Anticipation for the opening night of Pork and Poll Taxes has been building within the Pan-Asian community for weeks – encouraged by a mesmerising trailer for the production which showcases the production’s fusion of movement and story. By opening night, the atmosphere in the foyer of the Herald Theatre is palpable. It has been a long […]
[After the Mourning, Comes… ] Originally produced thirteen years ago by playwright and director Ahi Karunaharan, The Mourning After is a semi-autobiographical tale of what happens when the protagonist Shekar (Jehangir Homavazir) leaves New Zealand to visit his ancestral homeland of Sri Lanka in order to return his father’s ashes. As we enter Q’s foyer, kind faces encourage us to […]
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