Best Served Cold There’s something timeless about the deceitful machinations that run through Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The French epistolary novel, originally published in 1782, and adapted by Christopher Hampton, has the Wildean wit of a sharp knife dipped in poison. The dastardly duo at the center of the play, the Marquise de Merteuil (Eilish Moran) and Vicomte de Valmont (Fergus […]
[Shakespearean Speed Run] I don’t really have much time for new productions of Shakespeare these days, especially when it comes to productions that are done in a so-called traditional manner. We live in an age where pretty high quality interpretations of these classics exist, yet are still performed ad nauseam in our cultural landscape. Romeo & Juliet is a particularly […]
[The New Every(wo)man] The legacy of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch is one of modest beginnings, with Mitchell playing the title character Off-Broadway back in 1998. That it went on to become a cult film and subsequently a Broadway and international success is a testament to the quality and originality of its material. Even […]
[Punk Rock Pastoral] Nathan Joe reports in from Christchurch on The Court Theatre’s summer musical. The Court Theatre’s annual musical is a long-held tradition and highlight of the Christchurch theatre scene; one that I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing multiple times in the past few years. Following their flawlessly faithful rendition of Chicago and the appropriately frothy Legally Blonde, New […]
[Sentimental Packaging] When aspiring Samoan comedian Tai (Sepelini Mua’au) gets a job at a local moving company, he has to juggle the generational and racial divide between himself and the two older white men who run the business, Oscar (Lloyd Scott) and Bruce (John Landreth). If Oscar is relatively unassuming and harmless, Bruce embodies a more casual racism, often masquerading […]
[Angels in Aotearoa] Programming a grad show for any acting program is tricky business, balancing the needs of roles required and finding a suitable showcase, all while crafting a satisfying narrative. In choosing to commission a brand new work by Auckland playwright Sam Brooks, rounding off a knockout year in collaboration with director Sam Snedden (Twenty Eight Millimetres and Burn […]
[Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown] Despite a ‘Decade of Disruption’ being The Basement’s motto for this year, it’s the prominence of mental health issues that seems most notable in their programming. With works such as Near Death Experience, Breathe and Paper Planes being just the tip of the iceberg. Loren Black’s A Lost Cause may be the […]
[The Woman in White] Albert Belz’s Cradle Song adheres closely to the tried and true tropes of the horror genre: vengeful spirits, religion, a creepy setting, stranded youngsters making bad decisions. While offering little subversion for any diehard horror aficionados, there is great pleasure in watching a difficult genre handled expertly on stage. This is not the first time Belz […]
[Transitory Spaces] When prodigal son Isaac (Arlo Green) returns from Afghanistan to find his family home turned upside down, he’s rightfully shocked. Having spent his last three years in the Marines’ Mortuary Affairs division, and dishonourably discharged, it’s no surprise he longs for something familiar and recognisable. Mommy Paige (Rima Te Wiata) has done away with all the rituals and […]
[Ashes of Time] by Nathan Joe Te Pou’s language-spanning season of The Chairs ends with an exemplary Cantonese version of the play. The prescriptiveness of Eugene Ionesco’s text is respectfully toyed with, recontextualising the space for a traditional Chinese context. Those with even only the slightest understanding of the culture will find resonances in abundance. The basic scenario stays true […]
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