REVIEW: Te Tangi a Te Tūi (Te Pou)

March 14, 2024

Te Tangi a Te Tūī is a ground-breaking collaboration between Te Rēhia Theatre, The Dust Palace and The Cultch, which weaves together elements of Māori pūrakau, circus theatre, spectacular visuals, and stunning choreography to tell the story of the Tūī’s song which becomes an allegory for the beauty and persistence of te reo Māori. The Tūī’s birdsong is complex and […]

REVIEW: Dirty Work (Indian Ink Theatre Company)

June 19, 2023

The absurdity of work is a central theme explored in Indian Ink’s new production Dirty Work which premiered on the Rangatira stage at Q Theatre last Friday night. Written by Indian Ink founders and creative collaborators Jacob Rajan & Justin Lewis, the production is inspired by Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and explores the meaninglessness and repetitiveness that often constitute […]

REVIEW: Sing to Me (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 17, 2021

[Beyond the Pairs of Opposites] “Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.” ― Hermann Hesse Taki Rua’s Sing to Me opened at Rangatira Q Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival on 11 March to limited capacity […]

REVIEW: Cold Blood (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 13, 2020

[Making the Strange Charming] In the Belgian production Cold Blood, a team of camera and lighting technicians – with the help of detailed miniature sets, table-top puppetry techniques, and analogue special effects – recreate a series of scenes about death in full view of the audience which are then projected onto a screen hanging above the playing area. This is a […]

REVIEW: Deep (Auckland Fringe)

February 27, 2020

[Lost in the Dark] Deep is a puppet theatre production that follows the story of marine archaeologist Rebekah Poleman (Natasha Daniel) who gets untethered from her submarine and becomes stranded four-thousand feet below the ocean surface and with only an hour of oxygen to spare. The story traces Poleman’s encounters with various underwater creatures as she attempts to survive the […]

REVIEW: Sing it to my Face (Barbarian Productions)

October 20, 2019

Singing the hope of listening The terms ‘innovation’, ‘diversity’, and ‘inclusion’ are being redefined on stage in the production Sing It To My Face . The Auckland debut of Barbarian Productions’ contemporary inter-generational documentary theatre/musical performance collects opinions from three different generations, sets them to music, and gets performers to literally sing these opinions to each other’s faces. It’s a show […]

REVIEW: First World Problems 2.0 (Basement Theatre)

October 17, 2019

[16 Narratives] There was a palpable feeling of community spirit at the Basement Theatre on Tuesday night with the opening of First World Problems 2.0 – an anthology of sixteen short plays staged by members of the South Asian community. When the doors opened, the cast of around twenty-five actors were assembled in the playing area, energetically chatting, loudly welcoming […]

REVIEW: Soft N Hard (Barbarian Productions)

August 22, 2019

[Gender Conversations] With a (silent mime’s) nod to the Topp Twins, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Samuel Beckett, Soft N Hard is an absurd comedy that pulls back the yellow curtains and naff Kiwi culture of the 80s to poke fun at kiwi gender constructions and relationships. Created by the husband and wife team behind Barbarian Productions, Jo Randerson and Thomas […]

REVIEW: A Fine Balance (Auckland Theatre Company)

June 21, 2019

[A Fine Partnership] A Fine Balance is a wonderful collaboration between the Auckland Theatre Company and Prayas Theatre that successfully stages diverse stories and bodies that are not heard or seen often enough on Auckland’s mainstages. With Q Rangatira configured as theatre in the round, with seating banks on four sides, the performance begins with a woman bent low, sweeping […]

REVIEW: The Bookbinder (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 28, 2019

[Precision in Art and Life] First performed in the back of Arty Bee’s second-hand bookshop in Wellington as part of New Zealand Fringe in 2014, Trick of the Light bring their award-winning production The Bookbinder to the Q Theatre Loft as part of the 2019 Auckland Arts Festival. The dark and magical production written and performed with meticulous care by […]

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