REVIEW: Before Karma Gets Us (Basement Theatre)

April 5, 2019

[Now You See Me, Me, Me] In the mid-50s, a magician (Tess Sullivan) and her two weary apprentices/assistants/props (Ariaana Osborne and Liv Parker) attempt to put on their show. As egos flare, the line between illusion and reality begins to break down… Created and performed by Tess Sullivan, Ariaana Osborne and Liv Parker, Before Karma Gets Us is like The […]

REVIEW: Exes (Basement Theatre)

March 6, 2019

[A Thin Line Between Love and Hate… and laughter?] A decade ago, Eli Matthewson and Brynley Stent were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the present day, they look back on how they got to together, and how they went their separate ways. Taking in improv games, role-play and a shattering of the space-time continuum, Exes is by a turns funny, sad and – […]

REVIEW: Silent Disco Citywalk (Auckland Fringe)

March 5, 2019

[Musical Massage] When I was going to university in the city, I used to love going for long walks and listening to music. Even now I associate certain parts of the city with specific songs – the Hopetoun Bridge with Will Downing, the Symonds Street Underpass with Faith No More and the now-sadly-departed King’s Arms with Miles Davis’ ‘Freddie Freeloader’. […]

REVIEW: How To Write An Album In 12 Hours (Auckland Fringe)

March 2, 2019

[Make Mine Music] It’s a brilliant concept – in 12 hours, Wellington band The Undercuts will write and record a song in an hour on the hour every hour. And an audience gets to watch. As someone who loves music, and reading about the nuts and bolts of the artist’s process, this was a unique opportunity to watch a song […]

REVIEW: The Salem Bitch Trials (Auckland Fringe)

February 20, 2019

[Eat Your Heart Out Daniel Day-Lewis] An improvised riff on The Crucible that makes about as much sense as the historical event it is inspired by, The Salem Bitch Trials is based on the same formula as Mackenzie’s Daughters, with most of the same cast (featuring a rotating cast of 18, the opening night performance featured Alice Canton, Lana Walters, Brynley Stent, Karin McCrackin, Johanna […]

REVIEW: Karaoke Boiz (Auckland Pride)

February 10, 2019

[Fountains of Wayne] A jukebox musical of 70s-90s pop (including ‘9 to 5’, ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’, and a Spice Girls medley), Karaoke Boiz is pure fun. A camp-fuelled tale of love, fame and loss, it tells the story of Wayne (Daryl Wrightson), the self-styled ‘King’ of Karaoke. After his flagging marriage finally flags out, Wayne goes on the […]

REVIEW: Work Do (Basement Theatre)

December 3, 2018

[Merry XXXmas] December, 1997. Princess Diana is dead. The Spice Girls are four months away from going Geri-less. The employees of travel agency Go Away gather for their end-of-year party, unaware that the proverbial is about to hit the fan: the company’s finances are a mess, and boss Linda (Jodie Rimmer) is going to have to close it down. With […]

REVIEW: Monster Mash (Dynamotion)

November 19, 2018

[It’s a Mash] Co-created by Lara Liew and Tom Sainsbury, Dynamotion’s forte is taking b-movie genres and turning them into quasi-musicals with actors doing performing choreography. It’s a great idea, and they have mined it for a series of fun parodies, taking in everything from old-school exploitation horror movies, 60s Bondmania and Terminator 2. Dynamotion’s latest finds them tackling classic […]

REVIEW: Soft n Hard (Tempo Dance Festival)

October 12, 2018

[Woman v Shrill Man] The story of a relationship between a man and woman, Soft n Hard is based on movement and song, but to call this Tempo work a dance show feels reductive. Created and performed by Jo Randerson and Thomas LaHood (and directed by Isobel MacKinnon), Soft n Hard is about juxtaposition and conflict over assumptions and expectations around […]

REVIEW: Paper Planes (Basement Theatre)

October 6, 2018

[A dog, a moon and a Belarusian walk into a bar…] Late one night, Fran (Holly Hudson) lies awake in bed while her neighbours party the night away. Unable to sleep, her insomnia is exacerbated by her canine companion Dog (a superlative performance by puppeteer Tamara Gussy), who insists on playing while her Belarusian landlady, Mrs Withers (another puppet performed […]

1 2 3 4 5 9