REVIEW: Like There’s No Tomorrow (The Playground Collective and ATC)

July 29, 2013

You never know where the night will take you [by James Wenley] There’s a girl in the stairwell, quietly weeping, desperately trying not to be noticed. She’s the only student at the (banned) afterball not to have bothered with a costume or a flash dress. In her hands she tightly clutches a camera. She’s noticed by a Japanese exchange, dressed […]

REVIEW: The Heretic (Auckland Theatre Company)

July 23, 2013

Pleasantly controversial [by Matt Baker] Regardless of whether one believes in it or not, climate change is undoubtedly a hot topic, and British playwright Richard Bean has clearly done his homework on the subject. While The Heretic could easily be a vehicle for playwright pontification, there is nothing terribly dogmatic in Bean’s writing, nor is the character of Dr. Diane Cassell by […]

REVIEW: Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe (The Basement)

July 18, 2013

Woah [by Matt Baker] Most of the actors in Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe have an adequate understanding of performing on stage, but it feels as if New York based writer/director Rob Reese has given this New Zealand troupe a specific blueprint by which they have to perform his off-off-Broadway show – ironic, considering his work as an improv instructor. Show Bible’s […]

REVIEW: Slava’s Snowshow (The EDGE)

July 13, 2013

The winter of our content [by Matt Baker] It’s no surprise that Slava’s Snowshow won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Reading his biography and musings, one can only begin to scratch the surface of Slava Polunin’s ethos on theatre. The rest must simply be experienced. Polunin first created his clown persona Asisyai over thirty years ago, which […]

REVIEW: Yes Prime Minister (The EDGE)

July 11, 2013

I could hardly say no [by Matt Baker] Originating from the BBC series, which ran between 1980 and 1984, and from 1986-88, writers Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn have reunited to update and adapt their BAFTA winning television series Yes, Prime Minister to the stage. Premiering at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne 2012, the Australian production opened last night at […]

REVIEW: Nick: An Accidental Hero (The Basement Trust & Renee Lyons)

July 3, 2013

Success is no accident [by Matt Baker] This is what theatre is all about; stories through unique perspectives. There are many articles about Dunedinite Nick Chisholm, from Men’s Health and the British Medical Journal, to The Mirror and 20/20, however, while they each come from their own journalistic angle, they simply do not have the same opportunity to cover the […]

REVIEW: White Rabbit, Red Rabbit (Silo Theatre)

July 2, 2013

Shh…don’t tell anyone [by Sharu Delilkan] Sometimes the fact that a play makes you think, can be as important as what you actually think about the play itself. This for me was the case with Silo Theatre’s latest production White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, written by young Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. The piece refreshingly challenges the traditional structure of a play […]

REVIEW: The Pitchfork Disney (The Moving Theatre Company)

June 21, 2013

Well pitched [by Matt Baker] It’s taken Todd Emerson seven years to mount The Pitchfork Disney, and it’s easy to see why the play stuck with him after his initial reading of it. Premiering in England in 1991, the play is considered a first in the arrival of the “in-yer-face” generation of playwrights, including Mark Ravenhill, Sarah Kane, and Anthony […]

REVIEW: Short+Sweet Theatre Week 1 (Short+Sweet Festival 2013)

June 19, 2013

Sweet As…[by Sharu Delilkan] And so we’re off again for two weeks packed with 10-minute theatre snippets for “the easily distracted”, as advertised in the pre-publicity. It is great to see that Short+Sweet Theatre as a festival is finally become a regular date in the theatregoing public’s calendar. I’ve been personally going to this festival for the past three years […]

REVIEW: Anne Boleyn (Auckland Theatre Company)

June 16, 2013

The Other Woman [by James Wenley] Boleyn comes encumbered by reputation. She’s called a great deal many things through the course of the play: “the harlot queen”, “intolerable woman”, “witch”, “the whore”. She’s arguably subject to one of history’s great hatchet jobs, the dangerous female who bewitched a King and tore England asunder. For his 2010 drama, Howard Brenton recasts […]

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