Speaking for Ourselves: A Response to Actressexual

March 9, 2019

[There’s No Time for Hubris in a Culture of Caring] This piece is in response to the 2019 Auckland Fringe work Actressexual and the surrounding online media controversy around public figure and playwright Sam Brooks. The content was written and curated by Rachael Longshaw-Park, with responses from the following female voices in the theatre community: Saraid de Silva Cameron, Chye-Ling […]

REVIEW: Run Rabbit (Auckland Fringe)

March 4, 2019

[Nowhere to Run] We meet a few different versions of Victoria Abbott during Run Rabbit. These vary from, but are not limited to, “Victoria Abbott: normal human woman”, “Victoria Abbott: the actor”, and, of course, “The Rabbit.” Abbott opens the show by acknowledging and grounding her audience in the space, clearly demonstrating our autonomy within it, and showcasing the meta-elements […]

REVIEW: Desperate Late Night Energy (Auckland Fringe)

March 2, 2019

[Dancecrush] Desperate Late Night Energy, a collaboration between Electronica/dance-pop artist Boycrush (producer and songwriter Alistair Deverick) and Dance Plant Collective, is what you would get if you started a really good club in an Olympic standard swimming complex. It is overwhelmingly aesthetic, with ultramodern contemporary dance and superb live music brought together through an absolute clarity of vision. The costuming […]

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: Fights Like a Girl (Auckland Fringe)

March 1, 2019

[A Taste of English Pup Humour in Auckland] What does it mean to be ‘woke’? Urban Dictionary leans toward the definition that involves being more aware and knowing what’s afoot in the community around you. In a tribute to the pursuit of belonging, Sajeela Khershi tells her own story of a journey to being woke in Fights Like a Girl, […]

REVIEW: Tiresias (Auckland Fringe)

February 28, 2019

[See the Fates in Action] Simon Rodda and local fiddler Shimna Higgins star in an hour of masterfully woven oral storytelling and live music. Directed by Rebecca Rogers, Tiresias’ 2019 Auckland Fringe season represents the international debut of British Theatre company Heady Conduct. Deep in Q Theatre’s Vault the audience clusters around tables in cabaret seating. There is a murmur of […]

REVIEW: Rosemary (Auckland Fringe)

February 28, 2019

[Mary Maintains her Iconic Status] Created by Rosie Tapsell and Jazmine Rose Phillips, the multi-disciplinary dance work Rosemary presents a multifaceted attempt to demystify the Mother Mary icon. Before the audience has even climbed the stairs to the Basement’s Studio space we are engaged in an exploration of Mary. Besides the box office is a TV screen playing a loop […]

REVIEW: The Space Between (Auckland Fringe)

February 27, 2019

[Getting Closer] What is connection? It’s one of the many questions stuck to the black curtains of the central playing space of the Town Hall Supper Room, and a provocation in the devising process of The Space Between, a multi-space, multi-disciplinary theatrical installation presented by Cherie Moore and Sheena Irving in the 2019 Auckland Fringe Festival. Connection is one of […]

REVIEW: Māui (Auckland Fringe)

February 26, 2019

[Democratising Space by Dancing the Old and the New] On a raised stage elevated two or three meters above the floor of the concert chamber of Auckland’s Town Hall a narrator’s voice introduces the dance theatre production Māui –  the latest offering from Fresh Movement, a dance company that brings together hip hop, contemporary dance, and Māori and Pacific movement […]

REVIEW: Pussy Riot: Riot Days (Auckland Fringe)

February 25, 2019

[The Revolution will be Theatricalised] I was standing in the Auckland Town Hall’s Great Hall on a Friday night waiting for Riot Days to start, a performance by the Russian protest and art collective Pussy Riot. As I wait, I get chatting to Rita, an 86-year-young from Tauranga who has travelled up to Auckland for the event. Rita had read […]

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