SCENE BY JAMES: 2016 – A Theatrical Year in Review

December 30, 2016

[Engaging with our Worlds] The meme that gained exponential currency as 2016 trudged along was that 2016 was a terrible year. Aleppo, terror, celebrity deaths, Brexit, Harambe, and the coming of Trump – what started as a joke seems to have become a genuine expression of the globe having entirely written off this fucked up year. Yes, this contemporary perception is all […]

REVIEW: Billy Elliot (Auckland Theatre Company)

October 20, 2016

[Class Sha in Class Gaff] Often when people come to an opening night there’s an air of anticipation.  But the opening of Billy Elliot was even more electric because we were coming to see a new theatre.  Billy Elliot is exactly the right sort of spectacle to launch the ASB Waterfront Theatre and to show off this magnificent space. From […]

REVIEW: The Pitmen Painters – (potent pause) Productions

November 19, 2011

Billy Elliot meets RED [by James Wenley] With Billy Elliot, everyone remembers the feel good inspirational story of the boy who became a ballet star. In revisiting the film recently, I was struck by the gritty social background – of Thatcher’s England and the miners sacrificing everything with lengthy strike action. For Billy, dancing was a way of escaping a […]