REVIEW: Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika (Silo)

April 1, 2014

Poetry in Motion [by James Wenley] “The Great question before us is: Are we doomed? The Great question before us is: Will the Past release us? The Great question before us is: Can we Change? In Time? And we all desire that Change will come” That’s a grab quote from the start of Part Two. Alison Bruce, donning a wispy beard […]

REVIEW: Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches (Silo)

March 24, 2014

America Rediscovered [by James Wenley] It is very subtle, and depending where you are sitting, invisible. Etched onto the stage floor is one of the most famous sentences from world history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” For his final offering as Artistic Director […]

REVIEW: Midsummer (Silo)

October 27, 2013

And they play guitar too [by James Wenley] They begin with a bold conviction: “Love will break your heart”. It’s an idea – and lyric –that Midsummer repeatedly returns to, as the play’s lovers wistfully sing the phrase over their own spare guitar accompaniment. At the first this seems awfully unsentimental, but there’s something awfully romanticised about this idea too, […]

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 […]

REVIEW: The Gift (Auckland Theatre Company)

September 17, 2012

The Gift of the gab [by Sharu Delilkan] “Wow!” was all we could say when we saw the striking set as we walked into the Maidment Theatre. A Rubiks-like upholstered grid with minimal cube props for tables and seats is the genius creation of set designer Rachael Walker. This style is repeated behind as a backdrop with the whole set […]

REVIEW: Private Lives (Silo)

September 12, 2012

My love-hate relationship with Silo’s Private Lives [by James Wenley] Consider this plot: A newly remarried man about town books into a hotel room for his honeymoon only to discover that his ex-wife has booked the very next room for her own honeymoon. Will old sparks be reflamed? And what about their new partners? Hijinks and hilarity ensue. Sure sounds […]