[Fresh Daggers in Familiar Smiles] Directed by Tom Mallaburn, the Pop-up Globe’s production of Macbeth is mostly a traditional take on the material. I say mostly, because the show’s creators make one interesting addition right at the top which causes ripples throughout the rest of the show. There has always been a theory that the Macbeth’s had lost a child [Lady Macbeth […]
[Team Effort] An engrossing look at two of the men behind Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s successful ascent, Everest Untold is a multimedia production in which Sir John Hunt (Stephen Lovatt), the leader of the 1953 expedition, and George Lowe (Edwin Wright), the ‘other Kiwi’, tell the story of the team effort that went into the climb. Written by Gareth Davies and […]
[Everyone has their Reasons] After a successful run last year, and with some changes in cast (hello Stephen Lovatt, Amanda Billing, Amanda Tito and Dan Musgrove), The Book of Everything makes a welcome return to the Auckland stage. Thomas (Patrick Carroll) is a young boy growing up in post-war Holland. Struggling under the thumb of his abusive, ultra-religious father Abel (Stephen […]
Rupert Bare [by Sharu Delilkan and Tim Booth] It’s rare that a show about someone’s life is introduced by the main character as “a show about my life” but Rupert, a biography of media moghul Rupert Murdoch breaks many of the norms of theatre as he does the fourth wall. David Williamson‘s Rupert encapsulates a multitude of genres – it’s […]
Too light [by Matt Baker] It is the most difficult process any parent could endure, not the loss, but the unknown fate of a child. The stakes are high in Shelagh Stephenson’s script, and while Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Enlightenment has an intellectual grasp on the chaos of the play, it remains less resonant than the text allows it to […]
Once was Enough [by Matt Baker] The fact that the temporary capture of Chunuk Bair was the only success for the Allies in the Gallipoli Campaign at the expense of hundreds of men’s lives is a perfect example of the futility of war. It is a landmark in New Zealand history and requires little reminding: lest we forget, indeed. The […]
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 […]
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 […]
Divine Inspiration [by James Wenley] Credit to the publicist who angled a ninety year old play into the Herald on Sunday Gossip pages. “Are age-defying celebrities Nicky Watson and Sally Ridge the inspiration for Fallen Angels…?” the paper breathlessly asks. It explains that the play “tells the story of two former BFFs who shared a lover when they were younger… Sound familiar?”, […]
Same, but Different [by James Wenley] The harder you try to categorise Speaking in Tongues, the further the play slips away. Case in point: the content of the opening scene is the stuff of conventional dramas – in separate hotel rooms, two couplings of strangers contemplate engaging in infidelity. The tension: who will go through with it, who will back […]
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