[Stunted] Writing, composing and directing a full-length musical in 100 days is no easy task. Schlunted follows a group of young twenty somethings driving off on a road trip after Fi (Sinead Fitzgerald) calls up her two high-school best friends, Hailee (Sally Brady) and Chris (Hadley R Taylor), who have both just completed their university degrees. However, this is no […]
[Rings True] The reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic poem, The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare, marks the first professional production by the Auckland Shakespeare Company. By bringing dramatic visibility to the poem they demonstrate just how long rape culture has festered throughout history, another story from the extensive canon of abuse fueled by male entitlement. Shakespeare’s text is 422 years […]
[Glued to the Stage] Written by Jess Sayer, one of New Zealand’s grittiest adult playwrights, and Darlene Mohekey, the creative and musical genius The Blue Baths, Dexter’s Amazing African Adventure follows Dexter’s journey (a year after his deep sea discovery) to save the last African Black Horn Rhinoceros. It’s a simple premise with little conflict, but Sayer and Mohekey extrapolate […]
[Overstuffed] Despite sharing a similarly large cast, Prayas Theatre have done a 180 for their latest show, going from the epic novelistic scale of Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance to the more personal marital comedy of Tanika Gupta’s Love N Stuff. The play charts the tumultuous relationship between middle aged Indian couple Bindi (Sudeepta Vyas) and Mansoor (Mustaq Missouri). When […]
[There’s a double meaning in that!] More Shakespearean productions should do what the team behind Much Adoe do. To wit: the female roles are cast with male actors, the male roles are cast with female actors. We have the experience of watching the men take on Beatrice and Hero, roles written not for women, but for the ‘boy actors’ of […]
Uncertain Futurecast [by James Wenley] The Yo Future movement has been spreading across the country. First devised in Wellington in 2011, Director Jo Randerson has worked with youth from Invercargill, Hamilton, Wairarapa and asked them provocations like “What does the world look like to you?” and “what would you fight for?” to create their past, present and Yo Future. The 14 […]
Scot problems [by Matt Baker] Shakespeare wrote for an aural audience; he doesn’t show, he tells. Accordingly, an actor’s vocal articulation is as an integral element of their performance as much as their understanding of the text. Fortunately, I know Macbeth as a text. I say fortunately, because had I not, I doubt I would have understood much of what […]
Back in the Hood [by Matt Baker] Following a twelve month hiatus, The Outfit Theatre Company returns to the stage with possibly their most commercially and critically successful of enterprises; the kids’ holiday show. The ensemble nature of the company’s management has been reduced to the show’s producers; Sarah Graham and Ema Barton, seemingly in exchange for a plethora of writers; […]
Vaudevillian tease [by Sharu Delilkan] TAPAC appears to have had a penchant for cabaret and burlesque shows in recent years and we’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed many an entertaining evening there. So naturally we were curious to see what Lilly Loca’s Vaudeville Cabaret Voix de Ville could offer that was new, exciting and sexy. The show began in a […]
Family dynamics deftly depicted [by Sharu Delilkan] Rachael Walker’s seemingly simple set for Gwen in Purgatory belies the emerging complexity of interaction between a rich tapestry of family members doing their best [or worst] for their elderly mother or grandparent. The show shines the spotlight on the tough and awkward issues that many of of us go through life avoiding. […]
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