NEWS: Len Brown announces ‘Jersey Boys’ coming to The Civic

July 27, 2011

Oh what a night… Tommy, Bobby, Nick and Frankie on their way [by James Wenley] Len Brown announced at a press conference this morning at the Civic Theatre’s Wintergarden that the smash hit international musical Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, will be coming to Auckland in April 2012. Jersey Boys is a key part of […]

REVIEW: Othello (Peach Theatre Company)

July 25, 2011

Honestly, Iago… [by James Wenley] It might be called Othello, but this one is very much Iago’s show. Iago, the villain in Shakespeare’s Othello, has long threatened to outshine the titular tragic hero. Shakespeare for one gave him substantially more lines and a relentless destructive driving force, plotting to destroy the Moor that he says he hates. Why Iago does […]

INTERVIEW: Jesse Peach

July 18, 2011

From the Moor of Venice, to the road of yellow brick… [by James Wenley] If you’ve noticed journalist Jesse Peach’s absence from the TV news recently he has a very good reason. He’s taken five months leave to pursue his passion. Theater director Jesse Peach is now at work. His first play, Othello, is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies about […]

REVIEW: Short+Sweet Theatre Festival – Week 2, Top 20

July 15, 2011

Even Sweeter… [by James Wenley] The second week of Short+Sweet lives life firmly on the theatrical side. After noting that I hoped for a more diverse program of plays in my review of Week One, it was certainly delivered this week. These plays on the whole were not only different thematically to each other, many were also ballsy, thrilling, seat-wettingly […]

REVIEW: The Family Wilder

July 8, 2011

Dark and Twisted [by James Wenley] After a string of collaborations and monologue directing, Thomas Sainsbury returns to The Basement with The Family Wilder, setting his style to the dark camp of the thriller genre’s twist and turns. Harry McNaughton plays the softly-spoken writer Clive, who is tasked with writing the biography of Wilder Family patriarch and ruthless businessman Bill. […]

REVIEW: Short+Sweet Theatre Festival – Week 1, Top 20

July 8, 2011

Sweetness in Shortness [by James Wenley] I reckon the art of a good 10-minute play is a decidedly tricky one. Whether it leaves you laughing or with something more to think about, within those 600 seconds it generally has to traverse the entire three act structure from inciting incident to satisfying conclusion. The Short+Sweet festival, compromising of very strictly determined 10-minute […]