Auckland Participates [by James Wenley] This past year I have partied with underage drinkers, appeared on the 6pm news, ran for my life from snarling zombies, and, for an all too brief moment, locked eyes with a sensuous Lucy Lawless. If there’s one big trend that has come out of Auckland’s 2013 theatrical year, it’s got to be the year of […]
Whose there? [by Sharu Delilkan] The foyer of The Herald Theatre was buzzing with excitement as people read the decree on the scrolls adorning the walls. The Dust Palace had thrown down the gauntlet to us as audience members, and everyone headed towards their seats wondering what they were in for – especially since the dreaded “audience participation” card had […]
What the Dickens [by James Wenley] You know the silly season must be upon us when you find yourself thinking: “for the love of baby Jesus, not another Christmas Carol adaptation”. Dickens’ morality tale has been trotted out so many times that you’d think they’d be no bah-humbing curmudgeons still left to heed the message. What is there left to say? […]
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; […]
Homeward longing [by James Wenley] Gloria quickly washes over you with a warmly sentimental “feel-good” factor. This is partly invoked by the knowledge that the one-woman play is based on the true story experiences of war bride Gloria Stanford, and the accompanying nostalgia associated with New Zealand in the World War II era. Then mix in a little national pride: her […]
A fish out of water [by Matt Baker] Having seen the original production of Zooquatic earlier in the year as part of the Short+Sweet Auckland Theatre Festival, I was excited to see in which direction this full-length adaptation would be taken and how much further the parody of the content would be pushed. Absurdist in its comedic style and melodramatic […]
Lessons in Love [by Sharu Delilkan] The tension was palpable from the start. Between the Sheets opens with a go-getting high-flying power suit-wearing woman Marion (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) grilling her son’s teacher Teresa (Beth Allen) on his successes, failures, weaknesses and future. The beauty of Canadian playwright Jordi Mand’s writing is that we think we know the premise of the show, […]
Not the Six O’Clock News… but close enough [by James Wenley] Recall when Judy “Mother of the Nation” Bailey had to read the auto-cue about herself on the six o’clock news when her pay packet became a top news story? That’s one way to respond when the newsreaders become the newsmakers: continue on as normal. Now imagine if Judy Bailey had […]
Enough said? [by Matt Baker] While I wholly appreciate writer/creator Miranda Harcourt’s personal sentiment that “The poetry of the way real people speak has always been [her] favourite form”, I cannot help but reflect on exactly how it is that verbatim theatre has the ability to make the impact that it can. Recently, I was confronted with the contention that […]
An evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn… and you? [by James Wenley] You probably know Mandy Patinkin, current star of Homeland, and Inigo “You killed my father” Montoya in cult hit The Princess Bride (which incidentally has just been announced is being turned into a stage musical!). True Musical Theatre fans will know that Mandy is a phenomenal Broadway performer […]
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