REVIEW: The Book of Everything (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 16, 2015

Missing Pages [by Matt Baker] When the book that inspires a play has been called a modern classic, when the play itself has been self-attributed with “…beautiful, magical, surprising, touching, terrifying, joyous, inspiring, funny, and ultimately uplifting…”, and when the premiere was critically acclaimed as a “hilarious, honest, and beautifully rendered play”, there is a lot to which any other production must […]

REVIEW: The Kitchen (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 15, 2015

Humdrum [by Sharu Delilkan and Tim Booth] An intriguing premise for tonight’s show – 12 drummers in a pyramid, a kitchen and a couple cooking the delicious Indian rice pudding that is payasam. Having seen The Manganiyar Seduction at the 2011 Festival we felt The Kitchen had the potential to be a little gimmicky, a re-packaging of their previously successful […]

REVIEW: Macbeth (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 12, 2015

Viva Verdi? [by Matt Baker] Playwright, designer, and director Brett Bailey has made a career in avant-garde theatre, and while I have a desire to engage with more of his productions, it is based more on reading about his other works rather than witnessing his adaptation of Verdi’s Macbeth. The concept of Congolese refugees recreating Verdi’s production based on the coming […]

REVIEW: One Night Stand (The Basement)

March 7, 2015

Second Date Material [by Guest Reviewers Lucy Noonan and Tim George] Theatre Scenes sent reviewers along to the first two nights of One Night Stand at The Basement – a 24 hour play festival where 4 teams get just 24 hours to write, direct and stage a 10 minute play. Here are their verdicts. First up Lucy Noonan with night one: […]

REVIEW: Hikoi (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 6, 2015

Mōrihariha [by Sharu Delilkan] Witnessing a theatrical premiere is indeed a privilege but when it’s local with historical ties, such as Hīkoi, and it’s a world premiere makes for an even more momentous occasion. Writer Nancy Brunning’s cleverly crafted words come alive as soon as the show begins. Her ability to reel in the crowd with her sharp-witted dialogue and […]

REVIEW: The Non-Surgeon’s Guide to the Appendectomy (and other games) (The Basement)

March 4, 2015

We lost the patient [by Matt Baker] Successfully transforming a performance space can win over your audience before the dialogue of a show even begins, and the combination Christine Urquhart’s foreboding set, stark lighting by Nicole Astrella, and ominous sound composition by Sinisha Milkovic has me immediately geared for Finnius Teppet’s (arguably) absurdist play. Even though the debate on the purpose […]

REVIEW: Mother/Jaw (Auckland Fringe)

March 1, 2015

Jawdropping [by Matt Baker] It has been said that at spoken word performances of Grace Taylor’s poetry collection, Afakasi Speaks, the inspiration for Mother/Jaw, that “the poem is wrapped in the body’s movement, and the body’s movement is wrapped in the poem.” This integration of word and movement has been taken on its natural progression by choreographers Jahra ‘Rager’ Wasasala and Grace […]