REVIEW: By Heart (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 15, 2019

[Sweet Vocal Thought] Can poetry give us hope? This is the question posed by Tiago Rodrigues, Portuguese actor and playwright, as he brings his internationally acclaimed show By Heart to Auckland’s Q Theatre Loft. It is intrinsic in our nature to tell stories and for thousands of years the art of oral storytelling long satisfied our need to pass on […]

REVIEW: Camille O’Sullivan ‘Cave’ (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 15, 2019

[The Canonisation of Camille O’Sullivan] I am compelled to begin with a confession. I love Nick Cave. I have attended Bad Seeds’ concerts in New Zealand and overseas, I own most of his books and films, and I often find myself playing through the riffs Cave and Warren Ellis have created because they are just so damn good. As you […]

REVIEW: Talofa Papa (Basement Theatre)

March 14, 2019

[Cherish Your Loved Ones] Kasiano Mita, the creator and performer of Talofa Papa has cleverly crafted a unique piece which raises awareness of the vā that separates our multi-generations. We are greeted at the doors by Papa who is formally suited, dressed with a hat and hunched over, heavily leaning on his walking stick. Papa is warm and inviting and I am […]

REVIEW: Working on my Night Moves (Basement Visions)

March 11, 2019

[Moving into Light] Developed with support from Creative New Zealand and the well-respected Battersea Arts Centre, London, Working on My Night Moves is the latest offering from Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan, which promises to be ‘a journey into outer space and an attempt to diffuse power and hierarchy.’ Presented by Basement Theatre as part of the new Basement Visions […]

REVIEW: The Magic Flute (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 10, 2019

[Making Mozart Proud] Bold and engaging, The Magic Flute is for opera lovers and newcomers alike – just mind the sting in the tale. This staging of Mozart and Schikaneder’s Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) is directed by Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade, with animation by Paul Barritt, and musical direction by Jordan de Souza and Hendrik Vestmann. Having received […]

REVIEW: As it Stands (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 10, 2019

[When Man, Nature and Industry Collide] Inspired by the monumental and mammoth-sized steel sculptures of American artist Richard Serra, As It Stands is a contemporary dance work directed and choreographed by Arts Laureate Ross McCormack and his company Muscle Mouth.  Featuring eight very strong dancers — James Vu Anh Pham, Lauren Langlois, Luke Hanna, Emily Adams, Jeremy Beck, Tiana Lung, […]

Speaking for Ourselves: A Response to Actressexual

March 9, 2019

[There’s No Time for Hubris in a Culture of Caring] This piece is in response to the 2019 Auckland Fringe work Actressexual and the surrounding online media controversy around public figure and playwright Sam Brooks. The content was written and curated by Rachael Longshaw-Park, with responses from the following female voices in the theatre community: Saraid de Silva Cameron, Chye-Ling […]

REVIEW: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 7, 2019

[Unleashed] Wild Dogs Under My Skirt speaks volumes to the intersection of fa’asāmoa (traditional Sāmoan) and diasporic upbringing. Having been a NZ-born cis-queer-male of Sāmoan descent, the performance highlights the various women I grew up with and hold dear to my heart. Although Tusiata Avia’s Wild Dogs Under My Skirt collection of poetry was published in 2004, the spoken text […]

REVIEW: Exes (Basement Theatre)

March 6, 2019

[A Thin Line Between Love and Hate… and laughter?] A decade ago, Eli Matthewson and Brynley Stent were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the present day, they look back on how they got to together, and how they went their separate ways. Taking in improv games, role-play and a shattering of the space-time continuum, Exes is by a turns funny, sad and – […]

REVIEW: Silent Disco Citywalk (Auckland Fringe)

March 5, 2019

[Musical Massage] When I was going to university in the city, I used to love going for long walks and listening to music. Even now I associate certain parts of the city with specific songs – the Hopetoun Bridge with Will Downing, the Symonds Street Underpass with Faith No More and the now-sadly-departed King’s Arms with Miles Davis’ ‘Freddie Freeloader’. […]

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