REVIEW: How we Survive (Basement Theatre)

October 31, 2019

More Than Surviving: Two Artists, Thriving How We Survive offers an expected array of feminist discourse – from abortion rights and the gender pay gap, to body image and how to crush the patriarchy – but personal anecdotes in the form of poems are delivered with such intoxicating and brave energy that audience members are left with new insight, hungry […]

REVIEW: Animal (Basement Theatre)

October 30, 2019

New voices, deserving to be herd Described as a ‘superhero story inside a famous 20th century novella,’ Animal directors Harriett Maire and Arlo Green serve up a two-and-a-half-hour dinner where meat is firmly off the menu, but a plethora of hearty goodness takes its place.   Animal Farm, written by George Orwell and published in 1945, is an allegory depicting events […]

CHRISTCHURCH REVIEW: Fresh off the Boat (The Court Theatre)

October 27, 2019

Time Capsule Pacific Underground’s influence as a landmark theatre company has deeply shaped our nation’s theatre canon, particularly through works such as Dawn Raids, A Frigate Bird Sings, and Niu Sila. So The Court Theatre’s revival of seminal Fresh off the Boat, the very first play Pacific Underground ever did (in 1993), is a significant acknowledgement of the company’s place […]

REVIEW: Owls Do Cry (Red Leap Theatre)

October 21, 2019

[Singing from the Dead Room] Based on celebrated New Zealand author Janet Frame’s first full-length novel published in 1957, Owls Do Cry is an evocative and exciting theatrical rendition by Red Leap Theatre.  Led by Artistic Director Julie Nolan and directed by Malia Johnston, the events that plague the Withers family in small town provincial New Zealand are translated and […]

REVIEW: Half of the Sky (Massive Company)

October 20, 2019

Thicker than Water The third work written for Massive Theatre Company by English writer Lennie James and directed by Sam Scott, Half of the Sky explores themes of sisterhood, love and loss over a weekend of birthday celebrations.  Known as the Rose triplets due to their birthdays being three days apart from one another, middle sister Ru (Awhina-Rose Henare Ashby), […]

REVIEW: Sing it to my Face (Barbarian Productions)

October 20, 2019

Singing the hope of listening The terms ‘innovation’, ‘diversity’, and ‘inclusion’ are being redefined on stage in the production Sing It To My Face . The Auckland debut of Barbarian Productions’ contemporary inter-generational documentary theatre/musical performance collects opinions from three different generations, sets them to music, and gets performers to literally sing these opinions to each other’s faces. It’s a show […]

WELLINGTON REVIEW: Cock (Brilliant Adventures)

October 20, 2019

No Exit The titillating title of the play alludes to the play’s bisexual love triangle as well as the brutal influence of cockfighting on the piece. A contemporary classic of British drama, Cock, penned by Mike Bartlett, is a taut piece of playwriting, each scene escalating towards a deliciously inevitable showdown.  Bartlett opens by dropping us right in the middle […]

REVIEW: First World Problems 2.0 (Basement Theatre)

October 17, 2019

[16 Narratives] There was a palpable feeling of community spirit at the Basement Theatre on Tuesday night with the opening of First World Problems 2.0 – an anthology of sixteen short plays staged by members of the South Asian community. When the doors opened, the cast of around twenty-five actors were assembled in the playing area, energetically chatting, loudly welcoming […]

REVIEW: WORM (Basement Theatre)

October 16, 2019

[The worm’s audience turns] The stage is bare aside from bundles of beige cloth. When the show begins, the most human-shaped of the bundles begins to move. This is Worm (Phoebe Hurst), the latest denizen to occupy the Basement’s Studio. If there was ever a Mount Rushmore for the various entities that have slithered and crawled across its boards, Worm […]

PREVIEW: Sing it to my Face (Barbarian Productions)

October 15, 2019

[Voice of an Intergeneration] Opening this week under the helm of Jo Randerson in association with Auckland Live is Sing it to My Face, a show that invites everyday people from the community from different generations to express their concerns to each other through song. After premiering at Wellington Cathedral in 2014 the show also has had immensely successful seasons […]

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