REVIEW: Werewolf (Binge Culture)

May 29, 2022

Created by Binge Culture (Joel Baxendale, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Oliver Devlin, Karin McCracken, and Ralph Upton), Werewolf is a spin on the old game of deception. Set inside a shelter during a werewolf outbreak, the performers (Karin McCracken, Arlo Gibson, and Joel Baxendale) play the wardens tasked with safeguarding survivors. Taking place inside the Basement’s main theatre, seats are arranged […]

REVIEW: The Judas Sheep (Basement Theatre)

May 26, 2022

[Come for Candy, Stay to be Compelled] It is often considered unwise for an actor to share the stage with a child or a dog, as these smaller, less-inhibited performers tend to possess an almost magnetic draw upon an audience’s attention. To this company Emily Hurley’s explosive work The Judas Sheep adds a third guaranteed scene stealer- the titular articulated […]

REVIEW: Stories About My Body (Basement Theatre)

May 19, 2022

[Stories for Every Body] Originally booked for a debut season in 2021, Stories About My Body is one of the first rescheduled performances in the indoor space and heralds a welcome return to the Basement’s post-lockdown programming.  Writer and performer Morgana O’Reilly, known for her role in the Emmy awarding winning short-form series INSiDE and Naomi Canning (Neighbours), is fresh […]

Orange is the New Red: New Zealand Theatre and Performance under Orange

May 4, 2022

Yesterday I launched a new timeline feature tracking the impact of Covid-19 on Aotearoa New Zealand theatre and performance from 2020 till today. One major milestone was on 13th April 2022, when the country moved into the Orange traffic light setting. For the first time in months (and many months in Auckland’s case), live performance can go ahead without any […]

Launching Aotearoa New Zealand Theatre and Covid-19: A Timeline

May 3, 2022

Today Theatre Scenes is launching a timeline tracking the impact of Covid-19 on Aotearoa New Zealand’s theatre and performance ecology from the beginning of 2020 till today. This is the first public feature of a two-year research project ‘Growing Aotearoa’s Theatre Ecology: Sustainability, Resilience and Opportunities in the Pandemic Environment’. This theatre ecology project seeks to understand the impact of […]