REVIEW: Thoroughly Modern Māui (Auckland Live Cabaret Season)

July 5, 2021

[“No Longer Will I Be Painted with a Tainted Brush”] From the moment Rūtene Spooner hops out of the audience and onto the stage, requests a vodka soda, and welcomes everybody (particularly the “cuzzie’s on the comps”), we are taken on a journey of musical theatre, kapa haka, and essential kōrero. Spooner introduces himself as a ‘haka-boogie-hori’, and his sense […]

REVIEW: Wonderful (Basement Theatre)

June 24, 2021

[First Period – Starring: Brother Vianney] Brother Vianney, played by Andrew Laing, begins the show in a warm spotlight, and delights us with Rogers and Hammerstein’s Shall We Dance, from The King and I. A tender beginning that then explodes, and our very own Deborah Kerr twirls and floats around the stage, not unlike Maria on the hilltop from another […]

REVIEW: Paradise or the Impermanence of Ice Cream (Indian Ink)

June 13, 2021

[“The Secret to Life is Inconsistency”] From the moment the striking white lights brighten the black box of Q Theatre, Jacob Rajan captures the full attention of every audience member as Harvey Norman worker, Kutisar. He lies sprawled on a plinth, perhaps dead, or at least close to death. In swoops a Vulture, expertly animated by puppeteer Jon Coddington. The […]