REVIEW: Macbeth (Pop-up Globe)

February 11, 2018

[Fresh Daggers in Familiar Smiles] Directed by Tom Mallaburn, the Pop-up Globe’s production of Macbeth is mostly a traditional take on the material. I say mostly, because the show’s creators make one interesting addition right at the top which causes ripples throughout the rest of the show. There has always been a theory that the Macbeth’s had lost a child [Lady Macbeth […]

REVIEW: Boys Will Be Boys (Silo)

September 13, 2016

[Swimming with the Sharks] Boys Will Be Boys is a brash and unapologetic dive into the social and sexual politics of the corporate banking world. Notably it contains a thematic parallel that couldn’t be more poignant currently with the national scrutiny of the Chief’s media scandal. Melissa Bubnic’s play follows the story of Astrid (Amanda Billing), a currency trader convinced […]

REVIEW: The Book of Everything (Silo)

February 13, 2016

[Everyone has their Reasons] After a successful run last year, and with some changes in cast (hello Stephen Lovatt, Amanda Billing, Amanda Tito and Dan Musgrove), The Book of Everything makes a welcome return to the Auckland stage. Thomas (Patrick Carroll) is a young boy growing up in post-war Holland. Struggling under the thumb of his abusive, ultra-religious father Abel (Stephen […]

REVIEW: Lysistrata (Auckland Theatre Company)

August 4, 2015

Make love… and theatre… not war [by Matt Baker] The serendipity of coming across the fourth entry in this Cracked article today was not lost on me. Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata over 2,400 years ago and, according to the opening night audience, dick jokes are just as funny now as they were then, and if there is one person in New Zealand […]

REVIEW: Chicago (Auckland Theatre Company)

November 4, 2013

Give ‘em the old tit-ill-ation [by James Wenley] If you think you know Chicago, leave your expectations at the theatre door. The stockings haven’t just been rolled down, they’ve been ripped completely off in this down and dirty, hyper-sexualised re-imagining of the Kander and Ebb musical from the warped mind of virtuoso Michael Hurst. There’s jazz, and a whole lot […]