REVIEW: The Space Between (Auckland Fringe)

February 27, 2019

[Getting Closer] What is connection? It’s one of the many questions stuck to the black curtains of the central playing space of the Town Hall Supper Room, and a provocation in the devising process of The Space Between, a multi-space, multi-disciplinary theatrical installation presented by Cherie Moore and Sheena Irving in the 2019 Auckland Fringe Festival. Connection is one of […]

REVIEW: Valerie (Last Tapes)

July 21, 2018

[Theatre at its Finest] Mental health in New Zealand is a prevalent issue and, by consequence, necessary to discuss. 16% of New Zealanders are diagnosed with a mental health issue in their lifetime, comorbidity increases the risk of death, and our suicide rate is the second highest in the OECD. Mental health is also prevalent in the arts, especially theatre, […]

REVIEW: Valerie (Auckland Live International Cabaret Festival)

October 2, 2016

[Emotional Resonance] The Auckland Live International Cabaret Season kicked off this past week with Valerie, an unconventional cabaret written and performed by Last Tapes Theatre Company. The piece first appeared at Hotspot Cabaret and has developed into an entirely different creature since then. The Basement Theatre space has been transformed into a loungey cabaret den, lit by candles and kept […]

REVIEW: If I only had a Heart (Dionysos)

October 22, 2014

Affairs of the Heart [by James Wenley] Glancing down the program for If I Only Had a Heart, you might think that director Aaron Tindell compiled this cabaret show’s song list by typing “heart” in his iTunes search bar. Each song has “heart” somewhere in the title, helpfully bolded in red. It’s a mix of Broadway tuners that only the most […]

PREVIEW: The next generation VERBATIM

November 11, 2013

Twenty Years Later [by James Wenley] “New generations of actors and directors keep theatre alive” says NZ Theatre legend Miranda Harcourt, who toured New Zealand prisons with Verbatim, about a home invasion that ends with a murder, in the early 1990s . Miranda had been studying drama therapy in London and returned to New Zealand to create a project with the women […]

REVIEW: The Last Five Years (Last Tapes)

March 4, 2012

A show to fall in, and out of love.. [by James Wenley] In the middle of Musical The Last Five Years, Jamie and Cathy pledge their loves and their lives in the song The Next Ten Minutes, which  features both a tender proposal (“Will you share your life with me / For the next ten minutes? / …. And if […]