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: Vice (The Basement)

April 16, 2014

Perverse [by James Wenley] For the past few weeks, Jordan Mooney has been posting a series of clips promoting a range of different vices. The crazy-eyed front man has whipped himself, walked naked in the wilderness, shoved his face in a toilet bowl, and lit his hair on fire. Turns out these are child plays compared to some of the predilections […]

REVIEW: Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika (Silo)

April 1, 2014

Poetry in Motion [by James Wenley] “The Great question before us is: Are we doomed? The Great question before us is: Will the Past release us? The Great question before us is: Can we Change? In Time? And we all desire that Change will come” That’s a grab quote from the start of Part Two. Alison Bruce, donning a wispy beard […]

REVIEW: Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches (Silo)

March 24, 2014

America Rediscovered [by James Wenley] It is very subtle, and depending where you are sitting, invisible. Etched onto the stage floor is one of the most famous sentences from world history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” For his final offering as Artistic Director […]

REVIEW: Midsummer (Silo)

October 27, 2013

And they play guitar too [by James Wenley] They begin with a bold conviction: “Love will break your heart”. It’s an idea – and lyric –that Midsummer repeatedly returns to, as the play’s lovers wistfully sing the phrase over their own spare guitar accompaniment. At the first this seems awfully unsentimental, but there’s something awfully romanticised about this idea too, […]

REVIEW: Yeti Trilogy (Moving Theatre Company)

September 4, 2013

Far from abominable [by Matt Baker] Love, lust, manipulation, jealously, and revenge are the key ingredients of any great melodrama, and no Auckland based theatrical melodrama has proved so great as The Moving Theatre Company’s Yeti Trilogy. Encompassing original productions Dan Is Dead: I Am Yeti and Yeti Is Dead: I Am Tom, the Yeti Trilogy incorporates a third act, Yeti In The Himalayas, to create a […]

REVIEW: No Holds Bard (Royale Productions)

June 5, 2013

Hurst’s a Bardarse [by Sharu Delilkan] Aptly described as an outrageous and often profound look into one actor’s attempt at self-destruction, No Holds Bard definitely promises what it delivers…and more. This original compilation of numerous Shakespearean excerpts woven together from the likes of Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello is a great way to showcase Michael Hurst’s mastery of the […]

REVIEW: Bard Day’s Night (The Basement)

May 23, 2012

Shakespeare Nerd’s Dream [by James Wenley] [EDITOR’S NOTE: Subsequent to this 2012 season, the Michael Hurst’s show has been renamed for a third time as No Holds Bard, see Sharu Delilkan’s review of its 2013 return Basement season.] Michael Hurst looks like he’s just stepped off a poor imitation of a Shakespearean stage: black doublet, tights, a particularly foppish wig, and…. […]

REVIEW: Yeti is Dead / I am Tom (Comedy Festival)

April 30, 2012

Yeti Strikes Back [by James Wenley] When we last saw Yeti, she had been shot by a jealous Yvette Parsons after the Himalayan visitor had started an affair with Yvette’s husband, Thomas Sainsbury…. That would seem to have been the end of our beloved Yeti. That is, until the sequel. Turns out Yeti isn’t dead, but has been in a […]

REVIEW: Faux Real (Comedy Festival)

May 4, 2011

Are you faux real? [by Sharu Delilkan] When I arrived at the Herald Theatre I was a little disappointed with the small number of people in the foyer. “I’m early I told myself”.  But unfortunately that didn’t change as we filed into the venue to take our seats. I actually counted 35 people in total, including me and my husband, […]

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