Looking Back: 2013 – A Theatrical Year in Review

December 28, 2013

Auckland Participates [by James Wenley] This past year I have partied with underage drinkers, appeared on the 6pm news, ran for my life from snarling zombies, and, for an all too brief moment, locked eyes with a sensuous Lucy Lawless. If there’s one big trend that has come out of Auckland’s 2013 theatrical year, it’s got to be the year of […]

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: Speaking in Tongues (Silo)

August 18, 2013

Same, but Different [by James Wenley] The harder you try to categorise Speaking in Tongues, the further the play slips away. Case in point: the content of the opening scene is the stuff of conventional dramas – in separate hotel rooms, two couplings of strangers contemplate engaging in infidelity. The tension: who will go through with it, who will back […]

REVIEW: Hui (Auckland Arts Festival)

March 19, 2013

Whānau ties [by Matt Baker] Family is an intrinsically universal concept, one to which all – regardless of (and sometimes in spite of) one’s upbringing – can relate. Instigated by the ultimate qualifier of death, Mitch Tawhi Thomas explores this concept, and the dynamics surrounding it, in the world premiere of the appropriately titled Hui. Said dynamics are illustrated through […]

Looking forward: What’s on my theatrical radar for 2013? (Part 2)

January 28, 2013

ATC, Silo and More! [by James Wenley] Part One looked at what has caught my eye in the Fringe and Auckland Arts Festival (not too long to wait Festival lovers!). Now we cast our gaze on the rest of the 2013 theatre calendar. By all means stuff yourself silly during the Fests, but keep yourself some room, there is a […]

Looking Back: 2012 – A Theatrical year in Review

January 10, 2013

Taking the Risk [by James Wenley] “…It was this lack of “weight” (a not too easily defined term which an actor, if not a member of the audience, would understand) that Mr George Henare needs to work on if he wishes to pursue the acting profession. His is a good, powerful voice, he has strong features… yet a lot of […]

REVIEW: The Pride (Silo)

August 14, 2012

What DOES it mean to be gay? [by Rosabel Tan] You want a play to change you. You want it to take you by surprise, to delight you, to hurt you. You want it to whisper in your ear three days later when you’re trying to focus during a staff meeting about strategy and best practice. You want it to […]

PREVIEW: The Pride (Silo)

August 8, 2012

A matter of pride [by Sharu Delilkan] A heterosexual woman at the helm of a thrilling contemporary narrative predominantly focussed on the gay issues could have been a point of concern. But nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Sophie Roberts‘ role as director for The Pride. Her history of working on productions with gay themes […]

REVIEW: Tribes (Silo)

June 11, 2012

Now how to express my experience? [by James Wenley] Tribes comes to Auckland’s stage with a babble of hype and expectation. Only playwright Nina Raine’s second play (after Rabbit which Silo performed in 2008 ), it’s something of an international critical darling after its debut at London’s Royal Court in 2010. Just last week it won New York Drama Desk’s […]

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