Theatreview Weekly: 05/07/2012
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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including children’s theatre Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, The 3 Bears … and Goldilocks, The Great Piratical Rumbustification, Ivy – Saviour of the Dinosaur and Ka Hao te Rangitahi: The New Net Goes Fishing
A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including children’s theatre Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, The 3 Bears … and Goldilocks, The Great Piratical Rumbustification, Ivy – Saviour of the Dinosaur and Ka Hao te Rangitahi: The New Net Goes Fishing
See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory.
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Gryphon, Wellington - HANSEL AND GRETEL: Missed opportunities in diluted drama
- reviewed by John Smythe
A packed house enjoys yet another opportunity to see a classic folk story dramatised: a genre Wellington specialises in, what with Kapitall Kids’, The Improvisors’ and KidzStuff’s routine holiday shows, and Circa’s annual pantomime all going for the ready-recognition factor every time.
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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - BLACK CONFETTI: Wunderkind playwright the real deal
- reviewed by Janet McAllister
By hitching rising-star playwright Eli Kent to their high-powered production wagon, Auckland Theatre Company have created an intense, atmospheric theatrical experience, absorbing for literary types and theatre newcomers alike.
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Circa Two, Wellington - THE 3 BEARS … AND GOLDILOCKS: A little lacking in buoyancy
- reviewed by John Smythe
Having suffered their home invasion, Baby Bear is trying to fix his broken chair and Mother Bear cannot bear to hear the ‘G’ name, so she and Father Bear have put their house on the market through Big Bad Wolf Real Estate. It’s an Open Home we have arrived at. Children in the audience are prevailed upon to tell us what’s happened – and what ensues is improvised within a basic structure.
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Circa One, Wellington - ALL MY SONS: Invaluable describing
- reviewed by Toni Marks
(A review of the audio-described performance on Sunday 1 June.)
This is a superb play that you must see. A tangle of principles, ethics, realities and family dynamics that is as entirely relevant now as in 1947.
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Fortune Theatre, Dunedin - IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY: Impulses and passions spark and flare
- reviewed by Barbara Frame
In 1880s America electricity is a novelty. It lights Dr and Mrs Givings' living room, and in the adjacent surgery Dr Givings treats a common complaint, "hysteria," with electrically-induced "paroxysms."
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The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland - THE GREAT PIRATICAL RUMBUSTIFICATION: Bray’s best effort yet – Arrrrgh!!!
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson
Margaret Mahy’s love affair with pirates began with The Great Piratical Rumbustification in 1978. She followed it up in 1983 with The Pirates' Mixed-Up Voyage and again in 1987 with The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate.
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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - BLACK CONFETTI: Stylistically convoluted and provocatively chilling 21st century parable
- reviewed by Nik Smythe
I can’t find better words to succinctly describe Black Confetti than director Andrew Foster’s in his programme notes: “…a challenging work, a complex brain teaser.” The first disarmingly impressive thing to behold on being seated is the complex, dark, Kafka-esque set by John Parker – shortly proven to more than aptly reflect the complex, dark Kafka-esque content of this convoluted fable.
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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - BLACK CONFETTI: Hedonistic benders
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe
Kate Ward Smythe reviews Black Confetti on Arts On Sunday
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CAPITAL E, McKenzie Theatre, Wellington - IVY – SAVIOUR OF THE DINOSAUR!: A thrilling ride through history to prehistory and back
- reviewed by John Smythe
What a joy to see a brand new play for children that does not simply recycle some age-old folk tale. Ivy, of Ivy – Saviour of the Dinosaur, recycles history, paleontological history no less, with a quick whip through other historical milestones en route.
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Luggate Memorial Hall, Wanaka - THE INTRICATE ART OF ACTUALLY CARING: On the road again
- reviewed by Laura Williamson
The Intricate Art of Actually Caring covers a lot of ground that has been covered before: road trips, twenty-something slackerdom, alienation, bromance ... Yet playwright Eli Kent’s take on these well-worn themes feels fresh.
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Fortune Theatre, Dunedin - IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY: Charming naivety brings laughter and hope
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish
Oh – oh – OH! The ecstatic sighs on stage are met with ecstatic gasps from a full house and it is dazzlingly clear that In the Next Room will be a sensational success for the Fortune. Don’t waste a moment in booking: this is certain to be a sell-out.
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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - CIRQUE NON SEQUITUR: Tantalising images disrupted by humour; fantasy juxtaposed with hyper-realism …
- reviewed by Karen Barbour
In the centre of the cavernous Meteor Theatre, the focus is a raised stage with a pole in one corner. Decorated with a glowing, scarlet table set with fruit and sweet things, the stage is framed by sumptuous folds of hanging crimson silks. From four sides the audience for the Fuel Festival presentation of Cirque Non Sequitur waits, glasses of wine in hand, in anticipation of the action to come.
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4 Moncrieff St., Mt. Victoria, Wellington - GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS: An ideal family show
- reviewed by John Smythe
Just when it seems clear this entertainment would bear no resemblance to the age-old tale (yes, bare-faced bear puns abound), the classic lines in their repetitive pattern play out. Meanwhile a highly accessible story has unfolded.
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Meteor Theatre Foyer, 1 Victoria Street, Hamilton - POETRY IDOL: Heart-felt passion wins the night
- reviewed by Liza Kire
After six successful years at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival, the first Hamilton Poetry Idol took place last night at the Meteor Theatre, hosted by Penny Ashton as part of the Fuel Festival 2012.
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Dance Studio, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton - THE SECOND TEST: Unexpectedly funny rendition of a moving story
- reviewed by Gail Pittaway
It’s hard to believe this is a solo show as Jonny Brugh recounts the now famous story of the New Zealand cricket team’s first test match tour of South Africa at Christmas 1953 through the voices and actions of more than a dozen participants. In particular he gives the circumstances in which young fast bowler Bob Blair took up his bat to play for his side despite having just received a telegram saying he had lost his beloved fiancé, Nerissa Love,
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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - FIVE GO MAD ON IMPROV: Lashings of hilarity, drollery and double entendres
- reviewed by Gail Pittaway
As expected, Five Go Mad is an improvised play which the audience gets to interact with the cast to develop the plot and setting by calling out suggestions. Tonight we choose Nottingham Forest as the setting, matches as the everyday useful item that will be significant and fear of the dark as a childhood terror, all to be features of our show.
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Playhouse, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton - MATES & LOVERS: Universal resonance
- reviewed by Brenda Rae Kidd
Actors Simon K Leary and Paora Taurima, (Ngati Kahungunu) carry this play with incredible strength. Carry, actually, is the wrong word, but to watch this work is to completely understand.
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Q, Rangatira, Auckland - RUN, SLIP, SPRING: Run, Slip and Spring, Q Theatre
- reviewed by Bernadette Rae
But gone are the warm fuzzies of a cute community dance collective - and the heartfelt rapport. Touch Compass today looks like a fully professional dance company, sophisticated, even avant garde, and begging no favours at all for the fact that not all its members are built in long limbed and lean perfection.
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Q, Rangatira, Auckland - RUN, SLIP, SPRING: The Doing of Dance
- reviewed by Anna Bate
I think it is important to briefly acknowledge the accomplishment of this company, as they have survived and continue to thrive at the ripe old age of fifteen. That’s ancient in New Zealand dance company years! The visibility this company has created for the validity of ‘all bodies’ expression within (and outside of) the NZ professional dance sector is remarkable. So, sending out many thanks to Catherine Chappell and company members past and present for your work and contribution to changing attitudes and lives through dance in NZ.
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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - KA HAO TE RANGATAHI: THE NEW NET GOES FISHING: Refreshing in its honest simplicity
- reviewed by Brenda Rae Kidd
Written by Matthew Donaldson and directed by Tainui Tukiwaho (Tuhoe-Te Arawa), Ka Hao Te Rangatahi is a modern day fable with an age-old moral. Unity and cooperation will always overcome adversity.
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Basement Theatre-return season, Auckland - SQUARE EYE PAIR: The unabridged, annotated, multi-volume series of guidebooks on how to be pathetic
- reviewed by Nik Smythe
It’s true, many ‘normal’ people have partaken of and enjoyed many of the movies, tv shows, games and comics that Richard and Max revel in, but their case is extreme. Since discovering each other they have never needed to confront their social phobias so have been in this cartoon-and-videogame infused bubble ever since they left school and got office jobs.
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See more recent reviews at theatreview.org.nz, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory
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