The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of I Te Ao I Te Po, The 3 Dukes, Wanted Thoughts: Mike Loader, and Guji Guji.

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of I Te Ao I Te Po, The 3 Dukes, Wanted Thoughts: Mike Loader, and Guji Guji.

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

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RUKAHU: Enriching manure
In Good Company, Level 1, 166 Cuba St, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

I can’t find the title in a Samoan dictionary but in Maori rukahu means: (v) to tell lies; (modifier) be false, untrue, fake, insincere; (n) lie, fabrication, person who tells lies. In other words, James Nokise’s latest show is total rubbish; bullshit. About bullshit, I mean.

Not that it’s James. Here he has produced legendary Pacific Performer Jon Bon Fasi who, having applied unsuccessfully to Creative New Zealand over 23 years, suddenly got funding for his proposal to explore the origins of ‘Pasifika’. This show is the result ...

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I CAN’T SAY THE F WORD: When the bullied becomes the bully
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

The set up is simple: Roach is seated as we enter and then delivers his show with a few props along the way. Roach loves words, what three degree person wouldn’t? He invites us to shout out our favourites. Listen to the vowels, the rhythms, the consonants, the way they feel on the tongue. He speaks briefly about the ones of yesteryear, the ones of now and all the while barreling towards the one he hates.

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THE 3 DUKES: Magic, demons, trickery and delight
Homies Cosy Teahouse, 92 Manners St, Wellington
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

I step into Homies Tea House, a very bohemian affair reminiscent of all student hangouts, and sit myself down at a table. On it are three exquisite pencil-drawn maps of three familiar yet distant lands. Whilst sipping on a cup of Majestic Tea I am joined by Anders, a Mage of hereabouts. He enlightens me as to the differences between Mages, Warlocks and Druids.

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THE PARK BENCH: Great concept needs refining
Little Theatre, Library Bldg, Lower Hutt
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

A tale of lies, murder, mystery and love, 1000Heros’ production is film noir meets Wellington harbor. A detective interviews a Hobo in a park to find out what happened and unravel the mystery around a young girl’s death – accident or murder?

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I PREDICT A RIOT: An excellent, high-energy game for grown-ups
The Paintball Corp, 84 Willis Street, Wellington
- reviewed by Phoebe Smith

I Predict a Riot at Paintball Corp’s Willis Street building is a fantastic concept with a rollercoaster delivery – moments of greatness and patches of flaws. This reviewer is loath to give too much away, as the element of surprise is vital in this interactive piece of physical theatre.

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PAH: Mysterious vignettes
Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, 72 Hillsborough Road, Auckland
- reviewed by Marianne Schultz

The architecture of this restored building resonates with past purposes and events. Dressed in white blouses and long black tunics, the female performers, Zahra Killeen-Chance, Kelly Nash, Emila Rubio and Nancy Wijohn, roam up and down the elegant central staircase, under lintels and across hallways. Possibly representing the Sisters of Mercy who resided here, their stern and at times, pained expressions convey a period of the house’s history absent of joy. The dancers are all strong performers who display control and focus in what must be difficult circumstances. With audience on all sides, standing, sitting, wandering, it take tremendous strength to hold the attention and compete with the array of visual art on the walls.

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NGUNGURU I TE AO I TE PO: Restoring the balance
Te Papa Tongarewa, Te Marae, Cable Street, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The sea of small children on the floor between us adults on seats and the low-rise stage at Te Papa’s marae is especially ideal for this play, about creatures of the sea.

Having toured Aotearoa last year for Taki Rua’s Te Reo Maori Season, NGUNGURU I Te Ao I Te Po by Noa Campbell now plays as part of this year’s Capital E National Arts Festival, in a mix of te reo and English. Quite possibly I have less reo than these 4 to 8 year-olds ...

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SIX BAD ARTHOUSE PLAYS: Subversive in more ways than one
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

My heart sinks on reading the handout page I pick up at the Bats Theatre box office. I don’t have a PhD in Theatre Studies and more often than not when I read the writings of those who have, my brain scrambles and my eyes glaze over. But of course that’s the point here. And it’s clear, at last, in the bottom line: “Wankity wankity wank. Etc.”

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WANTED THOUGHTS: MIKE LOADER: Insightful and bold
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Maryanne Cathro

Tonight in Bats Theatre, a small but perfectly formed audience punches well above its weight in decibels, in appreciation of a genuinely funny guy: a comedian who is unafraid to have opinions that could offend, who connects with an audience immediately, and makes it look easy.

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CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS: Beautiful, ingenious, magical
Opera House, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Hodgson

There are cheers, wows and audible gasps from this young audience as the highly skilled Circa performers, whirl, leap, twist, roll, swing and body-contort every which-way to make the carnival animals cleverly emerge out of each person with figurative feathers, fur and fins.

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TM BISHOP IN BIG CITY HILLBILLY: From nitty-gritty to poignant surprise
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Blick

Big City Hillbilly is a slice of life romp through TM Bishop’s helter skelter world. TM concentrates equally on the hillbilly as she does the big city, with her upbringing in Dargaville as much of a focus as her adventures in The Bronx. And why not? The upstanding rural folk of New Zealand’s Kumara Capital are just as crazy as the crackheads of New York ... At least they are the way TM tells it.

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GUJI GUJI: Engaging and entertaining allegory
Prefab Hall, 14 Jessie Street (access also from Vivian St), Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

Originally a best-selling children’s book by Chih-Yuan Chen, Guji Guji has been adapted and directed by New Zealander Peter Wilson (Little Dog Barking Theatre) using an ingenious combination of front projection with a bit of animation and back-lit shadow-puppetry of the coloured kind.

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ANY WOMB WILL DO: Pondering the politics of parenthood
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

For those who saw Confessions of a Grindr Addict: same sofa, same teddy, different beanie; same bubbly, same burps … Yes this is Felix again, a bit older, less endearing: meaner; more self-centred. “If they’re not talking about me,” he says of the men he dates, “I just tune out.”

This sets up an interesting dramatic conflict. As the title, Any Womb Will Do, implies, he claims to be ready for parenthood.

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THE PIANIST: Opposing characters in one body
Circa One, Wellington
- reviewed by James McKinnon

Monckton uses physical comedy, corporeal mime and acrobatics to discover and then develop the comic potential of each micro-action. Once he has seemingly exhausted the comic potential of one, something unpredictable happens, propelling us to the next micro-action.

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KING LEAR: Clever and courageous
Victoria Esplanade, Palmerston North
- reviewed by John Ross

It’s clever in its quirkiness, it’s adequately (or better than adequately) well-acted, it’s well-cut so it doesn’t drag, and it is in its way very enjoyable.

Sure, Lear is played as both a king and a circus ringmaster. Kent becomes a kind of maybe-Indian, or maybe Egyptian, servant clown; the Fool not one but three scampering-around clowns; Goneril a bearded lady; Regan a fairground vamp; Cordelia maybe a horse-back dancer; Albany a Strong Man … Others vaguely Edwardian circus functionaries, or patrons.

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HiKOI: Morihariha
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Sharu Delilkan

Writer Nancy Brunning’s cleverly crafted words come alive as soon as the show begins. Her ability to reel in the crowd with her sharp-witted dialogue and repartee, incites crowd reaction instantaneously.

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CATERPILLARS: Wordless ingenuity and fun
Circa One, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

How better to represent the lifecycle of the butterfly than with a couple of clowns? Not your red-nosed, face-painted, fright-wigged, baggy costumed, floppy shod circus clowns (no fear of Coulrophobia here).

Victoria Abbott and Thomas Thomas LaHood, working with their director, the incomparable Thomas Monckton, bring a wonderfully subtle clowning sensibility to Caterpillars.

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I AM: I AM: ASB Theatre
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Bernadette Rae

A constant soundscape of dark sound, frequently loud enough to quiver the stalls, rumbles and blasts the language of war, its weaponry and the constant anger that holds the human heart to such terrible hostage.

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I AM: Shouting to the void
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Jesse Quaid

A man bends himself backwards for an uncaring god, swallowed by the glare of a single light. A line of black clad bodies stands, obedient, hands slapping like moth wings. The soldier, become half beast, throws eggs at the wall in futile defiance. Against an uncaring universe, swept up by the tides of humanity’s violent tendencies, the work’s title becomes a statement of survival, of defiance, of solidity in an uncertain world. I am.

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BLAM!: Marvel at how the mundane can become fantastic
Civic Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

BLAM! is a boys’-own adventure story set in one very bland office and sure to be a hit of the Auckland Arts Festival. This show is an ideal evening out for teenage boys and their dads, although my companion and I also enjoy the physical bravery of the work as much as its silliness.

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CONFESSIONS OF A GRINDR ADDICT: Empathy-inducing insights
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The setup’s a twist on the alcoholic going sober, the junkie going straight, the porn addict swearing off in favour of a real relationship. As the title reveals, Felix has been addicted to Grindr (a geosocial networking app for gay, bisexual and bi-curious men). If you haven’t tried it, Felix will expose the truth of it; if you have, you will recognise those casual hook-up and home-alone truths.

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WITHOUT ME, I’M NOTHING: A great fun show with a very big heart
Fringe Bar, 26 Allen St, Wellington
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

A small audience warms up very quickly to his slick and easy patter in a show all about him: “You may call me narcissistic, but I think you mean realistic”. And what a show, what a life. From the middle of the outback to getting to the doorstep of his favourite Scandinavian.

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THE BOY ON THE SWING: Stimulating and bizarre with a sense of enjoyment and self-reflection
Fortune Theatre Studio, Dunedin
- reviewed by Alison Embleton

Counterpoint’s 2015 season opener, The Boy on the Swing – by English playwright Joe Harbot – is a simple story on the surface. But as the audience follows main character, Earl Hunt, on his quest for contentment and happiness, the story takes some surprising turns. Ranging from absurd and amusing to eerily sinister, Earl’s interactions with the other characters create the opportunity for him to ask what many would consider life’s important questions.

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THE BOY ON THE SWING: Python and Kafka-esque play on God
Fortune Theatre Studio, Dunedin
- reviewed by Barbara Frame

The Hope and Trust Foundation is a business that arranges meetings with someone who, tests reveal, is God. When Earl impulsively rings its number, he’s subjected first to aggressive marketing, then to pointless questioning, silly games, depressing little homilies and something that starts to look like an inquisition.

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BACK-YARD ODDITY: Quizzical. Experimental. Perfect for a Fringe
Thistle Hall, Wellington
- reviewed by Chris Jannides

The backyard they’ve sketched out in the Thistle Hall gallery space contains the intimacy of a couple who live together. The comfort of two people who are soft and considerate of each other. Who are in close physical proximity throughout much of the performance and who blend their vocal tones and physicalities in the way that people do who share a lengthy intimate connection. There are instances when I’ve experienced seeing couples perform together where I wonder how much they are aware that their relationship status creates an affect on the work, and whether this is intentionally being incorporated or is simply incidental? The genre they are working in – performance - requires a level of real life authenticity. The performers may digress into characterisation or ‘otherness’ at times - in this work, Chris and Kate have moments where they imitate birds observing and discussing humans - but fundamentally we get Kate and Chris as Kate and Chris. Their ‘Back-Yard Oddity’ has a qu ality of domesticity that is not being faked.

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BLACK HOLES AND PAPER CHAINS: Solid, ironically self-critical and enjoyable until …
Matchbox Studios, 166 Cuba Street, Wellington
- reviewed by Shannon Friday

Andrew Clarke is an over-thinker. He debates how to introduce healthy conflict into relationships, whether he is in fact the villain of his own story, and just how much he should lean on that bar to appear sexy.

His show, Black Holes and Paper Chains, is the result of all this self-examination.

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MR WIZOWSKI PRESENTS BLOWN AWAY: Delightful, funny, zany and clever
Newtown Community & Cultural Centre, Wellington
- reviewed by Maryanne Cathro

The words “balloon” and “entertainment” in the same sentence bring to mind a grinning lunatic twisting long balloons into improbable animals. Shudderworthy.

Not so Mr Wizowski. His antics with balloons are full of fun, imagination and surprise.

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STAY FROSTY: Total lack of dramatic tension
Drama Christi Studio, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The circumstances are there in the premise and the structure to produce a good play. There are quite a few good lines of dialogue – but it is as if most of the cast and their director think their primary job is to deliver the dialogue and not bump into the furniture.

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BACK-YARD ODDITY: Subaquatic story surfaces sideways, crabwise
Thistle Hall, Wellington
- reviewed by Lena Fransham

Tarpaulins on the windows cast a blue gloom. Feathers strewn among the seats. A fan humming. Washing hanging from a line like stage curtains. The tall man (Chris Tempest) and the woman with long dark hair (Kate Bartlett) approach and proceed to remove their clothes.

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PUSSYCAT LOST: Imaginative and creatively ambitious
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

Pussycat Lost is a shambolic musical adventure about those gone astray and hunting for love and a place to call home.

Ranfurly is a cute kitten with itchy feet and a yearning for adventure, torn between his love for owner-companion Augusta, and his hunger for wider horizons. When he takes the plunge into the great wide world he is catapulted into a series of unlikely adventures.

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MY SKETCHEN RULES: Lazy and/or incompetent, possibly both
Fringe Bar, 26 Allen St, Wellington
- reviewed by Shannon Friday

Like so many others, I was drawn to My Sketchen Rules by the marketing material. I love 7 Days, and Jono and Ben at Ten is OK if the movie of the week sucks. So I went in with reasonably high expectations: some snappy writing, maybe some political satire from the 7 Days team, and some skill and care put into arranging it.

None of these things happens. This show feels like it was thrown together in a weekend as an after-school project by 7th Form students desperate for extra credit.

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MY CELEBRITY HUSBANDS AND MAYBE SOME WIVES: All good, silly fun
Fringe Bar, 26 Allen St, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Blick

Where were you, Wellington? There was a daffy, wee Fringe show that was sorely in need of an audience last night and you weren’t there.

Not that the lack of bums on seats seemed to affect the hosts of My Celebrity Husbands and Maybe Some Wives. Bronwyn and Jose, the stars of the evening have the sort of offbeat, throw away style that enables them to skate over the obvious difficulties of performing a show the needs audience participation, without much of an audience present.

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HiKOI: Riveting
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

The play isn’t a judgement story. But it is a winding twisting tale that sheds light on attempts of what today would be called cultural genocide. It explores the ramifications of foster care, the abuse at schools, the separation of family and the gradual brainwashing that percolated through thousands of children who were taught that to move forward the past must be forgotten.

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DON QUIXOTE: Consummately crafted, elegantly performed
St James Theatre, Wellington
- reviewed by Lyne Pringle

Don Quixote is a story about the quest for ideal love. It drips romance. The lovers, Basilio danced by Kohei Iwamoto and Kitri, Mayu Tanigaito are shining stars in these roles. There is a believable complicité between them as they move with elegant musicality from gorgeous flirtation, to deeply felt tenderness, to virtuoso brilliance. Tanigaito embodies Kitri with every insouciant flick of her fan.

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LIMBO: Hot, wild and tight
Festival Club at the Paradiso Spiegeltent, Aotea Square, Auckland
- reviewed by Candice Lewis

From the moment we step inside the steaming hot Spiegeltent, it reminds me of how HBO’s series, Carnivale, made me feel; set in 1930’s Dustbowl America, it was creepy and beautiful in equal measure. Limbo, as the name suggests, straddles the world between heaven and hell – and all the players are riding hard and graceful, poking gods in the eye and raging against self-imposed prisons.

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KENT AND PATCH 100% PURE LAMBERT: Bold, precarious and borderline + iconic bogan stereotypes
Kitty O'Sheas, 28 Courtenay Place, Wellington
- reviewed by Lena Fransham

Winners of the Raw Comedy fest, these guys share a surname, Lambert, but they aren’t related outside of the comedy brotherhood. Makes for a good brand though.

Kent begins the evening, gallantly launching his routine to an audience of four people. (The grand opening of the comedy club across the street has usurped the crowd Kent and Patch might have expected, he tells me later.)

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PUPIL ZERO: Comedy of grotesquerie
Gryphon, Wellington
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

Pupil Zero is a romper stomper ride through all the clichés of the Zombie story. It’s a Simpsonesque collection of a local community and their reactions to ‘an outbreak’.

Between them Caitlin McNaughton and Alex Wilson play a wide range of pupils, teachers, administrators, parents and others caught up in the school where this outbreak of supposed zombie-ism has occurred.

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A CUPPA WITH MRS FORTUNE: Good ideas, charming company, fun with fortunes, needs development
Sweet Pea, 259 Jackson St, Petone, Wellington
- reviewed by Shannon Friday

The idea behind the show is not only to introduce tea trivia and the fascinating story of Robert Fortune to the audience, but also to explore Mrs Jane Fortune's life as her husband was off gallivanting about the Far East. And, of course, share a cuppa with the audience/guests.

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THE NON-SURGEONS GUIDE TO THE APPENDECTOMY: We lost the patient
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Successfully transforming a performance space can win over your audience before the dialogue of a show even begins, and the combination Christine Urquhart's foreboding set, stark lighting by Nicole Astrella, and ominous sound composition by Sinisha Milkovic has me immediately geared for Finnius Teppet's (arguably) absurdist play.

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ON THE CONDITIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF HILLARY CLINTON TAKING ME AS HER YOUNG LOVER: Slick, ingenious and very, very funny
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

The pace is blistering. Meros/Meek is a riot of brilliance. He lists all the presidents of the United States with the speed of a Tom Lehrer reciting the elements and speaks of his first sexual experience with Hillary Clinton. We think we know what it’s going to be but it’s something altogether different.

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See more recent reviews at theatreview.org.nz, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

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