Theatreview Weekly: 18/03/2016
Written by
See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
RUAUMOKO: Ticking all the boxes
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Composer: Gareth Farr
Artistic director and choreographer: Moss Patterson
Soundscape artist: Paddy Free
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte
Ruaumoko was guided by the now well-established formula underlying similar large-scale earlier projects Sacre, Fireworks, Takarangi and Te Manu Ahi/Firebird, with the APO playing live for the performance, and with professional designers creating the look and feel of the show, and production staff ensuring the event ran smoothly.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
BIGMOUTH: Virtuoso voice artistry
Q Theatre Loft, Auckland
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte
The rhetorical structures and ploys common to most of Dhaenens' samples are straightforward -- words are quietly spoken, whispered or shouted. Open-ended questions are asked, or questions asked and answered. Key words and phrases are repeated with increasing emphasis. Situations are described to arouse strong emotion; and hyperbole, misrepresentation, irony, metaphor, and ad hominem attacks are all used to help persuade listeners of the reasonableness of the appeals being delivered.
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WOLF: Credibility a major casualty
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Written by Tim Barcode
Directed by Sam Fisher
- reviewed by John Smythe
The setting is a home in Avonside (an Eastern suburb badly affected by the quakes), late in 2010 (after the first big November quake, which did a lot of damage but in which no-one died) and post the 22 February 2011 devastation (which claimed many lives). The bits in brackets are the prior knowledge audiences are expected to bring to the play.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
THE GOD THAT COMES: Insight, flamboyant innovation, whip-smart comedy, a wonderful musical talent
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
Created by Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry
2B Theatre Company Canada
- reviewed by Lena Fransham
Hawksley’s presence and spoken delivery is laconic; the opening monologue has a lulling cadence, a musical rise and fall. The first thundering, drum-driven song is a hypnotic entrance into the story. There follows an array of quite brilliant musical sequences, lyrical wordplay – ‘Ukeladyboy’ is a treasure – and wrap-around sensory enchantment.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
THE GOD THAT COMES: Modern spin on story of wine, women and sex
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
Created by Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry
2B Theatre Company Canada
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
n a cross between cabaret, a rock concert and straight out storytelling writers Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry, artistic director of Canada's 2b Theatre Company, have taken Euripides' classic Bacchanalian story of wine, women and sex and given it an incredibly modern and inventive twist.
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TITUS: Bad Taste
Pop-Up Globe, Bard's Yard, 38 Greys Avenue, CBD, Auckland
Fractious Tash and Q Present
Shakespeare's most acidic work - on acid!
Directed by Ben Henson
- reviewed by Nathan Joe
While I can’t speak for the quality of the previous seasons, I can safely say that you won’t see a more accessible version of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus onstage any time soon.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
RUAUMOKO: Massive. Magical.
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Composer: Gareth Farr
Artistic director and choreographer: Moss Patterson
Soundscape artist: Paddy Free
- reviewed by Carrie Rae Cunningham
The sheer scale of the work is impressive on so many levels. While the choreographer in me wants to pick a few things apart, I instead choose to surrender to the spirit of this work - let myself be taken in by its magic and relish the power and joy that is unfolding on stage. I can see a hundred young people totally absorbed in and committed to this work, which has them working alongside the APO and some of New Zealand’s top dance and kapa haka artists with a hugely talented artistic team in the most awesome venue in the city.
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TITUS: Outstanding
Pop-Up Globe, Bard's Yard, 38 Greys Avenue, CBD, Auckland
Fractious Tash and Q Present
Shakespeare's most acidic work - on acid!
Directed by Ben Henson
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson
It’s been said that Titus Andronicus is an awful play. It’s a horrible story, that’s for sure, both difficult to believe and to comprehend, and why anybody would want to stage it at all beggar’s belief. Having said that, I’m really glad Benjamin Henson and his seven sterling chaps have gone out of their way to do so because what they’ve created is damn good theatre, it’s as simple as that.
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HENRY V: Well-received by younger viewers despite gender reversal
Pop-Up Globe, Bard's Yard, 38 Greys Avenue, CBD, Auckland
written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Grae Burton and Natalie Beran
Presented by SHAKEITUP! and Sharu Loves Hats
- reviewed by Peter Bromhead
"Once more unto the breach!" I cried, rallying my wife and 10-year-old to mount the steps of the reproduction Shakespearian Globe Theatre, which has popped-up in our midst with apparent remarkable success.
We were there to see Henry V, one of the bard's more patriotic plays, a work that thinly disguises the true reasons England decided to invade France in the 15th Century.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
COMPLEXITY OF BELONGING: Stomping, adulatory reception
St James Theatre, Wellington
Concept, Choreography & Direction:
Anouk van Dijk and Falk Richter
Text: Falk Richter
- reviewed by Ann Hunt
The distinction between 'actor' and 'dancer' is rarely clear. Dancers act and actors dance.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
BRASS POPPIES: Chunuk Stripped Bair
Mercury Theatre, Auckland
Music by Ross Harris
Libretto by Vincent O’Sullivan
Directed by Jonathan Alver
Conductor: Hamish McKeich
Librettist: Vincent O'Sullivan
Choreography by Maaka Pepene
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival and New Zealand Opera, with support from the Lottery Grants Board
- reviewed by Sharu Delilkan and Tim Booth
What a pleasure to be back at the Mercury Theatre tonight as a fitting period venue for Auckland Arts Festival’s and NZ Opera’s Brass Poppies. Clearly an important milestone in New Zealand’s development as a nation, and as a catalyst for breaking away from the “motherland” – this piece is brave, important and essential.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
TE PŌ: Being and Nothingness
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
By Carl Bland
Directed by Ben Crowder
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival, Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
- reviewed by Nathan Joe
There’s something exciting about a play that starts off behind a curtain. Not only is it delightfully old-fashioned, but it also fills the audience with anticipation of what’s to come. Expectations are raised and you can bet we’re expecting to be wowed.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
BRASS POPPIES: Gallipoli libretto gets down to brass tacks
Mercury Theatre, Auckland
Music by Ross Harris
Libretto by Vincent O’Sullivan
Directed by Jonathan Alver
Conductor: Hamish McKeich
Librettist: Vincent O'Sullivan
Choreography by Maaka Pepene
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival and New Zealand Opera, with support from the Lottery Grants Board
- reviewed by William Dart
The ultimate strength of this thought-provoking production, mounted through the combined faith of New Zealand Opera and the country's two major arts festivals, lies in the special partnership of its creators: Vincent O'Sullivan and Ross Harris.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
TE PŌ: Close attention is rewarded with wonderful moments of delight
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
By Carl Bland
Directed by Ben Crowder
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival, Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton
In this fantastical Kiwi detective story, Carl Bland's musings on truth and loss are framed as "three men in search of a playwright". On the Case of the Missing Bruce Mason, we have policeman Andrew Grainger, priest Bland and blind man George Henare.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
WAVES: Playfully blurs margins between fact and fiction
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
Alice Mary Cooper, Australia/United Kingdom
Presented by NZ Festival in association with Auckland Arts Festival
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton
Among the razzle-dazzle of the big shows, the Auckland Arts Festival always throws up some hidden gems like Waves, an enchanting story about a young girl who develops a passion for swimming and finds fulfillment by trusting in the power of her own ingenuity.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
DUCK, DEATH AND THE TULIP: Sweet tale could be a quack-up
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
Based on the book by Wolf Erlbruch
Adapted for the stage by – Peter Wilson
Director: Nina Nawalowalo
Composer – Gareth Farr
Little Dog Barking | Wellington, New Zealand
- reviewed by Janet McAllister
The original Duck, Death and the Tulip is an exceptionally stunning "sophisticated" picture book, written by Wolf Erlbruch and famously translated by Wellington's Gecko Press.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
DEAD DOG IN A SUITCASE (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS) A NEW BEGGAR'S OPERA: One 'out of the box'
Opera House, Wellington
Kneehigh with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse United Kingdom
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
Written in the middle of the 18th century, John's Gay's opera about the underbelly of Society The Beggar's Opera gained prominence in the 1920's when Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill adapted it as The Threepenny Opera, a satirical commentary on capitalism.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
CINEASTAS: Unusual, intriguing glimpse into filmmaking, live on stage
Opera House, Wellington
Directed by Mariano Pensotti (Argentina)
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
In his programme notes, the Argentinian director of Cineastas, currently playing at the Opera House, says that film is durable, capturing moments in time and freezing them while theatre, like life, is ephemeral, where time flows freely.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
THE DEVILS HALF-ACRE: Political, sensual and dangerous
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
By Ralph McCubbin Howell
Directed by Hannah Smith
Produced for Trick of the Light by GoldFish Creative (NZ)
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
It's 1860s Dunedin and a slum area known as The Devil's Half-Acre, which is also the title of Trick Of The Light's new production for the NZ Festival.
Two con artists are on the wharf doing well-to-do- arrivals out of their money.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
TE PŌ: Mixes fact with fiction to create an entertaining whole
Soundings - Te Papa, Wellington
By Carl Bland
Directed by Ben Crowder
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival, Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
At first, Carl Bland's new play Te Po, playing at Te Papa's Soundings Theatre, appears to be an ordinary detective story, but as it progresses it becomes evident that the play and its storyline is anything but usual, mixing fact with fiction and involving an icon of New Zealand playwrighting, Bruce Mason.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
THE ACB WITH HONORA LEE: A feel-good adaption about the young and old
Circa One, Wellington
By Kate de Goldi
Published by Longacre Press
Adapted & Directed by Jane Waddell
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
Anyone who has ever visited a relative in a rest home will immediately identify with the residents of the Santa Lucia rest home where Honora Lee is residing, one of the central characters in Circa Theatre's latest production, The ACB with Honora Lee.
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HART: Reveals the pain felt by the stolen generation and those that followed them
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Created and performed by Ian Michael
Text by Ian Michael and Seanna van Helten
Directed by Penny Harpham
Presented by She Said Theatre
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman
Developed and performed by Noonger Aborigine actor Ian Michael, these are the stories of Australia's "stolen generation".
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WINSTON’S BIRTHDAY: Stimulating and satisfying
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
written by Paul Baker
Directed by Lara Macgregor
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish
The play however is set not in the period of Winston’s power and glory, but in his declining years, in 1962, on his eighty-eighth birthday. The lights go up to reveal spoilt son Randolph, so obnoxious he cannot retain staff, who has achieved little in his life, but is immensely gratified that he has finally been permitted to write Winston’s biography.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
“ZE”: QUEER AS F*CK!: Bold, fun and completely honest
Taste Merchants, 36 Stuart St, Dunedin
- reviewed by Kimberley Buchan
Michelle/Ryan’s identity evolves and develops in reaction to each set of circumstances that life presented hir with. It begins in an evangelical home, with an abstinence only sex-ed teacher as a mother. As a teenager the media’s portrayal of sex proves only a disappointment when re-enacted in real life.
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Hamilton Fringe 2016
ALOHA 1950: A naughty, saucy, fun night out
Nivara Lounge, Hamilton
- reviewed by Debbie Bright
The evening begins with a cabaret item, and the scene is set for flirty, teasing mischief and sexy suggestiveness (of the enticing teasing female kind). The performers present a series of solo burlesque items - burlesque at its sauciest performed by saucily-named women- songs, dances, and themed costumes that are gradually removed to reveal G-strings, and buttocks and nipples adorned with tassels that are twirled by their wearers, with all the resultant hilarious body effects. The audience hoots, cheers, yells and applauds as they are egged on by the performers. Burlesque items are interspersed with audience competitions and a final spot prize. Audience members are picked out by company members or forced forward by their friends (though none look unwilling to perform onstage!)
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
MR GLAD’S PLASTIC CONFESSIONAL VARIETIE SHOW: A highly original Dunedin gem
RE:FUEL BAR, 640 Cumberland St, Dunedin
- reviewed by Jenny Gleeson
If a variety show is described as “plastic confessional”, you know it’s going to be unconventional. In the relaxed atmosphere of the Re:Fuel Bar, temporarily rebranded the Satellite Club for the show, eleven separate performances performed by three different artists come from all different angles to entertain us.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
STUCK IN THE MUD: Joyful performance and mud-slinging
Athenaeum Theatre Basement, Dunedin
- reviewed by Hannah Molloy
The movement was interspersed with vocalisations, from the reo words for land, people, birthplace, home, to deep Middle Eastern chanting. The elements of the piece were diverse but they melded together in the mud with always a sense of moving upward from our roots while staying connected. The layers of art form in the work ensured fullness in the experience of it as a whole – the comforting rhythm of the potter’s wheel, the discordant violin and the movement fluctuating between nurturing and gentle, frenetic and sensual and comedic.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
A SANCTIMONIOUS CELEBRATION OF DRAG AND S&M: Each performer has moments of brilliance
The New Edinburgh Folk Club, 50 Dundas St, Dunedin
Presented by Sacriledge
- reviewed by Kimberley Buchan
A Sanctimonious Celebration of Drag and S&M is a narrative cabaret show full of wild and outrageous characters. It is not very sanctimonious or very cabaret. However the characters and the way they are juxtaposed against each other are the best part of the show. The actors play off each other beautifully and they all seem to have their own retinue of loyal fans in the audience.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
MEOW MEOW’S LITTLE MERMAID: A stupendous, multi-media odyssey
Spiegeltent, Aotea Square, Auckland
Created and performed by Meow Meow
Directed by Michael Kantor
A Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Festival Production (Australia)
The Colenso BBDO season
- reviewed by Amanda Leo
Entering the Spiegeltent for Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid is an experience in itself- on opening night there was an anticipatory queue even half an hour before the show started. We were ushered into an intimate in-the-round theatre with a thrust stage- my elbows were basically digging into my friend’s side for the whole show- yet this seemed to add to the hazy, sultry atmosphere that most of us hope for when attending a cabaret.
Little Mermaid is described as a “decidedly un-Disney cabaret, where sexy spectacle drips into a bittersweet take on what constitutes a ‘happy ending’”. Meow Meow turns to Hans Christian Andersen’s 1836 original, darker version of The Little Mermaid and plunges us into her subconscious. [More]
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
WAVES: Lady in the Water
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
Alice Mary Cooper, Australia/United Kingdom
Presented by NZ Festival in association with Auckland Arts Festival
- reviewed by Nathan Joe
Inspired by her own love of swimming, and developed from an earlier short story, Alice Mary Cooper’s Waves is a piece of historical fiction that disguises itself as a true story. In fact, the presentation of the story was told so earnestly I didn’t realise the full extent of what was made up until I read the programme afterwards. An impressive feat in itself.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
MANIFESTO 2083: Riveting
Allen Hall Theatre, University of Otago, Dunedin
By Christian Lollike, Olaf Højgaard & Tanja Diers
Directed and produced by Anders Falstie-Jensen
Presented by The Rebel Alliance
- reviewed by Nick Tipa
Manifesto 2083 is an affecting piece of work that is designed to confront, shock and shake the audience out of the complacency of outrage and into dealing with the issues ahead.
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DUNEDIN FRINGE 2015
THE LOOSE DICK KIDDIES SHOW: Could be fantastic
Fortune Theatre Studio, Dunedin
Directed and Written by Kylie Milne and Daryl Wrightson
Presented by KD's Performing Arts
- reviewed by Nick Tipa
The Loose Dick Kiddies show was a show that I had been eagerly anticipating in the Fringe. The fusion of children's show and R-rated humour seemed like the exact sort of thing I would be interested in. Plus, the musicals numbers don’t do any harm. However, after seeing the show on Thursday night, I am left slightly disappointed.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
BRASS POPPIES: Bravely executed - and to be remembered
Mercury Theatre, Auckland
Music by Ross Harris
Libretto by Vincent O’Sullivan
Directed by Jonathan Alver
Conductor: Hamish McKeich
Librettist: Vincent O'Sullivan
Choreography by Maaka Pepene
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival and New Zealand Opera, with support from the Lottery Grants Board
- reviewed by Hannah Stannard
The work of choreographer Maaka Pepene creates a visual language that harmonises this looming presence of war with the warm embrace of the beloved ones left behind. His parallel between the comfort of the rifle on the battlefield, and the comfort of the beloved partner on the home front is seen in the powerful display of crippling and striking movements by dancers Mitchell and Motutere.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
COMPLEXITY OF BELONGING: Over-powering force and incredible beauty
St James Theatre, Wellington
Concept, Choreography & Direction:
Anouk van Dijk and Falk Richter
Text: Falk Richter
- reviewed by Sam Trubridge
The work is full throughout with an over-powering force and incredible beauty, with great credit to the fantastic set by Michael Cousins and lighting by Niklas Pajanti. The dance builds momentum towards the end, with more coherence than before, gathering to Malte Beckenbach’s titanic throbbing score that shakes the theatre. With some beautifully tight synchronised dancing on and with the lounge furniture, we are transported to a space of foreboding, threat, and anticipation that I could have sat in forever.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
THE REINVENTION OF US: The atmosphere fizzes
Cafe LOL, Wall Street Mall, 211 George Street, Dunedin
- reviewed by Jenny Gleeson
What’s not to love about the reinvention of Charlotte McKay and Harriet Moir? Dominated by musical theatre numbers, interspersed with a couple of operatic pieces, and solidly based in a comedic theme, this cabaret-style show is a lovely, lovely thing.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
THE GLITTA SUPERNOVA EXPERIENCE: LETS GET METAPHYSICAL: Glitta Supernova will take your sense of propriety and flash her vulva at it
Dunedin Fringe Festival Club, 20 Princes St, Dunedin
Pretty Peepers Cabaret (AUS)
- reviewed by Kimberley Buchan
The Glitta Supernova Experience: Lets get METAphysical is a spectacular explosion of outrageous costumes, feminism, striptease, parodies of pop culture and porn, and obviously, glitter. It’s like a drag show meets the Vagina Monologues.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
TWO ZONES PLEASE: Mix of nostalgia and novelty makes for great entertainment
Fringe HQ, 11 George Street, Dunedin
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish
Well, this is fun. We’ve queued outside Toitu Settlers Museum and are now piling onto a vintage yellow and orange DCC bus, the very smell of which brings vivid memories flooding back. We are going on an actual bus trip.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
ENTER THE NEW WORLD: An unusual experience
New World Supermarket, 133 Great King St, Dunedin
Written, Produced and Edited by Joel Baxendale and Ralph Upton
Presented by Binge Culture Collective
- reviewed by Alison Embleton
It’s an interesting concept: private theatre; being the protagonist in your very own secret performance. This is what Enter the New World promises and it certainly delivers.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
SPEED OF LIGHT: Delivering powerhouse performances
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
Choreographers:
Andonis Foniadakis - Selon désir
William Forsythe - In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated
Alexander Ekman - Cacti
- reviewed by Sheree Bright
Cacti, with choreography, set and costume design by Alexander Ekman is intellectually humorous providing a comic exhale for the audience... Sixteen dancers dance barefoot, again with certainty and clarity throughout the piece with a variety of props including cacti. Music is laced with dialogue such as, “one is invited to a new decade’s utopia. A world where we are not dancers, not musicians, but all members of the human orchestra. It is post-modern, pro-cacti, interdisciplinary collaboration of . . .” and “but the trained eye sees the truth, and the review is revealed.” Veronika Maritati and Shane Urton perform a perfectly-timed, quirky duet where their ‘inner dialogue’ is for everyone to hear and delight in. It’s funny and playful and it’s all in the subtext of Cacti.
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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Altogether entertaining and satisfying
The Pumphouse, Auckland
By Jane Austen
Adapted for the stage by John Jory
Directed by Terry Hooper
Presented by The Acting Collective
- reviewed by Chloe Baynes
We are welcomed to Longbourne by an enthusiastic Mr Bennet, who delivers exposition directly to the audience. His example is followed throughout the evening by all the characters, who offer useful and comic explanatory asides either individually or as a group.
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Hamilton Fringe 2016
I WANNA LEARN AIKIDO: Beautifully subtle
Browsers Bookstore, 221 Victoria Street, Hamilton
Michael Gaastra
- reviewed by Ross MacLeod
Browsers Books shop makes a casual and intimate performance space and I Wanna Learn Aikido fits that atmosphere perfectly. Michael Gaastra’s affable characterisation engages the audience from the start and he holds it steadily throughout.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
MO(U)LD: Beautiful art that leaves you a little breathless.
Dunedin Fringe Festival Club, 20 Princes St, Dunedin
Choregraphers/performers: Jasmin Canuel and Leah Carrell
- reviewed by Hannah Molloy
The choreography is a beautiful balance between stillness, staccato sharpness and wild sweeping arcs across the stage. There is a story being told, an evolution from birth to death and the experiences in between but it isn’t intrusive or literal and it lets me enjoy my own interpretation of the dance.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
CINEASTAS: Skilfully crafted study of a cross-section of humanity resonates well beyond itself
Opera House, Wellington
Directed by Mariano Pensotti (Argentina)
- reviewed by John Smythe
But Cineastas, written and directed by Mariano Pensotti, is much more crafted and coherent than it may seem. What we are being treated to is a live theatre documentary on current film-making activity in Buenos Aires, where more than 2,500 films have been made since the inception of film in 1905.
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Hamilton Fringe 2016
REMAINS: Accomplished double-bill from local writers
Meteor Theatre, Hamilton
Written by Antony-Paul Aiono and Benny Marama
Remote Fiction Theatre
- reviewed by Cate Prestidge
It’s great to see experimental new work from local writers. The advertising promises “Two plays. Three nights. So much emotion.” Only two nights left, so well worth an hour of your time to get along.
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New Zealand Festival 2016
THE DEVILS HALF-ACRE: Sophisticated design elements and highly committed performances
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
By Ralph McCubbin Howell
Directed by Hannah Smith
Produced for Trick of the Light by GoldFish Creative (NZ)
- reviewed by John Smythe
A resounding clang closes us in to the opening scene which turns out to be the murderous end. What follows is the story of how it came to work out this way; an establishing and unravelling of the mystery of who it is in the shadows who has done the deed.
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The Performance Arcade 2016
CLOSER (SOLO): TEAM CLOSER (solo)
Wellington Waterfront, Wellington
Concept: Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad
- reviewed by Anna Bate
The premise of the work is simple but not easy. Passers-by are given a chance to sign up for a one on one performance. One dancer and one audience member, both improvise. As they meet an inter-play of possible connections between the two unfolds, within a 15-minute timeframe.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
SRINGARAM: Emotive, animated, visceral, alluring - extraordinary
Fortune Theatre Studio, Dunedin
Choreographer/performer: Swaroopa Unni
Music: Sandeep Pillai
- reviewed by Jennifer Aitken
. If the idea of traditional Indian dance sounds challenging to you I urge you to step out of your comfort zone – Unni will take you to times and places you never knew existed, she opens you up to a way of life long forgotten. I cannot express how grateful I am to have been allowed the opportunity to experience Sringaram.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
WAVES: An inspiring tale of discovery, goal-setting and not giving up
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
Alice Mary Cooper, Australia/United Kingdom
Presented by NZ Festival in association with Auckland Arts Festival
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte
As the narrator, Cooper passes on Elizabeth's story as it was told to her, being at once herself and Elizabeth, smoothly switching voices and personas in the process of recalling the various significant incidents which Elizabeth has shared with her.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
LOOSE: A PRIVATE HISTORY OF BOOZE AND IGGY POP 1996-2015: Hilarious, gloomy, nostalgic and surprisingly existential
Dunedin Fringe Festival Club, 20 Princes St, Dunedin
Created and performed by Jonny Potts
- reviewed by Alison Embleton
The show is part stand up, part solo theatre, part Mojo Top 100 and entirely autobiographical. Potts never shies away from opening the kimono, so to speak. He draws from all manner of life experiences, ranging from the sweet victory of burning doughnuts into his snooty high school’s First XV field to disappointing sexual encounters: “the erotic equivalent of work drinks.”
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
MATT STELLINGWERF IN BACHELOR OF ARTS: Raises the comedy bar
Inch Bar, 8 Bank St, Northeast Valley, Dunedin
- reviewed by Jenny Gleeson
When this erudite satire-superstar gets onto the stage for his comedy set, the acceleration from zero to a hundred jokes is measured in seconds. Matt Stellingwerf’s deftly crafted hour-long set – in fact it goes for longer – is over far too quickly. Here is a seriously good comedic talent.
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ROCK OF AGES: More than enough to enthuse the rocker in all of us
The Gym, The Arts Centre, Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch
Book by Chris D’Arienzo
Arrangements and Orchestrations by Ethan Popp
Director: Peter Bucher
Musical Director: Andy Manning
Choreographer: Jane Leonard
Magnitude Productions
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark
“Prepare to have your face melted,” warns the director's programme note. The heat is mutually generated as the audience laps up a fabulously energetic and colourful cast, inciting them to pump more and more into music and dance. It feels like one big party, with spectacular dress-ups and wall-to-wall pulsing rock.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
MEOW MEOW’S LITTLE MERMAID: A stupendous, multi-media odyssey
Spiegeltent, Aotea Square, Auckland
Created and performed by Meow Meow
Directed by Michael Kantor
A Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Festival Production (Australia)
The Colenso BBDO season
- reviewed by Nik Smythe
With her unruly black hair, saucy black-and-gold bodice and fishnets, plus a host of extravagant props and other wondrous devices, her original interpretation of the titular classic Danish fairy-tale tragedy is a striking spectacle of chimeric proportions.
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Auckland Arts Festival 2016
TE PŌ: Funny, sad and full of life
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
By Carl Bland
Directed by Ben Crowder
Co-produced by New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival, Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
- reviewed by Heidi North-Bailey
To Pō is at once a homage to playwright Bruce Mason and a comedy about grief. This seems an uneasy premise, and it is. But that’s what grief is like – and what Te Pō is like: it refuses to conform to the idea of what it should be doing, gleefully breaking the rules of theatre, bending time, and asking us to consider the question of fact vs fiction. The result is funny, baffling and quite engaging.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
CHILDREN & OTHER MISTAKES: If all potential parents thought it through as much the world would be a better place
Taste Merchants, 36 Stuart St, Dunedin
Daniel John Smith
- reviewed by Kimberley Buchan
Children and Other Mistakes is a stand-up comedy set that tries to convince the audience that Daniel Smith is not suitable parent material. He has put a lot of thought into this. He has put even more thought into every possible joke about his name. Daniel John Smith. It would seem that such a plain name is unlikely comedy fodder, but to give him credit, it genuinely is.
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Hamilton Fringe 2016
THE EXISTENTIALISTS SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR AUSTRALIA: Doesn’t quite gel
Clarence Street Theatre, Hamilton
Russya Connor
- reviewed by Ross MacLeod
This is a hard piece of performance to define. I find it an amalgam of a casual conversation, a lecture and stand-up comedy. It doesn’t quite smoothly fit into any of these and I can’t help but feel the work would be stronger if it chose one.
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Dunedin Fringe 2016
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON: Sensing the joy of being and potential beauty of life beyond the darkness
Dunedin Fringe Festival Club, 20 Princes St, Dunedin
Co-directors: Jocelyn Fa'alavelave and Sako
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish
There is nothing alien about Jocelyn Fa’alavelave’s Dark Side of the Moon. She is one of our own, a young Kiwi proud of her Samoan and Tokelau heritage, whose poetry and music reach out to share the story of her generation.
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