A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Hansel & Gretel, Super Nan, The Flying Kiwi Circus, A Knight to Remember, Rumpelstiltskin and Go Solo 2011.

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

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Aurora Centre, cnr Greers Rd and Memorial Ave, Burnside, Christchurch - HANSEL & GRETEL: A charming and slightly offbeat entertainment
 - reviewed by Lindsay Clark

The audience for Dan Bain’s version of the beloved fairytale is relatively quiet. This is because they are deeply absorbed and concentrating in a way not required by the noisy cartoonish remakes which often pass for children’s theatre. The Bain tale is mimed as well as original in its adaptations and additions ...

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Gryphon, Wellington - THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO: Sure to win hearts and delight audiences
 - reviewed by Jo Hodgson

A full house with an excited audience ranging from 0 – 70 settle down for a show billed as “A show packed full of thrills and spills, fun and laughter, music, song and of course a nose that grows!”

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Fortune Theatre, Dunedin - SUPER NAN: And the sponsor runs away with the show?
 - reviewed by Kate Morris

Carl Nixon’s Super Nan! is recast to tie in with the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival at the Fortune Theatre these school holidays.

“To tie in with the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival” may be the operative term.

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Victoria Theatre (The Vic), 93 Victoria Rd, Devonport, Auckland - A COLLECTION OF NONSENSE – THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT & OTHER ODDITIES: Big on talent and artistry – treat yourselves
 - reviewed by Nik Smythe

Outbox Theatre Company has turned on a magical show for children, adults and nostalgic geriatrics alike. From its quiet, sleepy beginning to the majestically extravagant closing number, the whole shebang jam-packed with song, dance and above all, nonsense!

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - AWHI TAPU: Truly remarkable revival
 - reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

When Awhi Tapu was first presented at Circa 2 eight years ago it was given a simple production with a symbolic misty setting representing both the thriving but troubled past and the bleak present of the dying small mill town, Awhi Tapu (pop. 200), in the Ureweras.

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Celebration Theatre, Hagley Park, Christchurch - THE FLYING KIWI CIRCUS: A skills-based show with impressive comic elements
 - reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

Four circus aficionados made homeless by earthquake damage to the CircoArts building at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) have created a company, offering shows, workshops and visits to schools and organisations.

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Circa Two, Wellington - A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER: The formula succeeds again
 - reviewed by John Smythe

As we take our seats musician Tane Upjohn-Beatson sets the mood with music in ‘medieval heroic’ style – nicely counterpointed by the arrival, on his hobby horse, of Greg Ellis as Roderick the Court Jester.

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Centrepoint, Palmerston North - LE SUD: ‘Sud’ missile on target as an irrepressible comic fantasy
 - reviewed by Richard Mays

Warning! On a scale of 1-10, Le Sud carries a PC-rating of minus 15.

In this alternate universe, the French have succeeded in proclaiming sovereignty over part of New Zealand – its name, La Zealande De Sud ...

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Centrepoint, Palmerston North - LE SUD: Often very funny romp nearly always entertaining
 - reviewed by John Ross

So, the French established sovereignty over the South Island, in 1838, and have managed to defend the island state of Sud-Zélande, or should it be Zealand-Sud, against the Poms, and the forces of North Zealand, for about 170 years. Now, what with the North Zealand government desperately needing to negotiate an affordable price for the electricity it needs to import, the Sud government has got the whip-hand.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - SHORT+SWEET THEATRE, AUCKLAND 2011: Top 20 Week 2: Bigger, brighter, better
 - reviewed by Janet McAllister (2)

Compared with last week's lineup, this week's compilation of 10 10-minute plays for the Short+Sweet competition is a great success. There's more to look at: action is dynamic, casts are larger, acting (mostly) more assured, props inventive and costumes bright.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - SHORT+SWEET THEATRE, AUCKLAND 2011: Wildcards Week 2
 - reviewed by Nik Smythe

The two Short + Sweet Wildcard sets each comprise ten eclectic works made up of last-minute entries, as well as some often-intriguing offerings from less seasoned practitioners.  The overall show is inevitably going to be patchier than in the Top 20 sets, but who knows whether you may just be an unwitting witness to history in the making…

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4 Moncrieff St., Mt. Victoria, Wellington - RUMPELSTILTSKIN: Ageless tale engages is modern context
 - reviewed by John Smythe

For this KidsStuff holiday show Rachel Henry (nee More) has reworked the Brothers Grimm’s Rumpelstiltskin as a talent quest to find a princess daughter for an unmarried king to adopt as his heir. Cue much punning about ears.

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Capital E - return season, Wellington - BOXES: The eternal domestic struggle
 - reviewed by Brian Hotter

I don’t have a huge amount of experience seeing children’s theatre and I am not proud to say that Boxes was the first time my 7 year old boy had been to any show period. However, for me it was a fitting start to what I hope will be, for him, a life long interest in the little black box called theatre.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - AWHI TAPU: A subtly subversive confrontation
 - reviewed by John Smythe

The first impression is that we are gathering in a rural shed in the back of beyond for a bit of a singalong. As we arrive the bros and one sista are trotting out some old standards with a guitar and bongo drum ... Hey, what else is there to do in this town?

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Aurora Centre, cnr Greers Rd and Memorial Ave, Burnside, Christchurch - FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS: Hotshot entertainment in provocation to blandness
 - reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Five bridesmaids, none of them supportive of the bride, find a bolt hole, each for her own reasons, in the bedroom of the bride’s sister which overlooks the outdoor bar. It is in this unlikely setting that the world of romantic love is cheerfully shredded.

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Te Whaea - SEEyD Space, Wellington - GO SOLO 2011: Groups C and D
 - reviewed by Helen Sims

The Toi Whakaari third year students’ Go Solo productions are an excellent opportunity to see some new talent in action, showing off their skills in vehicles of their own devising. This year they are being performed in the school’s Seeyd Space, offering a fairly blank canvas for creativity.

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Inverlochy Art School,  Inverlochy Place, Te Aro, Wellington - TEA FOR TOOT: Charming and unique
 - reviewed by Phoebe Smith

Inspired by the fictional and the real worlds of Enid Blyton and her “drastically different daughters,” Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobson and Edward Watson’s dark comedy Tea for Toot explores the lives of “batty sisters Georgia and Emily [who] live in the shadow of their famous mother.”

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Te Whaea - SEEyD Space, Wellington - GO SOLO 2011: Groups A and B
 - reviewed by Phoebe Smith

Go Solo 2011 is the Toi Whakaari third year students’ solo performance pieces and comprises four groups with four students in each. The first two groups of these devised works show the actors making use of this opportunity to highlight their versatility and physicality, with most monologues employing multiple characters ...

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Globe Theatre, Dunedin - CAB SAV: A SAVVY CABARET: An abundance of unique local style
 - reviewed by Sharon Matthews

Billed as a cabaret-theatre show, Cab Sav mixes comedy, live music, dance and political satire posing as a puppet show.  Songs and comic sketches are loosely woven together by our MC, ‘Mama Kuss’.

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Celebration Theatre, Hagley Park, Christchurch - SWEET PHOEBE: Tortuous but very funny
 - reviewed by Erin Harrington

Helen (Rachel Walsh), a designer, and Frazer (Sam Mannering), an advertising executive, seem to be living the perfectly ordered life of the perfect yuppie couple ... until they are asked to dog-sit a miniature schnauzer called Phoebe

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

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