Review: Coffee Bean-Queen Machine

Paja Neuhoferova wears a blue floral pattern full skirt, a short navy jacket with the blue floral fabric on the front, a headband with small flowers. As we arrive she is sitting on the counter. The accordion she plays is a deep glossy red. It sounds jaunty. Eighteen of us are tightly packed in to […]

Review: Blonde Mountain Wolf Man

Craig Geenty comes from a large and extended family. They’re gregarious. They like a bit of a drink. They’ve been whispering about a family secret for years. Great-grandfather Joseph is still officially missing after disappearing on his way back home after making a delivery in town in 1921. Did he crash? Did he run away? […]

Review: Space Patrol 5 (NZ Improv Festival)

I leaned over to my theatre-going companion just before the start of this show and pointed at one of the audience-made spaceships lying on the floor of BATS’ Random Stage. “That spaceship looks a lot like a dildo,” I remarked, presciently as always, and he agreed. The audience, in an ode to predictability, chose it. […]

Budburst is here to celebrate natural wines – win a double pass

I like any event centered around wine, so I’m really excited about Budburst, coming up on November 11 – the country’s only natural wine festival. Natural wines, you say? What exactly does that mean? Well let’s cut’n paste from the press release Historically, the term natural wine is without a single definition. For the Budburst […]

Naked girls. Reading. In Wellington.

In advance of Naked Girls Reading; the motherhood edition this Saturday at the Fringe Bar, I put a few questions to its producer, Hugo Grrrl. Okay, first off. Naked girls reading – what in the heck is this? And who are you? Naked Girls Reading is exactly what it sounds like – it’s completely naked […]

Preview: Kia Mau Festival

The fourth Kia Mau Festival is on from 1-16 June 2018. A contemporary Indigenous theatre and dance experience, the festival celebrates Māori, Pasifika, First Nations artists and their companies. Kia Mau Festival is an innovative experience for whānau and communities throughout the Wellington region to engage with Tangata Whenua and First Nations artists from across […]

What’s on this week Fringe?

It’s the last week of the Fringe Festival *wails* Here is some publicity for shows. How To ____ Us on at Gryphon Theatre to 21 March 2018 Teach. Hear. Protect. Lead. Build. See. Break. Understand. Inspire. Crush. Reach. Raise. Frustrate. Tell. Accept. Scare. Trust. Hurt. Annoy. Rescue. Challenge. Embarrass. Approach. Support. Punish. Free. Change. Influence. […]

Review: Dressing up with Margot

World famous fashion stylist Margot Von Dont has returned to New Zealand with life and style advice for us. We’re upstairs above Leroy’s Bar with a small stage that resembles a talk show set. There are clothes hung on racks and spilling out of suitcases. The show starts with an announcement that’s not usually heard […]

Review: The Travelling Sisters and The Nose

Lucy Fox, Laura Trenerry and Ell Sachs are The Travelling Sisters. 2017 winners of Best Comedy and New Zealand Tour Ready Award at Melbourne Fringe they’re at BATS Theatre to make us snort laugh. (They don’t exactly put it like that but it’s definitely what I heard (and maybe did) at their opening night show.) […]

Review: Beau and Aero and Poet vs Pageant

Portland physical theatre company A Little Bit Off make their New Zealand debut at Te Auaha with Beau & Aero: Crash Landing. They were the San Diego Fringe Outstanding Physical Theatre award winners in 2017 and I can see why. Pilot Beau (David Cantor) is brash, overconfident and prone to getting a little too involved […]