Review: A Bit Dramatic

This show was incredibly popular and got reviewed multiple times during the Improv Fest! Check out a variety of those reviews below. – Reviewed by Thalia Kehoe Rowden In an intense, moving 60-minute show, the cast of four take inspiration from real-life journal entries – unseen until the performance – and invent and explore the […]

Review: NO SLEEP

Reviewed by Rebecca Stubbing. Friday the 13th was the perfect occasion for NO SLEEP, a joyfully chaotic improv show presented at this year’s New Zealand Improv Festival. The show began at 9:30pm on the wonderful Stage at BATS Theatre, and the slightly sleepy audience were immediately reassured by the performers not to worry, we were […]

Review: Fifty Shades of Ray

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle. On a rain-splattered Wellington evening, I find myself refuge in BATS Theatre’s Studio space where paper “worries” are hung on string across the small stage. An eager smattering of audience members buzz in excitement, waiting for Ray Shipley to enter, fresh from a popular Christchurch season with a well-crafted set ready […]

Review: Pudgy Mediocre White Men Solve Your Problems

A whiteboard greets us at the top of the stairs of BATS’ Dome Theatre. 10am – Dancing with Craig (R18). It reads. 1.45pm – Knitting with Craig (R18), then 8pm – Dave & Bryan Impov Thing. And that is what we’re here to see (though I am particularly taken by the concept of 12.45pm – Autopsy for Beginners.) We’re at […]

Review: Effy

Reviewed by Lox Dixon. Presented as a part of the TAHI Festival, 2022.  Effy is a piece of physical theatre performed by a masked actor, and featuring no verbal communication. The show takes place in what ostensibly looks like a public park. A rubbish bin sits on one side of the stage, an old wooden […]

Review: HATCH

Reviewed by Jules Daniel. Presented by TAHI: New Zealand Festival of Solo Performance, HATCH is an opportunity for five emerging student artists from Te Auaha, Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, and Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington to showcase and develop their work further. The mahi of a program with a kaupapa to […]

Review: Shift Your Paradigm

Shift Your Paradigm Reviewed by Lox Dixon Shift Your Paradigm (No Chairs Required) begins by welcoming us into the Dome space at BATS Theatre, for a chair seminar. The stage is sparse. Two cheap desks are set up, one to either side of stage, and an object (presumably a chair) covered by a sheet, sits […]

Review: Trifles

Reviewed by Shauwn Keil. Upon entering the theatre, we are treated to a magnificent set, designed by Jasmine Bryham. Everything that reminds you of Nana and Poppa’s house is present. Jars of God knows what across the kitchen bench. A kettle and cool mugs. Dinner set items. A paua shell ashtray on a shelf on […]

Review: Illegally Blind

Now, I’m literally in this show so I figured probably not the best for me to review it. This week we’ve got the lovely Cordy Black writing some kind words! The experience starts in the foyer, after a ritual of scanning and phone-waving – the default programme for Illegally Blind is presented to the visitor […]

Review: Best on Tap’s Community Noticeboard

This is the only theatre show currently running in Wellington, we’re told, as Community Noticeboard begins. It’s a little surreal to be back in a theatre – I’ve personally not been in one since like… June? – and it is especially surreal to be wearing masks and spaced out across a traverse in BATS Theatre’s Dome stage. […]