Review: Hine Te Rēhia

It’s a chilly win­ter day in Pōneke, but the joy from the audi­ence sur­round­ing me and my the­a­tre-going com­pan­ion could warm the most cyn­i­cal of souls. We’re here to see Hine Te Rēhia, a gor­geous piece of the­atre by Auck­­­land-based Tutatara Col­lec­tive, and the mood in the room is unbe­liev­ably high. For­give my lack of […]

Meet the creatives behind HINE-TE-RĒHIA

Pre­sent­ed by Tuatara Col­lec­tive, HINE-TE-RĒHIA is a mul­ti­lin­gual the­atre expe­ri­ence com­ing to BATS The­atre in July. Devised, cre­at­ed and per­formed by an all-female BIPOC cast, this excit­ing show promis­es to leave you gasp­ing in awe of their tal­ent. I had the chance to inter­view Jason Te Mete (pre­vi­ous deviser/director), Tāw­era Orms­by (co-Kai­whaka­haere of Tuatara Col­lec­tive) […]

Review: The Transgender Agender

I’m here on the ground at Wellington’s Fringe Bar to catch a show at the tail end of the 2024 New Zealand Inter­na­tion­al Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val — The Trans­gen­der Agen­der. This line­up of fab­u­lous trans and/or non-bina­ry come­di­ans made much mer­ri­ment on the last Sat­ur­day of this year’s NZICF, much to the joy of their sold-out […]

Review: Femme Natale — The Queen Years

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle The tal­ent­ed team behind Femme Natale have worked their butts off to bring a mag­nif­i­cent sketch show­case of par­ents’ inner adult desires to BATS The­atre. After return­ing from Edin­burgh Fringe with a new lease on par­ent­hood, their new iter­a­tion of Femme Natale is refresh­ing­ly hilar­i­ous and impor­tant to share in a […]

Review: Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

By Talia Carlisle Invite out your friends and put on your best faux fur, because Witch Music The­atre is back in town. Don’t let the cold weath­er stop you from expe­ri­enc­ing the best night out this side of Broad­way, with Wellington’s own rev­o­lu­tion of musi­cal genius onstage at Han­nah Play­house until Sat­ur­day. Fol­low­ing a mem­o­rable […]

Review: Rent

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle Christ­mas has come ear­ly to Gryphon The­atre, with Kau­ri The­atre Company’s tin­selled up pro­duc­tion of Rent sell­ing out before open­ing to those beg­ging for a chance to see cre­ator Jonathan Larson’s icon­ic Win­ter-set musi­cal. I am grate­ful direc­tor Lox Dixon has tack­led such a huge artis­tic project to bring Rent back […]

Review: Goody Goody Glam Pop

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle Get ready to shake it, to the fab­u­lous rhymes and sick beat of Goody Goody Glam Pop at Cir­cus Bar for one more night! Bethany Miller’s trans­for­ma­tion into pop super­star Brook­lyn Brook­lyn of Brook­lyn is Dis­ney mag­ic to behold as she shares her most pop-ular songs — Back to Back, Breath­less, […]

Review: Hansel & Gretel

The RNZB’s Hansel & Gre­tel is back for an end of year sweet treat. This was my first ever bal­let when I moved to Welling­ton, and it was an utter delight to get a chance to check it out again for this year’s iter­a­tion. Chore­graphed and com­posed by my favourite RNZB duo, Lough­lan Pri­or and […]

Review: The Importance of Being Earnest

Cir­ca The­atre’s The Impor­tance of Being Earnest has marked itself down as a fan­tas­tic retelling of my favourite non-New Zealand play, and an excel­lent night out besides. Staged in a thrust stage in Cir­ca One, Jonathan Price’s direc­to­r­i­al hand is evi­dent as a play that is often so caught in (delight­ful) inter­nal con­ver­sa­tions is broad­ened […]

Review: Ruthless

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle “Where does tal­ent come from?” This is the key ques­tion asked by char­ac­ter Sylvia St. Croix (Bea Lee-Smith) in Kau­ri Theatre’s tal­ent-full pro­duc­tion of Ruth­less at Gryphon The­atre on until Sat­ur­day. The show, direct­ed by Boni­ta Edwards is brim­ming with tal­ent from Bea Lee-Smith’s sequin cov­ered entrance. There’s cheer­ful dance num­bers, […]