Review: Homemade Takeaways
I don’t think anyone will disagree with me that it’s been one hell of a year, and Christmas is descending on us fast. So it seemed completely appropriate to be watching a show about people who’ve had a hell of a year, too, drawn together at Christmas. Annie and Will have gravitated back to the […]
Review: Olive Copperbottom
Leaving Circa on Wednesday after the opening night of Olive Copperbottom, one of the many things I was feeling was deep regret that it was the very first of Penny Ashton’s shows that I’d seen, and I’d missed so many others. Ashton is a bright light. Her energy, her wit, and her joy were incandescent […]
Review: Macbeth
I went into Macbeth at the St James completely cold – I know Verdi’s later operas, including his later Shakespeare operas; Otello and Falstaff. But I’ve somehow missed Macbeth, and decided to keep it that way, I guess because it’s so exciting to go into something completely fresh and new, even if it was written […]
Review: The Look Of Love
I’ve seen Ali Harper before, at Old St Paul’s in 2012, and I was struck by her humour and professionalism then. It was a fun night out with my Robot Mum and we both enjoyed hearing songs we knew, and some we didn’t, performed by someone who knew her craft and was super skilled. On […]
Review: The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine; NZO season)
TW: Suicide, overdose, trauma I reviewed a production of La Voix Humaine in February. It’s been a strange wormhole of a year and it feels like a million years ago but also maybe yesterday that I was sitting in Suite Gallery, experiencing this piece for the first time. Writing this review with the last one […]
That’s All She Wrote – Review
I’ve found myself in a very lovely, very privileged, and deeply uncomfortable space. I’ve seen three previous Red Scare Theatre Company shows, and I’ve genuinely loved them all. I will have to enlist one of my ‘Ista comrades to review their shows in future, to preclude claims of bias and shameless fangirling. Each of those […]
Review – Oddacity
Oddacity promised an “award-winning, best-of spectacular with a cast of international luminaries performing stylish acts”, under the beautiful skylight in Bats’ Heyday Dome. I wasn’t sure what to expect, knowing the theatre wouldn’t suit aerials or acrobatics, but I hoped for clowns. I was not disappointed in that sense. Oddacity is usually Sachie Mikawa, Trent […]
Review: DND Live at the Fringe: When Dwarves Cry
I wouldn’t necessarily say that Dungeons and Dragons has gone mainstream, but it’s become a lot more popular in the last twenty years. It probably helps that there are so many TV shows these days with a fantasy element, as well as movies like the Lord of the Rings series making sword-and-sorcery stuff cooler. DnD […]
Review: Dr Drama Makes a Show
It was weird for me to go to a show at 93 Kelburn Parade, having completed my own humble BA at Vic almost 20 years ago. In fact, #93 was the site of at least one audition and more than a few rehearsals for me. It’s had a bit of a facelift, now being an […]
Review: Eight Songs for a Mad King
King George III, despite having been a learned and enthusiastic sponsor of scientific and industrial progress, a faithful husband and father, and in many ways very liberal for his time (except pro-slavery, just saying), is basically famous for having gone mad. That madness has been scrutinized, diagnosed, and mocked roundly in modern literature, film, TV, […]