The Wellingtonista

Random stuff about Wellington since 2005

Comedy

Review: Public Service Announcements – Indignity War

by Emma Maguire May 24, 2019

Judith Collins is on the warpath, Parliament is in chaos, and Simon Bridges is leading choreographed dances in this iteration of PSA – Indignity War. As David Seymour tables a bill to halve the amount of MPs in Parliament, all the major parties are panicking about who they’ll have to let go. Jacinda has the […]

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Review: Uther Dean’s Elevation

by Emma Maguire May 24, 2019

This is a show somewhat about the hit U2 song “Elevation” (which I still haven’t heard) and somewhat not at all about that song. From the Fast and the Furious films to fights in Burger King, new partners and the cinematic classic Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Dean spins a verbose tale of coincidence, ennui and […]

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Review: Absolute Monster by Alice Sneddon

by Emma Maguire May 23, 2019

Absolute Monster, guest reviewed by Lena Beets. It’s quite hard to write a review for a comedy show that has a medium to large bombshell admission in the middle that changes the context of all the jokes told thus far, but I’ll try my best because Alice Snedden’s Absolute Monster was great. I’ve been a […]

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Review: Space Couch

by Emma Maguire May 22, 2019

Tim Batt and Disasteradio’s Space Couch is a synthwave Communist talkshow, and I don’t think those words have ever been uttered together in a sentence before. Things go like this. The titular pink Space Couch – sent into space by the Soviets in the mid-70s – has fallen back to earth and decided to host […]

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Review: So You Think You Khandallah

by Emma Maguire May 21, 2019

It’s 1982 in New Zealand, a time of Olivia Newton-John, Lazy Susans and brick mobile phones, and the students of the Khandallah Academy of Performing Arts are growing their skills, making friends, and perhaps even finding love, all while they try to get a paying performing arts career. However, things are not quite that easy […]

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Review: Snort with Friends

by Emma Maguire May 19, 2019

It’s not very easy to review improv, because it changes every night, but Snort with Friends is a very good time. From a series of monologues based off audience prompts, the Snort cast (in our case, it was Kura Forrester, Chris Parker, Brynley Stent, Donna Brookbanks, Rhiannon McCall and Tom Sainsbury) plays out a bunch […]

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Review: Filthy Little Goblin

by Emma Maguire May 19, 2019

Brynley Stent’s 2019 solo show Filthy Little Goblin is a bizarre and fantastic series of esoteric vignettes and I absolutely loved it. From birthday gifts to self-checkout machines, strange strip performances and word-based game shows, this absurdist show pushes the envelope in terms of comedy and is just very, very fun. Stent has an incredible […]

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Review: Big Dumb Cats

by Emma Maguire May 16, 2019

We are all just big dumb cats, stumbling around on two legs, expecting our feline overlords to hunt food for us to keep us alive. Daniel John Smith’s Big Dumb Cats is part cat facts, part family parable, and all great comedy with a poignant message. Smith’s in the midst of an exciting office fashion […]

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Review: Mincing

by Emma Maguire May 15, 2019

Mincing is a joy and I absolutely loved it. Jimini Jolly Snr (Tom Sainsbury) runs the best butchery in Timaru, alongside his wife Marge-Irine (Kura Forrester), their son Jimini Jnr (Chris Parker) and their daughter Nicole (Brynley Stent). Jimini Jnr is off to New York to go to tap school, Marge-Irine is on a jaunt […]

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Review: Token African (Urzila Carlson)

by Emma Maguire May 10, 2019

With a few little observations to warm up the crowd, Urzila, “doesn’t pick on people,” she says, and reinforces that she can’t see anyone in the crowd because of the raised seating at Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui theatre. She rolls into talking about Wellington, students, and how nobody in their right mind would ever continue […]

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