Guest review by Emma Maguire We are welcomed into the BATS Studio by a woman dressed in a black cloak. Illuminated by the light of flickering (electric) candles, we’re baptised by water poured from a menstrual cup, and we recite the single person’s prayer. All the single ladies… now put your hands up! Donna Brookbanks’ […]
AUNTY is billed as a family BBQ, and it certainly delivers. Half the opening night crowd was clearly back again after the first season, which adds to the ‘new partner at family Christmas’ vibe for first timers. Who hasn’t met a boisterous relation and silently wondered, ‘can I laugh? Am I going to be next?’ […]
Hudson & Halls Live!‘s Wellington season at the Hannah Playhouse began with an usher welcoming crowds to the performance, assuring them the theatre had been certified quake-safe, and explaining that some years after the time in which the play was set, one of the protagonists would die of cancer and the other would take his own life. […]
Eight companies perform eight productions over three weeks in the Kia Mau festival of theatre and dance. Matariki is the perfect time of the year to indulge your senses with world class theatre and dance hosted by BATS Theatre, Te Papa, and Circa Theatre. First up (tonight!) is Versions of Allah presented by contemporary indigenous theatre […]
An exuberant onstage cartoon, Indian Ink Theatre Company’s The Elephant Thief begins in a jail cell and ends in… space, or the afterlife, or some other such vague spoiler. It’s an outsized feast of imaginative staging and potential pachyderm puns, anchored by a winning performance by company newcomer Vanessa Kumar. The show’s setting is a […]
The Junction Hotel is pub in rural Thames. It’s fairly typical– a bar, a dart board, a smoking area, the regulars. There’s Henry Hikoi from Ngati Pukeko, Brian Tritt who’s in every day, and Carmichael. When the three of them start drinking together and talking about the moa in the hills they wake up in […]
On Friday, 5 February San Fran on Cuba St is being swept up in an “unstoppable, infectious force of nature” when The Cuban Brothers take the stage in Wellington for the first time in five years. Combining “sexy, soulful music with jaw-dropping b-boy action and riotous comedy” The Cuban Brothers are born entertainers, who will have you […]
Wellingtonians rejoice for it is almost ARTS FESTIVAL SEASON! From the beginning of February through March we’ll be able to enjoy work in development, new and experimental acts, and some of the best stuff from around the world. First one to start is the Fringe Festival. As they say on the website “Our festival is open access […]
The Show Some Love Show is a variety fundraiser to raise money for Wellington Women’s Refuge and Te Whare Rokiroki Maori Women’s Refuge. It will feature some of NZ’s best musicians, comedians, dancers, and poets; including The Eastern, Alice Brine, James Nokise and Fanciforia Foxglove. Domestic and intimate partner violence is one of NZ’s biggest […]
Hello, I’m Jonny, and I’m about to start a comedy night at Moon in Newtown. It’s called the Blacklight Comedy Club. If you’re able to come along, please try. I think you’ll enjoy it. Jo asked me to write a Blacklight Comedy Club ‘guest manifesto’ for the Wellingtonista. I’ve realised that I can’t. To me, […]