The Wellingtonista

Random stuff about Wellington since 2005

Festival

Review: Digging to Cambodia

by librarykris June 14, 2019

Sarita So revisits her Toi Whakaari solo show, turning it onto a longer exploration of making memory and history telling. “Through words, movement and songs from Cambodia’s 1960’s rock era – Digging to Cambodia is a letter to her past, present and future self, it asks us all “What is worth remembering?”” So wears a […]

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Review: Windigo

by librarykris June 13, 2019

Wow, did I misunderstand the marketing for this show. “Fierce and visceral, Windigo resonates like a scream, the vibrant echo of a long history of hu-man ransacking and destruction, a violation of a land and its culture.” I went in bracing myself for the emotional equivalent of a hurricane. This is not that. For me, […]

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Review: The Weekend

by librarykris June 12, 2019

Lara has only the weekend to track down her partner as she traverses the world of public housing, drug dealing, and addiction. The Weekend is based on a situation that first time playwright that Henrietta Baird (from Kuku Yalanji/Yidinji country in Queensland’s Far North) experienced. From this she’s written an extremely funny, emotionally horrifying one-woman […]

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Review: Over My Dead Body: Little Black Bitch

by librarykris June 5, 2019

This is the world premiere of the play by Jason Te Mete. The script shared the Adam New Zealand Play Award for Best Play by a Māori Playwright in 2018. It is a theatrical representation of one way depression can manifest. It starts with a mihi from Te Mete (also director and musical director) welcoming […]

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Fringe show reviews: Glittery Clittery, Dry & Damaged and Missing Lids

by Guest March 22, 2019

Today’s guest reviews of three fringe shows come courtesy of Tony Barnes. Thanks Tony! The Fringe Wives Club – Glittery Clittery A year ago, while touring several of her shows at the 2018 NZ Fringe Festival, Tessa Waters mentioned that she had another show in development that she would bring to the 2019 Fringe. Fringe […]

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Review: System

by librarykris March 21, 2019

A sparse set – two walls, some tape on the floor –  is given character by lighting (Natasha James) and projection effects (Jason Wright). Flickerings along the edges of furniture, spinning triangles, water on the base of the wall, clearly defined shadows. A light rectangle becomes something to investigate. The score (Jason Wright) is an […]

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Review: Yesterday, in space

by librarykris March 19, 2019

The good spaceship Yesterday is the first rocket ship to launch from Aotearoa New Zealand and we get to come along for the ride! Her new crew are determined to show us a good time. What a pity they’re stuck in the middle of professional rivalries, confusing personal relationships, and an asteroid belt… All those […]

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Review: Coffee Bean-Queen Machine

by librarykris March 8, 2019

Paja Neuhoferova wears a blue floral pattern full skirt, a short navy jacket with the blue floral fabric on the front, a headband with small flowers. As we arrive she is sitting on the counter. The accordion she plays is a deep glossy red. It sounds jaunty. Eighteen of us are tightly packed in to […]

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Review: Blonde Mountain Wolf Man

by librarykris March 4, 2019

Craig Geenty comes from a large and extended family. They’re gregarious. They like a bit of a drink. They’ve been whispering about a family secret for years. Great-grandfather Joseph is still officially missing after disappearing on his way back home after making a delivery in town in 1921. Did he crash? Did he run away? […]

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Review: Space Patrol 5 (NZ Improv Festival)

by Emma Maguire October 25, 2018

I leaned over to my theatre-going companion just before the start of this show and pointed at one of the audience-made spaceships lying on the floor of BATS’ Random Stage. “That spaceship looks a lot like a dildo,” I remarked, presciently as always, and he agreed. The audience, in an ode to predictability, chose it. […]

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