The Wellingtonista

Random stuff about Wellington since 2005

Theatre

Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by Emma Maguire February 14, 2020

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the perfect pick for Summer Shakespeare, traditionally held in the Dell in Wellington’s Botanical Gardens at night in the middle of summer, but then the production moved to the basement theatre at Te Whaea in Newtown, and things pivoted from the usual. It was odd not to be sitting on […]

0 comments Read the full article →

Review: STUPID BITCH wants a puppy

by librarykris February 12, 2020

This is a ‘tune up’ of 2018’s STUPID BITCH which played in a dance studio above Cuba Street in the Fringe Festival. As a work in development it garnered actor/writer Claire Waldron nominations for Outstanding Performer in the Wellington and Dunedin Fringe Festivals. This time around it’s at BATS Theatre in The Heyday Dome. Waldron […]

0 comments Read the full article →

Festival time!

by librarykris January 24, 2020

Late January 2020 and the summery weather is here. I finally feel like I’m waking up in 2020  – which is a bit awkward given I’ve been back at work for a few weeks…but enough about work!  Brace yourselves for a busy theatrical start to the year. We’ve got three Festivals coming our way in […]

0 comments Read the full article →

Review: Alice in Wonderland

by Emma Maguire November 18, 2019

Circa’s panto this year is Alice in Wonderland, and it is a mystical journey down the rabbit hole (Mt Vic tunnel), to discover fun, some quality Kiwi bangers, and utter manicism (in a good way). Written by Circa stalwarts, Gavin Rutherford and Simon Leary (who play the Dame and the Mad Hatter respectively), it’s a […]

2 comments Read the full article →

Four Nights In the Green Barrow Pub – Review

by Sophie November 15, 2019

Four Nights In the Green Barrow Pub is the third of Cassandra Tse’s shows I’ve seen, and each one was wildly different from the others.  M’Lady had me in stitches, The Aliens, in tears.  Four Nights, though, took me down memory lane. Having a hundred noisy musical Irish cousins of my own, I was probably […]

Read the full article →

Blackbird Ensemble Performs Björk: All Is Full Of Love – Review

by Sophie October 19, 2019

Blackbird Ensemble are “NZ’s most exciting chamber orchestra”, and Thursday’s homage to Björk supported that claim more than competently.  A collection of strings, horns, percussionists, and Claire Cowan’s multi-instrumentalism brought director Cowan’s arrangements to vibrant and emotional life.  The musicians were more than just that; in their glowing boiler suits they became part of a sensory […]

Read the full article →

Review: Cock

by Emma Maguire October 13, 2019

Cock is tense. It is beautiful, jarringly intimate, and phenomenally crafted. It’s also completely heartbreaking. Circa One’s set (designed by Sean Lynch) inspires thoughts of a boxing ring, or a fashion show – in the round, with bright lights cast down onto a white floor below. The audience sits on three sides; I view the […]

Read the full article →

Review: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God

by Sophie September 21, 2019

  Liz and Frank have spent the past few years achieving the sort of anaemic existence that passed for middle-class success for my parents’ generation.  Careers, a house, a child.  Carefully curated shelves of books and knick-knacks in the living room.  This living room is the stage for a reunion dinner party; two old friends […]

Read the full article →

Review: The Pink Hammer

by Emma Maguire September 8, 2019

Circa One has been turned into a man-cave, complete with a nude calendar – permanently set to July – a fridge full of beers and a Ryobi power drill for The Pink Hammer, being performed until early October. The show itself is a critique of Kiwi masculinity (of a sort), a bit of feminist fun […]

Read the full article →

Preview: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God

by librarykris September 6, 2019

‘Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God’ by Roland Schimmelpfennig is opening at Circa Theatre next week. A New Zealand premiere appropriate for our modern lives, this play examines colonialist attitudes over freshly baked bread, and discusses quarantines and vaccinations while sharing drinks – it’s irony, of a sort. Are we doing enough to help […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries