Review: Still life with chickens

Mama is at home with a bedridden Papa, ticking through life with constant rounds of washing, gardening, and meal making. Her family doesn’t visit as often as she’d like so she spends a lot of time in her garden.  When a cheeky chicken starts scratching around Mama is quite upset. The chicken gradually wins her […]

Preview: My fat/sad

My Accomplice present Uther Dean in My fat/sad as part of the 2018 New Zealand International Comedy Festival. A 2017 Raw Comedy Quest national finalist, critically acclaimed playwright, and diagnosed depressive, Uther has written for Power Rangers, Shortland Street and Radio New Zealand. This time, he’s turning his simultaneously analytical and hilarious eye inwards. From […]

Preview: Still life with chickens

Still Life with Chickens is coming to Wellington this month after seasons in Auckland and Palmerston North. A simple story about an older woman discovering a naughty chicken invading her garden it becomes a beautiful and funny play about loneliness and the resilience of communities. Actor & puppeteer Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson answered some questions about the show. […]

Preview: Your heart looks like a vagina

After success at LitCrawl last year, Dominic Hoey  is returning to Wellington with Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina at BATS Theatre next week. It’s a one man show about being diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis, a form of inflammatory arthritis that affects the spine and joints in the lower back. Treatment aims to minimise symptoms and prevent […]

Review: At The Wake

Robert’s mother Olivia has died unexpectedly and he’s returned from New York for her funeral. His grandmother Joan is pleased he’s back as she’s devastated by her daughter’s death. Joan has been a big part of Robert’s life since his father Tofi walked out before he was born. A little bit of courage will get […]

Review: Dressing up with Margot

World famous fashion stylist Margot Von Dont has returned to New Zealand with life and style advice for us. We’re upstairs above Leroy’s Bar with a small stage that resembles a talk show set. There are clothes hung on racks and spilling out of suitcases. The show starts with an announcement that’s not usually heard […]

Review: My Best Dead Friend

This is a story from a summer in Dunedin in 1998 when the possibilities were endless for Anya and her best friends. They have jobs at a cafe. They have their own space to share. The Backstreet Boys are at their peak. Enriched with exquisite details about Dunedin and intercut with asides about the state […]

Review: Aunty

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?’ […]

Review: Body Double

Female desire, that most elusive of quarries. We should be chaste, but not prudish. Experienced, but not too slutty. Up for anything. Well, not that. Or that. Maybe just don’t talk about it? It’s enough to make a girl want to take a vow of celibacy and retire to a cave with a half-dozen rescued cats. […]

Review: Kátya Kabanová

Kátya Kabanová was the first opera I ever saw, back in 1996 when it was here for the International Festival. I was 16, and we got $5 tickets to the dress rehersal through drama class. I was overwhelmed by the music and the draaaaama and the rain on stage and the cliff that rose up on hydraulics […]