Review: The Pickle King

The Pickle King is on now at the Hannah Playhouse and is a colourful, quirky and unique tale of love, death and what is worth preserving. Once the finest hotel in town, the Empire is now as faded as the dreams of the piano player who haunts the lobby. Ammachy runs the Empire with an […]

Preview: The Wholehearted

Massive Company is bringing The Wholehearted to Wellington in September. An honest portrayal of the extreme power of love, it was developed through conversations with their local community, asking them to share their personal stories of affection and dedication. The result is a heart-warming devised theatre work that spans generations, genders and cultures. Massive Company’s […]

Preview: Caging skies

Opening tomorrow night at Circa Theatre is the world premiere of Caging Skies. It’s a “haunting story of love and obsession that explores truth and lies at both political and personal levels.” “Johannes, a zealous member of the Vienna Hitler Youth, discovers a fateful secret – his family is hiding a young Jewish woman, Elsa, […]

Review: One Night Only

“The world’s most famous boy band, FourEver, is nearly ready to take the stage for their only New Zealand show. All that stands in their way is each other, their fans, the media, and the ghosts of their dodgy past.” Stella Reid directs this Young & Hungry play by Finnius Teppett. In her Director’s note she describes […]

Theatre Review: Destination Beehive: 2017

You possibly couldn’t get more Wellington than heading to the theatre, regardless of the weather, to watch a musical about politics. Last week, I went along to Destination Beehive: 2017, written by the clever and witty duo of Lorae Parry and Pinky Agnew. The seat of Tinakori Heights is highly contended this election as every […]

Preview: Young & Hungry

For 24 years Young & Hungry and BATS Theatre have been providing young people with a platform to perform, produce and create great theatre. With the Playwrights’ Initiative producing three new kiwi plays a year and the annual Festival of New Theatre at BATS – Y&H feeds the theatrical hunger and quenches the creative thirst […]

Preview: The Mooncake and the Kūmara

Layered with myth and fable, The Mooncake and the Kūmara is a moving story about a mixed-up, Māori-Chinese love affair that sprouts among rows of potatoes. Told in a mixture of English, Māori and Cantonese, the play is showing in Wellington as part of the Kia Mau Festival. Māori-Chinese playwright Mei-Lin Te Puea Hansen talked […]

Preview: Fire in the water, fire in the sky

Told through movement, dance and text, this is a modern statement on climate change, colonisation and Christianity across the Pacific Rim. It’s an untangling of the greatest collision to have affected the Pacific – western imperialism. Fire In The Water, Fire In The Sky has various performance times during the mornings. It shows in Tangata Le […]

Preview: The Purple Onion

The Purple Onion  peeps into the world of Wellington’s infamous burlesque parlour as part of the Kia Mau Festival. Established in the mid 1960s, the Purple Onion was Wellington’s premiere strip club which attracted some of New Zealand’s social elite as well as its fair share of dubious characters. Combining text, dance and a live funk […]

Preview: Riverside Kings

Riverside Kings opens in Upper Hutt today and plays in BATS Theatre next week as part of the Kia Mau Festival. The creators Sarita So and Natano Keni, describe it as “a physical weaving of brotherhood, nostalgia and change.” Their new company, I Ken So Productions, aims to create, diverse works of a high quality.  They […]