Hana (Awhimai Fraser) was sent away from the club in disgrace by owner Mr Sir (Tanemahuta Gray). She promises boyfriend, Ihia (Manuel Solomon), that she will return on a particular night if he dances from dawn to dusk. But she is frightened by his father Sir Sir, (Nathan Gray) and unsure as to how she […]
Ella (Susie Berry) has a new job working on a psychic hotline. Audrey (Isobel MacKinnon), her sister, is a postgraduate student investigating the links between fairytales from different countries. Their brother Ben (Jack Buchanan) is interested in making machines; in tangible objects rather than computers. Audrey comes to live with Ella while her flat is […]
Reviews of Second afterlife by Ralph McCubbin Howell, and Not in our neighbourhood by Jamie McCaskill.
Celebrating Matariki with the best of Maori theatre and dance, the inaugural Ahi Kaa Festival officially opens tonight. In a city where some theatre practitioners think it’s okay to use blackface on stage because ‘it’s what the audience of the theatre form would have expected’ it is welcome. This festival will show off truly innovative work […]
War has been going on forever. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece and the known world to withhold sex from their husbands (and lovers, occasional shags, one-night-stands etc) in order to force the men to broker world peace. The women agree and despite being tempted hold true to their promise. Will the men come together […]
Quinn (Victoria Seymour) and her younger sister Bambi (Hannah Botha) are on a road trip to their mother’s funeral. They haven’t seen each other since Quinn left home suddenly 10 years ago. On the way they stop in a remote part of the Waikato to pick up their other sister Mo (Lydia Buckley-Gorman). Quinn doesn’t […]
Before we’re in the theatre the performers come to us. “Allo” they cry in their French accents “You are looking gorgeous tonight!” They sweep us before them into their seedy world. It’s part cabaret, part shabby theatre, part sophisticated storytelling, part improv. It feels like a troupe of travelling actors has arrived in town and […]
My Accomplice tackles the spy film in their latest production which is part of the Comedy Festival. We follow globetrotting Agent Spyman Finger (Alex Greig) around the globe in his efforts to bring the bad guy to justice. He is accompanied by various (in)appropriately named team members (played by Hannah Banks and Paul Waggott). The […]
The lights go up on a mostly bare stage. In the back half of the stage there is a sheet of plastic being used as a curtain. It’s snagged on a table. As it rises a figure becomes visible over a miniature cityscape. The light brightens to reveal not a cityscape but a mess of […]
A NZ written disco noir set in Harlem, 1979. Dancer Fontella Pendavis (Deborah Eve Rea) has been murdered at Studio Soul and Detective Gonzales (Jordan Rivers) has been sent to investigate. There are plenty of possible suspects – Luz Cruz (Brittany Goss), who has inherited Fontella’s job; Ari Sugarman (Ed Blunden), the owner of the […]