Stutterpop written and performed by Sam Brooks is entertaining mixture of lipsyncing and storytelling which explores Brooks’ love life, and his love for life. He walks onto the stage looking fabulous in a long hooded cape. It’s whipped off to reveal a glittery top and sparkling heels leaving him looking a little like classic Eddie Izzard. […]
My son’s friend John, who is Irish, said that there’s always something sexual in Irish dancing (he probably just calls it “dancing”). Malo explained this to me when I expressed surprise that all the women Irish dancers in Lord of the Dance – Dangerous Games had stripped off their pretty traditional outfits to bras and […]
One of New Zealand’s most-loved plays has returned for a short season at the Hannah Playhouse. Having not seen it before (despite it coming around every couple of years for almost the last twenty!) we took the chance to finally go see it. Gobi Krishnan (“a small man”, as the McGlashan-esque song/narrator would have […]
The Young & Hungry festival of new theatre provides young people with the opportunity to gain practical experience working in a theatre under pressured timeframes. Actors, technicians, designers, & directors have all been mentored through the programme. The three shows in the 2015 season are quite different in style but uniformly entertaining. How to catch a […]
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 […]