Review: Chekhov in Hell

Anton Chekhov wakes up in London after being in a coma for 100 years.  He explores London – going places,  meeting people.  Jason Whyte, as Chekhov, doesn’t get to say much. However, he is the centre of the play, with the other characters using him as a mirror to reflect themselves. Director Eleanor Bishop keeps […]

Review: Lucrece

An adaptation of Shakespeare’s narrative poem “The rape of Lucrece” by Binge Culture Collective. It’s a visual+audio installation at the Toi Poneke Gallery plus a live performance on Thursday and Friday evenings.  Fiona McNamara’s director’s note states “This production of Shakespeare’s poem claims the text, written by a man in a patriarchal society, as a […]

Binge Culture takes on Lucrece

“Audience members will be seated close enough to touch the performers and viewers will be encouraged to think about the ways they look at women’s bodies – both on film and in the flesh.” No, that’s not the press release from Wellington Fashion Week. Instead, it’s Lucrece: An Adaptation of Shakespeare’s the Rape of Lucrece, […]

Glee meets V for Vendetta

Musicals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if said musical is set in Wellington and involves the assassinations of Glee type characters it’s hard not to want to know more. Joshua Hopton Stewart has written a hilarious piece of musical theatre based on his team’s entry in the 2010 V48Hour Short Film Competition, Society Slump […]

Review: Michael James Manaia

This solo show starts with a welcome and karakia. After a serious start it flips into a madcap story.  As the action progresses we hear a man telling us the story of his life –  what his parents were like, why he went to Vietnam, what happened there, and what happened when he came back […]

NZ Fringe Festival 2012 into week two

The New Zealand Fringe Festival presents emerging artists in a festival of weird and wonderful performances around Wellington. The shows are are reasonably priced (or free) and are held in venues all over the city. The programme is full of shows, conveniently divided in the programme into genres –  Comedy, Dance, Music, Theatre, or Visual […]

Should they stay or should they go?

We receive a lot of press releases here at the Wellingtonista, but few are as charming as this one: Brad and Nancy are actors who are also a couple, and they’re trying to decide if they should live in England or New Zealand. Naturally, they’ve decided to do a show in the Wellington Fringe Festival […]

Review: The Motor Camp

Two families take their caravans to The Windmill Motor Camp for the summer holidays. University lecturers, Frank (Tim Spite) and Jude (Danielle Mason) Redmond, along with their daughter Holly (Florence Mulheron) set up next to building contractor Mike Hislop (Phil Vaughan), his wife (?) Dawn Tairoa (Olivia Violet Robinson) and her son Jared (Antony Young). […]

Festival 2012

I’m old enough to remember when the Arts Festival was known archly as The New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. In recent years the name has been tidied up but the goal has remained the same – bring really cool, really great, international artists to Wellington and showcase their work alongside the best of […]

Review: Sex drive

 Sex drive is a new dramatic comedy from writers Lorae Parry and Pinky Agnew. It focuses on three women – Sylvie (Geraldine Brophy), Chrissy (Emman Kinane), and Dawn (Lyndee-Jane Rutherford) – and their quest to become independent women. The catalyst for their change from chicken factory workers to small business owners is a Lotto win…of […]