A man. A woman. A vulture, and a kulfi shop. Indian Ink is back with another one of their fantastic productions. Lead actor Jacob Rajan delivers a glorious performance where he jumps between seven well-formed characters to tell the story of a man trapped in limbo and his dreams of his past. Indian Ink knows […]
It’s improv. It’s a game show. It’s delightful chaos. It’s The Saboteur. Off the back of sold-out seasons in the NZ Improv Festival in 2019 and in Melbourne in 2020, The Saboteur is just over an hour’s worth of improv chaos as a part of this year’s Comedy Fest. Five improvisors, one of which is trying to sabotage […]
There’s something so delightful about going into a theatre show completely blind. I knew nothing about this play, had read nothing about it, all I knew was the charming aesthetic of the publicity photos and the fact that this was a New Zealand premiere. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is a true telling of the perpetuity of love […]
Every year improvisers gather in Wellington to celebrate the New Zealand Improv Festival (NZIF), but this year improvisors from overseas have been COVID-19-blocked. Festival director Jennifer O’Sullivan says, “We have built the festival on a platform of collaboration and connection, reaching nationally and internationally and bringing together amazing talent and perspectives. Of course, the current […]
The Glitter Garden is a drag musical extravaganza for kids featuring dazzling outfits and fierce lip syncing. Join Hugo the Gardener on Pride Parade as he attempts to embrace self-care, personal growth and planter boxes, all with the help of his glittering garden friends. Created by TVNZ’s ‘House of Drag’ winner Hugo Grrrl (George Fowler) […]
It’s strange to be back in a place like BATS during times like these, but I’m very pleased I went along to see PLAY, a gay dating dramedy here from Auckland. It’s a play within a play, of a sort – the first twenty minutes or so being a form of a drawing-room comedy, then the show […]
Has it really been a year since I last reviewed an interation of Public Service Announcements? Apparently so. The political satire is back, mixing COVID, controversy, and Election Night into one wild and very timely show. Our actors take the stage with a parody of a well-known ABBA song, now rebranded as “MMP”. This trend of […]
Award-winning director and performance designer Sam Trubridge is bringing a bold new performance to Te Whaea this August. Taking inspiration from H Guthrie Smith’s ‘Tutira: The Story of an NZ Sheep Station’ (1921), Ecology in Fifths enacts this obsessive account of NZ ecology — now a recognised classic in environmental science worldwide. Piece by piece, the […]
I’ve found myself in a very lovely, very privileged, and deeply uncomfortable space. I’ve seen three previous Red Scare Theatre Company shows, and I’ve genuinely loved them all. I will have to enlist one of my ‘Ista comrades to review their shows in future, to preclude claims of bias and shameless fangirling. Each of those […]
The show is exactly thus – four great actors playing Dungeons and Dragons on stage, led by an eminently likeable DM. I must admit I had my qualms when coming to this show, as I’ve always found playing D&D to be more fun than watching it, but the cast is excellent, the mood appropriate, and the […]