What a joyful privilege to experience week one of the Kia Mau Festival. I made it to six events. Visually gorgeous work with strong themes of connection/disconnection from culture, the necessity of transformation, and response to new situations building off the work of the ancestors. Each had layers referencing the past and future, woven through […]
Wellington Repertory Theatre’s newest offering is Popcorn, Ben Elton’s play. The dialogue is witty, the scripting tight and the themes prescient despite being written in 1996. Set in the home of a exploitation cinema director, Bruce Delametri, Popcorn takes place over one night as the legendary Mall Murderers invade Bruce’s house after he wins an […]
The Kia Mau Festival started last week and is already racing along. It’s a treat to see Māori and Pasifika excellence in live performance – here’s what’s on this week. All I See at Circa Theatre The explosion of grief causes memories to ricochet around her. Memories begin to bleed into her reality. Time collapses. […]
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 […]