It was weird for me to go to a show at 93 Kelburn Parade, having completed my own humble BA at Vic almost 20 years ago. In fact, #93 was the site of at least one audition and more than a few rehearsals for me. It’s had a bit of a facelift, now being an […]
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the perfect pick for Summer Shakespeare, traditionally held in the Dell in Wellington’s Botanical Gardens at night in the middle of summer, but then the production moved to the basement theatre at Te Whaea in Newtown, and things pivoted from the usual. It was odd not to be sitting on […]
This is a ‘tune up’ of 2018’s STUPID BITCH which played in a dance studio above Cuba Street in the Fringe Festival. As a work in development it garnered actor/writer Claire Waldron nominations for Outstanding Performer in the Wellington and Dunedin Fringe Festivals. This time around it’s at BATS Theatre in The Heyday Dome. Waldron […]
Late January 2020 and the summery weather is here. I finally feel like I’m waking up in 2020 – which is a bit awkward given I’ve been back at work for a few weeks…but enough about work! Brace yourselves for a busy theatrical start to the year. We’ve got three Festivals coming our way in […]
Circa’s panto this year is Alice in Wonderland, and it is a mystical journey down the rabbit hole (Mt Vic tunnel), to discover fun, some quality Kiwi bangers, and utter manicism (in a good way). Written by Circa stalwarts, Gavin Rutherford and Simon Leary (who play the Dame and the Mad Hatter respectively), it’s a […]
Four Nights In the Green Barrow Pub is the third of Cassandra Tse’s shows I’ve seen, and each one was wildly different from the others. M’Lady had me in stitches, The Aliens, in tears. Four Nights, though, took me down memory lane. Having a hundred noisy musical Irish cousins of my own, I was probably […]
Blackbird Ensemble are “NZ’s most exciting chamber orchestra”, and Thursday’s homage to Björk supported that claim more than competently. A collection of strings, horns, percussionists, and Claire Cowan’s multi-instrumentalism brought director Cowan’s arrangements to vibrant and emotional life. The musicians were more than just that; in their glowing boiler suits they became part of a sensory […]
Cock is tense. It is beautiful, jarringly intimate, and phenomenally crafted. It’s also completely heartbreaking. Circa One’s set (designed by Sean Lynch) inspires thoughts of a boxing ring, or a fashion show – in the round, with bright lights cast down onto a white floor below. The audience sits on three sides; I view the […]
Liz and Frank have spent the past few years achieving the sort of anaemic existence that passed for middle-class success for my parents’ generation. Careers, a house, a child. Carefully curated shelves of books and knick-knacks in the living room. This living room is the stage for a reunion dinner party; two old friends […]
Circa One has been turned into a man-cave, complete with a nude calendar – permanently set to July – a fridge full of beers and a Ryobi power drill for The Pink Hammer, being performed until early October. The show itself is a critique of Kiwi masculinity (of a sort), a bit of feminist fun […]