Actress dressed in furcoat looks into the eyes of a human sized guinea pig

Review: I Want To Be Happy

I must confess, I’ve always been a fan of Joel Tobeck, so when I saw his name in the cast for ‘I Want To Be Happy,’ I was keen to check it out. Coupled with the promise of a surrealist premise exploring the parallel lives of a lab scientist and his guinea pig, I couldn’t […]

Review: Female Lady Women Comedians

Review by Talia Carlisle Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it’s Samantha Hannah leading a super all-female all-funny line-up of comedians that share a striking resemblance… but definitely aren’t all the same person… *wink!* Having been nominated for both Best Comedian, and Best MC at last year’s Wellington Comedy Awards, it makes […]

Review: Concept for a Film

A Beautiful Harmony of Theatre, Music and So Mush Spore.   I loved the novel format of storytelling that ‘Concept for a Film’ delivered. The scene opens with Max Barton, sitting at a desk that faces the audience, reading out the script for a film. These readings are intermittently dispersed with many disruptions including phone calls […]

Review: Jingle Elves: The Musical

Reviewed by Talia Carlisle. The tinsel is untangled, the star perfectly in place at the top of the tree. The only thing left is to make your way to BATS theatre to watch Pōneke’s own Pāua Ballads totally f*ck Christmas up – their word not mine! There are naughty elves and a secretive Santa, squabbling […]

Review: Celestial Nobodies

Before I even start this review, let me just stress how well the cast of Celestial Nobodies performed under pressure last night, the audience space was quite challenging for multiple reasons and they held the show well with composure and poise – no mean feat considering it was opening night as well! Celestial Nobodies sold out during the […]

Preview: Ubu sux

It’s citizen versus everything in this totally original, entirely reimagined adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s classic avant-garde satire Ubu Rex. Grotesque, ridiculous and deeply profound, this irreverent adaptation of Ubu Rex draws from a huge range of source material to amplify the messages from Jarry’s original narrative. The live show is multimedia in every respect, with […]

Preview: Girl in the loft

Girl in the loft is a solo show by Katherine Wyeth. It’s the story of a childhood growing up at The King’s Head Theatre, London. “My life began as a theatre kid growing up at the world-renowned King’s Head Theatre in London. I was lucky to experience a unique childhood growing up in the theatre… […]

Preview: Routine Magic-Magic Routine

Routine magic – Will Aloysius abandon ritualistic powers acquired during his 10 year social isolation? Magic routine – Can YouTube Influencer Ant Hill find sufficient inner harmony to open a life-changing envelope? This pair of plays, utilising the same set and actors, tell two timely and compelling stories. Routine Magic, shortlisted for the Adam NZ Play […]

Lōemis Festival’s Harmonic Tree

The Harmonic Tree is a new artwork / musical instrument resembling an exotic plant, with steel strings, percussive fruit and berries. Beneath the surface it houses an array of audio effects processors, all adjustable by tending to twigs, branches and other parts of the tree, enabling an operator to create electroacoustic soundscapes. The Harmonic Tree was […]

That’s All She Wrote – Review

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 […]