Review: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God

  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 […]

Review: The Pink Hammer

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 […]

four women in a tattoo style label

Tasty tastings

Rules around advertising alcohol are pretty strict. That’s why Highball, Wellington’s first spirits & cocktail festival, was not able to tell you that for your $50 entry fee, you would absolutely be able to get your money’s worth of drunk in free samples. So instead it looked like you’d pay a lot of money to […]

Preview: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God

‘Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God’ by Roland Schimmelpfennig is opening at Circa Theatre next week. A New Zealand premiere appropriate for our modern lives, this play examines colonialist attitudes over freshly baked bread, and discusses quarantines and vaccinations while sharing drinks – it’s irony, of a sort. Are we doing enough to help […]

Review: Death Comes To Us All

Death takes her by the hand, leads her to a pool of light at the apron of the stage and she tells us her last moments. There’s light at the end, she says, and disappears off stage. I sniff, a little, and hold back tears. Death Comes To Us All is a remarkably honest, very […]

a line of fat babes in great clothing

Polishing the Crown Jewels – a clothing pop-up sale for fat people

I have been busy, and that is why there is almost no content from me on this site anymore, although you will find me on the tweets, as per usual, though there are of course about a dozen of us who have access to the ‘ista twitter account. But that’s not what I’m here to […]

Review: Rigoletto

Verdi’s Rigoletto is a classic, and deservedly so.  The story was based on a Victor Hugo play, adapted somewhat to avoid censorship.  Hugo, by all accounts, was not at all happy that his play was being plagiarised (and by an Italian!) until he attended and was amazed by a performance.  Musically it was rather revolutionary, […]

Don’t feed dogs chocolate – put it in beer instead

Don’t feed dogs chocolate – put it in beer instead

Guest post by Krystle, thanks Krystle! Coffee, chocolate, and beer…these are a few of Wellingtonians’ favorite things – and thanks to a collab, you can now drink a fusion of all three. Local legends Black Dog Brewery and Wellington Chocolate Factory have teamed up to produce the Bean Me Up Mocha Stout. You may be […]

Review: High School Magical: The Reunion

We all know Harry Potter, right? The lovely folks over at Playshop have turned its basic premise into an improv show called High School Magical, full of hi-jinks and comedy of the wizarding sort. It’s ten years since the Chosen One (who I presume is gifted the title by the audience each show, but was […]

Review – The Dunstan Creek Haunting

“This is the true story of two travelling carnies who develop an obsession with the occult, exposing and explaining the paranormal.” Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman listen to their audience.  It makes sense as performers who’ve worked with circus, cabaret, and variety around the world…  so much of those skills rely on the audience investing […]