Blackbird Ensemble Performs Björk: All Is Full Of Love — Review
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 […]
Review: Cock
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 […]
Review: The Turn of the Screw
During the interval of last night’s performance of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, I popped outside for a bit of cold air and second-hand smoke. As I stood reading the playbills, a group of four people bustled out, one of whom was loudly and petulantly proclaiming “But I want PUCCINI!!!” They did not […]
Preview: Show Me Shorts 2019 Programme Announced!
With its largest ever programme, the Show Me Shorts Film Festival opens at cinemas across Aotearoa from the 5th of October. With sixty short films and three music videos — all chosen from a record 2040 entries — this festival is sure to be one to remember. Eight Kiwi films will be making their word […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]