Review: Joe Daymond’s Comedy Mixtape
The Comedy Mixtape lineup, hosted and curated by Joe Daymond, was billed as a stand-up showcase built like a perfect set list, comedians you already rate mixed with rising stars you’re about to fall in love with. The night kicked off with DJ Randy from Mai FM spinning classic Hutt bangers. Joe described the aim […]
Comedy Review: Samantha Hannah — Peekaboo!
I attended Samantha Hannah’s show on Tuesday night with high expectations, and she did not disappoint. For those who don’t know her, Samantha Hannah is a Billy T Award nominee who’s been turning life’s oddities into comedy for years. In 2018, she garnered a lot of attention with her show How to Find a Husband in […]
Review: Mr Halloween Bachelor
I’ve not seen so much body paint in a room in a while, and this time, I’m contributing to it. It’s PopRox’s Mr Halloween Bachelor at the Hannah Playhouse, a triumphant sequel to last year’s Ms Christmas Bachelorette, and the cast (and some of the audience) are fully costumed for a night of flirty frivolity […]
Review: Homemade Takeaways
I don’t think anyone will disagree with me that it’s been one hell of a year, and Christmas is descending on us fast. So it seemed completely appropriate to be watching a show about people who’ve had a hell of a year, too, drawn together at Christmas. Annie and Will have gravitated back to the […]
Review: Olive Copperbottom
Leaving Circa on Wednesday after the opening night of Olive Copperbottom, one of the many things I was feeling was deep regret that it was the very first of Penny Ashton’s shows that I’d seen, and I’d missed so many others. Ashton is a bright light. Her energy, her wit, and her joy were incandescent […]
Review: Macbeth
I went into Macbeth at the St James completely cold — I know Verdi’s later operas, including his later Shakespeare operas; Otello and Falstaff. But I’ve somehow missed Macbeth, and decided to keep it that way, I guess because it’s so exciting to go into something completely fresh and new, even if it was written […]
Things are getting surreal at Te Papa
We might be stuck in New Zealand for a while, but that doesn’t mean the world can’t come to us (especially if they’re rich, apparently). That’s the cool thing about the new exhibition Surrealist Art: Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen He Toi Pohewa: He Toi Marupō o Muhiama o Boijmans Van Beuningen. You’ll get a […]
Review: The Look Of Love
I’ve seen Ali Harper before, at Old St Paul’s in 2012, and I was struck by her humour and professionalism then. It was a fun night out with my Robot Mum and we both enjoyed hearing songs we knew, and some we didn’t, performed by someone who knew her craft and was super skilled. On […]
Review: The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine; NZO season)
TW: Suicide, overdose, trauma I reviewed a production of La Voix Humaine in February. It’s been a strange wormhole of a year and it feels like a million years ago but also maybe yesterday that I was sitting in Suite Gallery, experiencing this piece for the first time. Writing this review with the last one […]
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 […]