Four Nights In the Green Barrow Pub – Review

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 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: 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: 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

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: NZSO Baroque Series – Water Music

Telemann: Water Music “Hamburger Ebb und Fluth” (TWV 55:C3) Händel: Water Music (HWV 348-350) St. Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington Friday 1 Feb 2019 Listening to the two “Water Music” suites by Telemann and Handel fill the echoing expanse of St. Paul’s, I wondered how it is we find reverberation so attractive. Is it a cultural association […]

Review: The Blender (Sundays with BaseJump Improv)

With a dash of insanity, a smidge of ridiculousness, and a lot of Wellingtonian wit, BaseJump Improv’s new show The Blender is a wild ride for your Sunday evening. We don’t tend to see Sundays as a ‘going to theatre day’ but with a show running at roughly forty-five minutes long, this piece is easily manageable between […]

Review: Romeo and Juliet at Victoria University

Victoria University’s Romeo and Juliet is an utter triumph of stagecraft. The mood within Studio 77, the campus’ main blackbox theatre, seems fittingly Shakespearean as thunder rolls overhead and rain pours down outside. We’re all here to see Romeo and Juliet, arguably one of theatre’s most played-out stories, but I’ve never seen it quite like this. Our cast, members […]

Review: Andrew Maxwell – Showtime

Andrew Maxwell is baffled by New Zealand. And fair enough too. As he so lovingly puts it, our news cycle is a mad mess of fallen trees and cats on buses. We spend far too much time caring about things that aren’t global political conflicts and Trump. Why should we worry about global politics when […]

Review: Wilson Dixon’s What a Country

Guest review by Emma Maguire When I glance around the theatre before What a Country and notice that I’m definitely the youngest person in the audience I realise that I might be slightly out of this show’s demographic. I also hate country music. But that’s alright, because Wilson Dixon’s What a Country manages to transcend […]