The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Outstanding Feet 2015, Illuminate, and The Blue-Bearded Lady.

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

* * *

The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Outstanding Feet 2015, Illuminate, and The Blue-Bearded Lady.

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

* * *

ILLUMINATE: Lighting a lamp for others
Middleton Grange School Performing Arts Centre, Christchurch
- reviewed by Sheree Bright

Jolt Dance is clearly about so much more than their consistently delightful performances. The mere existence of Jolts classes and programmes throughout the year brings an extraordinary contribution to the community that is immeasurable. How do you quantify the pure joy, warmth and sense of community emanating from the tutors and students? It is difficult to put into words.

------------------------------------------------------------------

RESPITE: Extremely Interesting Stranger
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Tim George

I once knew a man who dabbled in filmmaking. His dream was not to win awards or make money. His movies were far too niche and esoteric for that. His dream was to reach a tone. He called it 'tragic ecstasy' -- a perfect symbiosis of tragedy and comedy, the tone of the human experience.

------------------------------------------------------------------

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: Generously endowed with imagination
The Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

A very merry time of it is the outcome of this latest re-telling. All the familiar figures and ideas are there: Mother's warnings about keeping to the path and not getting into conversations with strangers, Granny who is as ancient and ailing as ever, arch villain Wolf, and stalwart Woodcutter.

------------------------------------------------------------------

MANIFESTO 2083: Profound and challenging
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Chloe Baynes

Olaf delves into Brevik’s relationships with mental health, human nature and wieldy political concepts, seeking to understand him in every way: his friendships, motivations and habits. The solo, isolated journey to becoming Brevik is smooth, disturbing, and poetic. I believe all of it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

HIRAETH: All go in the flow: a gem of a show
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

Empathy permeates the BATS Propeller Stage as Hiraeth gets under way. We should have a word for it too, that mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness; that earnest desire for home as it was in the old days (i.e. during one’s childhood); the bond one feels with one's home country when one is away from it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE BLUE-BEARDED LADY: Brave genre-bending proves captivating
Wellington Circus Hub, 11 Hutchinson Rd, Newtown, Wellington
- reviewed by Jillian Davey

This one-woman show combines storytelling, rock, metal, dance, a hint of Butoh, circus apparatus, and stripping into a folktale like no other. Drawing on the story of Bluebeard, Evans takes on the role and point of view of Lady Bluebeard, the new wife. She’s girlish in her wedding day excitement, wistful in her new-given freedom, animalistic during her nights alone, and terrified by what’s behind her husband’s locked door.

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE GENIE, THE LAMP AND ALADDIN: A live and lively antidote to electronic media
Gryphon, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

In the tradition of many a folk tale (and nursery rhyme), Rodney Bane’s The Genie, The Lamp and Aladdin is imbued with topical satire for the politically savvy while the romantic heroic adventure tropes play out for the primary audience.

------------------------------------------------------------------

KIWI MOON: Humorous and heartfelt
Hannah Playhouse - Return Season, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Hodgson

When the Kuri (dog) hurts the mother Kiwi in a brilliantly played out fighting display, Little Kiwi’s glowing white plumage scares him off. Little Kiwi wonders to Te Marama why Kuri would do that and she empathetically reminds him that he too chases the Huhu grubs and “the game we play has puzzling rules – cruel or fair?”

------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME STANDS STILL: Nuanced depth gets audience thinking
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
- reviewed by Barbara Frame

Pulitzer prizewinner Donald Margulies’ play appears deceptively simple, but just below the surface lies enormous, multilayered complexity. Serious questions about professional and personal responsibility and the limits of endurance emerge as relationships evolve, clash and disintegrate.

------------------------------------------------------------------

SHORT + SWEET GALA FINAL - SONG & CABARET: Solo performances scoop the awards
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

The ten minute lends itself neatly to three short songs, or excerpts thereof, interspersed with chat and cued by lighting and music changes. The six presentations sample the show/rock/pop/musical theatre spectrum, and each set is well-crafted, confidently performed, nicely demonstrating the strengths of each performer, their ability to communicate a character through song backed up by costume and verbal byplay with another musician or character.

------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME STANDS STILL: Truly rewarding theatre – and a tribute to Lara Macgregor
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish

“This is a play for intelligent people,” says Macgregor. “Please be intelligent!” The audience rises to the challenge, their quiet concentration showing each member making up their own mind, attentively following the characters’ journeys but reaching their own conclusions.

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT: A richness and depth
The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Tim Bray Productions regular school holiday shows for kids – should I say families – have become the closest thing to a children’s theatre institution that we have in the City of Sails. One of the benefits of regular attendance at the is consistency in that the Tim Bray Productions formula doesn’t change much.
http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=8509

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE BOOKBINDER: Beautifully rendered
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by Lena Fransham

A mood-setting walk through a corridor full of books into the theatre. Books and shelves, old lamps, a gramophone from which issues some scratchy old cabaret tune, a desk and a sign saying ‘Apprentice sought’: an apt setting for the creation of a story to get lost in, which our narrator (Ralph McCubbin Howell) intimates ominously, is what is in store for us.

------------------------------------------------------------------

DANGEROUS BODIES: Wonderfully satisfying - and challenging
The Black Box at St Margaret's College, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

This is a terrific show – intelligent, emotional and witty, and a direct challenge to the audience’s expectations about performance, identity and what it means to look and be looked at. It’s beautifully structured and makes good use of projections, a varied soundscape, and long periods without speech.

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA: All the right ingredients
4 Moncrieff St., Mt. Victoria, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Hodgson

Having a princess-mad four year-old in my house, fairy tales are regular reading favourites and there is often much discussion about the characters, especially about why there is always some sort of villain character ... that is either bossy, mean, hurtful, greedy or jealous of other characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------

OUTSTANDING FEET 2015: Youthful passion, dedication and enthusiasm
Charles Luney Auditorium (St Margaret's College), Christchurch
- reviewed by Emily Napolitano

The passion, dedication and enthusiasm these young people bring to their craft are an inspiration to see. They are the next generation of dancers, and opportunities like this support them in their drive to make their dreams reality. Kudos to all the dance teachers across the city whose patient and tireless commitment to their students makes bright the future of New Zealand dance.

------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICER 27: Play affirms life amid tragedy
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Playwright Aroha Awarau has created a sensitive and engaging drama out of something that is almost unimaginably tragic - the random death of a young man cut down in his prime as an innocent bystander at a police shooting.

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE QUIET ROOM: An enriching experience
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

Stevie Hancox Monk embodies Marianne totally and so anchors the whole play in profound credibility. Along with Liang and director Jane Yonge, she clearly understands every bit of Marianne and relishes every opportunity to manifest her idiosyncrasies as well as her every-day concerns.

------------------------------------------------------------------

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org.nz, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

Further information:

What began as a glorified blog by John Smythe has now become a major organ of communication, interaction and information that has created an online performing arts community by recording, critiquing, celebrating and debating NZ’s professional performing arts activity.

If you value Theatreview, and want to see it survive and grow to further serve the interests and needs of the performing arts community and their audiences, please join the Performing Arts Directory or offer a donation/koha.