A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: I Believe in Monsters, Niu Sila, and Hunting and Gathering.

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

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: I Believe in Monsters, Niu Sila, and Hunting and Gathering.

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

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Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland - NIU SILA: Countless characters and mirthful episodes

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Their irreverent, hilarious, heart-warming and tragic script speaks to Peter and Ioane’s generation (i.e. mine), as well as entertainingly informing anyone less familiar with the politics and mind-sets of the time.

The beautifully simple iconic set comprises three solid, sloped benches cut in striking angles to clearly represent the three main islands of our proud nation and covered with grass-green textured material.

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Gryphon, Wellington - HUNTING AND GATHERING: Brisk, energetic, whimsical and enjoyable

- reviewed by Maryanne Cathro

There’s something instantly recognisable about American theatre. Introspection and neurosis, a tendency to talk about stuff rather than just get on with it. Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Harvey Fierstein – their voice is as distinct from Alan Ayckbourne and Tom Stoppard as Barry Manilow is from The Pogues.

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North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia - BLACK FAGGOT: Bittersweet reflection and irrepressible laughter
- reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

Black Faggot is a riotously funny two-hander that blitzed the Auckland Fringe. I'm not exactly au fait with the gay scene in New Zealand - save that they've adopted marriage equality while we continue to dither - but you don't need to be to appreciate the play, which launches the turbo-charged hilarity of superior sketch comedy into a poignant and humane plea for tolerance.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA: Offbeat American beauty portrays healing power of love

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

An Apache Dance, John Patrick Shanley’s subtitle to Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, is a highly appropriate one particularly during the long first scene in the bar in which thirty-one year old Roberta, tortured by guilt and desperate to find a confessor, attempts to talk to a brooding, lone man at the next table.

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NASDA Theatre, E Block, CPIT, Christchurch - KEEP/SELF: Shared bill leaves room for elaboration

- reviewed by Paul Young

Three intertwined figures begin a grappling dance towards the island. Are they migrants? or are they flotsam and jetsam? They reach and struggle but seem anchored to the spot. There is a figure just visible behind the heaving hill. It’s Papatuanuku as performed by Shannon Mutu. The way Mutu rolls and lolls over the rising and falling hills is luscious and eminently watchable, she is so immersed in her world that we relax and begin to roll with her.

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Circa Two, Wellington - HALLOWEENIES!: Strong structure supports Monster improv

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Halloweenies is the funniest of the Improvisors Kids shows that I have seen. While there is still a lot of improvisation there is a strong structure behind all the action that can be relied on if an audience’s responses don’t get the comic improvisations firing.

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4 Moncrieff St., Mt. Victoria, Wellington - THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: Famous story amusingly staged

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

With holiday shows always be prepared for some the funniest moments to come from the audience rather than the stage.

One of the best from The Emperor’s New Clothes was when the King’s lackey asked in a plaintive voice, “Who’s going to wear grey on their wedding day?”

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA: A helluva ride

- reviewed by John Smythe

A man and a woman meet in a bar. They’re at separate tables but they talk. He is battered and bruised from a fight and fears he might have killed someone. She’s done something terrible and ain’t gonna tell, no way. Until she does.

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Gryphon, Wellington - NEANG NEAK’S LEGACY: The all pervasive legacy of genocide

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

On my way to the Gryphon to see a play by a Cambodian first-time playwright I heard on the news that the troubled Pol Pot genocide trial in Phnom Penh was in danger of being closed down for lack of United Nations money.

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Gryphon, Wellington - I BELIEVE IN MONSTERS: The monstrous quest to be accepted as yourself

- reviewed by John Smythe

At last, a brand new children’s play that is not a panto-style adaptation of a classic fairytale, nor a dramatisation of a much-loved New Zealand children’s book (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Although she admits to being influenced by Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Tabitha Arthur’s I Believe in Monsters is refreshingly original.

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Circa Two, Wellington - HALLOWEENIES!: Excellent incorporation of ‘ask fors’

- reviewed by John Smythe

Continuing their play-safe principle that there must never be anything fearsome in their shows (is this an OSH thing or something?), Halloweenies is principally dedicated to proving monsters are not really scary just because they’re big and hairy (yes, there’s a song in that); they’re just different. What’s more, we humans scare them because we too are different, from their perspective.

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Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau, Auckland - TAKARANGI - THE THIRD AUCKLAND DANCE PROJECT: Embodying a double spiral
- reviewed by Dr Linda Ashley

The whole cast work closely together with sensitivity that could be attributed to a flock of birds as they tear through the sky in immaculate swarms. Dancers stop and start capturing energised pauses, abruptly at times adding edgy phrasing amongst the sweeping travelling. Arms slice through the air. Seamless transitions between the numerous small groups, solos, duets, epic whole group unisons and canons, contact work and complex lifts suggest moments when an ever present past is supporting new journeys or holding back explorations.

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NASDA Theatre, E Block, CPIT, Christchurch - DEMIGOD HALF-HUMAN: A novel way to portray ‘the fall’

- reviewed by Paul Young

Set against a curtain of the aforementioned biblical fruit, apples, choreographer Dickins lies prone beneath a draped section of fabric as the audience arrives in the theatre. Post blackout, she begins to emerge from her cover. She is a naked punk Eve with a stiff blonde coiffure. She is fresh from the rib and wears nothing except a sculptural skeletal vest. It looks like the ribcage of a small child. In a linear sequence we see her slowly experience a stylized process of awakening, expressing desire, becoming self aware and feeling shame. Haven’t we all been there? Amen! Religious imagery recurs throughout. It is bold and confrontational but more dramatic traction could be gained by clarifying the impetus of the individual characters.

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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - SCOTTISH HIGHLAND CLEARANCES: From destruction to a new start with new blood in a new land
- reviewed by Gail Pittaway

Part pageant, part folk theatre, this production begins gloomily with the sad tales of the brutality of the English army to the Scottish highlanders; beginning at Culloden, where it ended for so many. From a field of blood follow more grim tales of eviction and betrayal, until the remnants of the highland clans disperse to the new worlds of Nova Scotia, and Australasia, but never lose their pride and customs.

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The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland - MRS WISHY-WASHY: Classy premiere perfectly pitched
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Cowley has, through the use of “rhyme, rhythm and repetition”, slotted into a unique style of early learning, a form that does not lend itself easily to dramatisation as, while the books are rich in onomatopoeia and resonant sound, they are comparatively short on narrative.

For all the above reasons Bray’s decision to script the Mrs Wishy-Washy stories must have been a challenge but a challenge he has risen to with an expertise that is admirable. That he has been successful speaks volumes for his understanding of the genre and of the creative process itself.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - ATLAS /MOUNTAINS /DEAD BUTTERFLIES: Wonderful visual imagery with contemplative performance poetry and philosophical deliberation

- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Writer Joseph Harper has given us much to ponder – maybe too much. However, co-directors Amelia Reid and Shadon Meredith (with assistant Alice Pearce) guide the creative team well, and do an admirable job of staging Harper’s philosophy 101, as well as eliciting some bold and effective performances from the cast.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - DRAGONLORE: LARPing for a better life

- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Sampson’s bittersweet comedy is set in two dimensions. In the real world, his script is conversational yet slightly uneven in terms of believability. However, as he throws his audience into the wonderful world of LARP-ing (Live-Action-Role-Play > check it out online), the language is fantastic and engaging, riddled with fab phrases and quips, such as, “You tartan upstart!”

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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - IN ABSENTIA: Unforgettable
- reviewed by Gail Pittaway

Specialists in puppet theatre, particularly large figure puppetry, Christchurch-based Tablo Theater brings to life the mind of an old woman who suffers from dementia, with extraordinary imagery and powerful invention.

Bewildered, encountering fugue memory moments and reliving old passions and crises, the old woman moves around her darkened space and receives the visions that come at her in random force.

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4 Moncrieff St., Mt. Victoria, Wellington - THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: Unbelievably imaginative

- reviewed by John Smythe

While there are no gratuitous topical jokes for the adults, we do get to muse on the imperatives that cause the young audience to chorus “Yes!” when asked by Lackey if they just saw the plainly non-existent cloth and accoutrements with which the new clothes are to be made. After all these children live in a world where the imagination is highly valued.

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Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland - DIGITAL WINDS: Too many strings tangle the story

- reviewed by Johnny Givins

... We get the picture: a dynamic youth story. This is going to be a night of South Auckland in all its myriad dimensions.

What then occurs is a mix of short-scene mostly comedy, some wonderful singing, imaginative skilful dance, and a story which slips and slides from one character to another as we experience a kaleidoscope of young people dealing with a wide range of issues. Even at the end I am wondering what is Digital Winds really all about!

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - I BETTY YA DIDN’T KNOW THIS ABOUT COLONIAL NEW ZEALAND: An ‘end-of-year show for friends’ feel

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Maybe I shouldn’t have seen I Betty, a crass musical farce, straight after Chump Change because I feel I was the only person in the audience who wasn’t having a good time from the guffaws and screams of laughter that greeted every crude, corny joke or piece of physical comedy.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - CHUMP CHANGE: Powerful portrayal of homelessness

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

The stage is dominated by tall wire fences for Chump Change, a troubling play about a small and largely ignored section of our society. It explores the problem of homeless teenagers living on the streets of Wellington.

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Riverlea Theatre, 83 Riverlea Rd, Hillcrest, Hamilton - PLAINS: Outlandish but mind-blowing
- reviewed by Liza Kire

Plains is a must-see thriller/comedy that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat aching for clarity. A contemporary show from a script by Harry Meech that is open to eclectic treatment provided the dialogue remains intact (“It’s a gift. A bonus. You’re welcome!”), it will leave you thinking but not knowing.