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

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HART: Stories that deserve to be told and need to be heard
Basement Theatre Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Created and performed by Ian Michael 
Text by Ian Michael and Seanna van Helten 
Directed by Penny Harpham 
Presented by She Said Theatre
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

In Australia it is Survival Day – also known as Invasion Day, Sorry Day and Australia Day – on 26 January, and here on the shores of Aotearoa it is Waitangi Day (6 February). Both days commemorate historic events, Australia on the day the land was invaded by those who refused to acknowledge it was already occupied; and for us here, the day the Treaty was signed at Waitangi in 1840.

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HART: More to Tell
Basement Theatre Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Created and performed by Ian Michael 
Text by Ian Michael and Seanna van Helten 
Directed by Penny Harpham 
Presented by She Said Theatre
- reviewed by Matt Baker

One week after Australia Day, Auckland audiences are introduced to Ian Michael, a proud Noongar actor and recipient of the Melbourne Fringe Best Emerging Indigenous Artist award; an accolade achieved for the very show She Said Theatre has brought to Basement Theatre.

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DEFENDING THE J.J. MAC: Addy in Wonderland
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Written by Beanie-Maryse Ridler 
Directed by Leon Wadham 
Presented by Last Tapes Theatre Company
- reviewed by Nathan Joe

The action of the play takes place in three realities: the real world, Addy’s treehouse of the mind and a story set on a boat. Rather than drawing a clear line between each one, Ridler overlaps them to give us a sense of Addy’s collapsing lucidity. While each reality is important, it’s the last that holds the most significance.

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DISCHARGE GOES BACK TO SCHOOL: Light comedy with a twinge of pathos
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Head Writer & Producer: Abby Howells 
Writers: Nell Guy (co-producer), Rosie Howells, Harriet Hughes, Josephine Byrnes, Heidi Geissler 
Director: Heidi Geissler
- reviewed by John Smythe

Another comedic outbreak of Discharge graces the BATS Propeller Stage until Saturday. While it predominantly involves solo monologues, there is cross-contagion in the story-lines, the cast of five intermingle quite often and their trademark broad characterisations and performance style remains.

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DEFENDING THE J.J. MAC: Intriguingly obscure; equally frustrating and liberating
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Written by Beanie-Maryse Ridler 
Directed by Leon Wadham 
Presented by Last Tapes Theatre Company
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The company strikes a reasonable balance between humour and earnestness – equally essential components to everyone’s psychological welfare. Collectively all the attitudes, questions, answers and declarations expressed throughout the overlapping stories of Addy and Jimmy can be made into some kind of sense with a bit of mental application.

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HILLARY CLINTON / YOUNG LOVER: Hillary brings hilarity
Circa Two, Wellington
adapted from the book by Richard Meros 
by Arthur Meek and Geoff Pinfield 
directed by Geoff Pinfield 
Presented by Theatre Beating 
Produced by Show Pony
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

Would the chances of Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 US Presidential election be enhanced if she took a young lover?

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HILLARY CLINTON / YOUNG LOVER: Arguably one of the saner campaign meetings you could attend
Circa Two, Wellington
adapted from the book by Richard Meros 
by Arthur Meek and Geoff Pinfield 
directed by Geoff Pinfield 
Presented by Theatre Beating 
Produced by Show Pony
- reviewed by John Smythe

As I settle to write this review the news comes through that, two days out from the Iowa caucus (aka the first of the Democratic primaries to take place in 57 states and territories), the New York Times endorses Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate for the USA’s presidential elections in November. It describes her as “one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.” That’s as may be but do the Millennials care?

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AT THE END OF MY HANDS: Sharing our need for human connection, communication, each other
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Directed by Laura Haughey 
An Equal Voices Arts Production
- reviewed by Saran Goldie-Anderson

This level of physical openness, where events are written on the body and faces narrate inner monologues even while words or signs say different things, creates an intimacy with the audience, a vulnerability we don't often see and are suddenly asked to share. We see them and see ourselves, realising that regardless of who we are or what language we speak, perhaps some of these stories are our stories too.

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Nelson Buskers Festival 2016
BUSKERS IN THE BOATHOUSE 2016: More M than R18 but plenty of laughs
The Boathouse, Nelson

- reviewed by Melanie Stewart

Billed as an R18 cabaret show for the adventurous, Buskers in the Boathouse is the indoor part of the Nelson Buskers Festival.

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THE STATION: Stories shared in melting pot of dance styles
Aotea Square, Auckland
Directed by Hadleigh Pouesi 
Co-choreographed by Hadleigh Pouesi and Chris Ofonoa
- reviewed by Camelle Pink

There is a balance between the music telling the story and the moves taking front stage. At times I feel as though I am witnessing a musical, mixed with physical theatre, Pacific dance, and kapa haka, in amongst a host of other styles. This is truly a work of fusion that tests both the audience’s expectations of genre-bending and the dancers' stylistic vocabulary.

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AT THE END OF MY HANDS: Treat yourself to insightful entertainment
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Directed by Laura Haughey 
An Equal Voices Arts Production
- reviewed by John Smythe

A treat is in store at BATS if you’re quick: its 3-night Wellington season continues tonight and tomorrow. If you are a hearing person you will delight in the ready access At the End of My Hands offers to the Deaf* experience. If you are Deaf, this is a rare opportunity to see your community personified and celebrated in live theatre.

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MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING: Admirable maturity in excellent young assemblage
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
By William Shakespeare 
Directed by Rita Stone 
The Young Auckland Shakespeare Company
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Each member of the ensemble plays the actions embedded in Shakespeare’s stunning text expertly and unambiguously – except when they don’t, and when they choose not to, the actors make it abundantly clear where, when, and mostly why, they have chosen to play against the text. It’s a level of performance maturity that is admirable beyond words.

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MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING: [There’s a double meaning in that!]
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
By William Shakespeare 
Directed by Rita Stone 
The Young Auckland Shakespeare Company
- reviewed by James Wenley

More Shakespearean productions should do what the team behind Much Adoe do. To wit: the female roles are cast with male actors, the male roles are cast with female actors. We have the experience of watching the men take on Beatrice and Hero, roles written not for women, but for the ‘boy actors’ of the early modern stage.

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SPRING AWAKENING: Pared-down Awakening still has modern relevance
BATS Theatre, The Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
by Frank Wedekind 
Directed by Samuel Phillips and Keagan Carr Fransch
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

With its portrayal of teenage self-discovery, rebellious youth, and the dire consequences of misplaced innocence, the situations of the young people in the play are a mirror image of many of today's youth.

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SPRING AWAKENING: A refreshing, insightful and compelling distillation
BATS Theatre, The Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
by Frank Wedekind 
Directed by Samuel Phillips and Keagan Carr Fransch
- reviewed by John Smythe

Their focus is firmly on the seven bourgeoning youngsters condemned to homework and looming exams as their hormones stir. ... In the intimacy of the BATS’ Dome space, in its traverse configuration, all seven render subtext with great eloquence; it is impossible not to empathise with their inner feelings.

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

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