The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Hamlet, Days Like Today, and Death and the Maiden.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Hamlet, Days Like Today, and Death and the Maiden.

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

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CLUB PARADISO: It doesn’t get better – or scarier – than this
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

You’ll love it. You probably won’t like it, though, because it’s a glimpse into the misery inflicted on people, and on society, by the sons, brothers, fathers and uncles of others; those we try to shut out, to deny, to pretend don’t exist and who, from time to time, simply say “f**k this” and run amok.

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DAYS LIKE TODAY: Too much detail blurs the most poignant part
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Lucy O'Connor

This play sets out to explore the notion of how two people, once lovers, justify their current situation through an event that changed and shaped their lives forever. They cannot face the memory uninhibited but, impossible to escape, they will never be without it. Despite what’s apparent in publicity, I’ll reveal no more, except to say it’s not a soft topic.

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HAMLET: Clarity, energy and pleasure in staging the world’s most famous tragedy
Opera House, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The play proceeds at a cracking pace and is delivered with great clarity. The exposition of time, place and backstory is unadorned although most actors are grounded in their sense of being as they tell the story. Emotion only surfaces when it counts, which is mostly in the second half.

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LA CENERENTOLA (CINDERELLA): Captivates
Aotea Centre, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by Sharu Delilkan

If you go to see Gioachino Rosinni's version of Cinderella aka La cenerentola with an open mind I can guarantee that you are in for a veritable feast that will satisfy all your senses.

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DEATH AND THE MAIDEN: Stakes too Low
The Factory Theatre, 7 Eden Street, Newmarket, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Ariel Dorfman is an intellectual. An academic, essayist, novelist, and playwright, his literary prolificacy is comparable only by the activism for human rights which fuels it. Newmarket Stage Company Artistic Director, John Callen, clearly recognises both these aspects, and presenting this production with not only the Newmarket Business Association, but, more importantly, Amnesty International, is both an artistically astute and commercially conscious decision.

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ENLIGHTENMENT: Too light
Maidment, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

It is the most difficult process any parent could endure, not the loss, but the unknown fate of a child. The stakes are high in Shelagh Stephenson's script, and while Auckland Theatre Company's production of Enlightenment has an intellectual grasp on the chaos of the play, it remains less resonant than the text allows it to be.

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SECOND AFTERLIFE: A play that will meme something to young people
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

I doubt if the young cast of the excellent revival of the hit of last year's Young & Hungry Festival will play to a savvier or more appreciative audience than the one they played to on Saturday night.

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LA CENERENTOLA (CINDERELLA): Captivating night in theatreland
Aotea Centre, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by William Dart

New Zealand Opera's La Cenerentola is a captivating night in theatreland. Just last week, director Lindy Hume was describing Rossini as a genius who didn't muck around. Nor has she with her vivid take on his 1817 fairytale.

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ENLIGHTENMENT: Polished professionals make light work of twisting plots, heady concepts
Maidment, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

There are many different forms of Enlightenment and in the hands of award-winning British playwright Shelagh Stephenson it becomes a cool, sophisticated piece of theatre that manages to be several different things at once.

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DEATH AND THE MAIDEN: Ambiguity creates unsettling power
The Factory Theatre, 7 Eden Street, Newmarket, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Acclaimed playwright Ariel Dorfman draws on personal experience of the ruthless military dictatorship that seized power in Chile in the 1970s to deliver a profound and disturbing meditation on the brutality of regimes that systematically use violence against their own citizens.

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LA CENERENTOLA (CINDERELLA): Wondrous skill and gorgeous presentation
Aotea Centre, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by Penny Dodd

This opera makes the most extraordinary vocal demands: the sheer volume of coloratura writing for the title role is staggering, the effervescence and ease of delivery belying the work that goes into the musical preparation. Every note of the fantastically fast runs has to be carefully formed. The voices need to be big enough to carry over the orchestra but light enough to be agile. The vocal fireworks are impressive, and this cast delivers.

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ENLIGHTENMENT: Thought-provoking story leaves questions to be answered
Maidment, Auckland
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

After painting a layered and intriguing first half, the second is a very different picture – one resembling a psycho-thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith with a touch of Robert Ludlum. Rather than developing act one or heading to a resolve, Stephenson thrusts us into a dark, deceptive cul-de-sac ...

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ROMEO AND JULIET: Entertains at the expense of emotional depth
Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

The cast is packed with talented, intelligent and highly capable actors, but they’ve been given so little space in which to exercise their artistic muscles and explore the play through movement and voice that I sit throughout the show getting progressively more annoyed.

There is no doubt that this play is beautifully presented ...

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SECOND AFTERLIFE: Truly dynamic must-see procution
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe (2)

You just need to have ventured into social media and the odd gaming app a bit, or have people in your lives who do, to get drawn into the story because the highly recognisable human relationships impacted over the years by Dan’s becoming lost in cyberspace are a powerful counterpoint to the esoterica of his online life.

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DEATH AND THE MAIDEN: Rich and layered
The Factory Theatre, 7 Eden Street, Newmarket, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

All the actors serve John Callen’s excellent vision extremely well. There are times, post interval, when the theatre is saturated in that deep silence that only comes from the most intense concentration.

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SALUTE - REMEMBERING WORLD WAR: Dance dynamism and physical prowess
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
- reviewed by Sheree Bright

Passionately and stunningly choreographed and performed, Passchendaele is brilliant! Honouring the events On October 12, 1917, when, in a matter of hours, 845 New Zealand men lost their lives and nearly 3,000 were wounded on the battlefields of the Somme and Passchendaele, Ieremia also draws on the enduring thoughts and connection between the soldiers in the trenches and the women left at home. This world premiere, a captivating contemporary piece, demonstrates the blending of choreography by Neil Ieremia, a musical score by Dwayne Bloomfield, and wonderful performances by dancers and musicians.

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SECOND AFTERLIFE: Energetic, crisp and precise
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by Emma Gatsby

Rather like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Dan journeys with his ‘Guide’ to revisit his ghosts of profiles past. Encountering his demons with wit rooted in internet fads and topical references, his cyber adventure also features convincing on-stage fight scenes. Hidden in Dan’s dreaming is a teenage love story which adds a likeable sweetness to the multi-layered play.

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A BOY WONDER: Loyalty, betrayal, hilarity
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
- reviewed by Kimberley Buchan

A fuzzily half naked man is born out of a Jimmy’s pie. This is apparently a normal thing if you are from Roxburgh. He dons the glory of glories that is the New Zealand Scouting uniform and his life is changed forever.

A Boy Wonder, directed by Nic Sampson and Laura Daniel, is an enthusiastic one man show that takes you through two generations of Scouting Roxburgh men.

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WINGS: Packs a hefty punch
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Wings is a car journey from a difficult present to a hellish past that must be confronted by three troubled sisters.

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THE BEST POSSIBLE ALBUM PARTY THAT ANYBODY HAS EVER BEEN TO: For Realness
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

I don’t think I’ve ever been to any album release parties before, but if I do in the future, I don’t see how they could top The Best Possible Album Party Anybody Has Ever Been To.

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

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