A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: Verbatim, Bedtime Monsters, and Romeo and Juliet.

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

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

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: Verbatim, Bedtime Monsters, and Romeo and Juliet.

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

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

The Cargo Shed, Tauranga - BEDTIME MONSTERS: Excellent writing and talented acting
- reviewed by Gin Mabey

Throughout the show, the heavily-breathing symbols of… something… provide borders and movement, with sheets, to give us a child’s fort, a dinner table, a motion of waves or just ebbing and flowing in general. They are a solid backdrop, a well-choreographed aspect, and they float about seamlessly. It’s refreshing to see actors not speaking but being effective still, thanks to their focus and use of breath.

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

The Cargo Shed, Tauranga - ROMEO AND JULIET: Refreshing energy
- reviewed by Gin Mabey

In a thrust-stage configuration amongst the local art, crafts and jewellery of the Cargo Shed, the audience sits and listens to the very well sung, melodious songs of romance, sung comfortably and with jovial teamwork by the young cast. My favourite song by The Beatles, ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’, is a positive (yet biased) start to the show.

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

Half Moon Bay Ferry, Auckland - SHARING WATERS: Charting the moments we share
- reviewed by Jesse Quaid

The stories are relaxed in tone, and are littered with physical and sensory triggers. Watching a video of the journey to Holmön, the waves on the screen are the same colour as those outside the window. Holding a replica of the hot chocolate Johannes drank while crossing creates a physical echo, while the taste of Raro and minties, the smell of old sunscreen and pine oil, and the wearing of the hats that Christina's family wore summers ago create cascades of memories for the audience. It is apparent that the more experiences the audience share with stories the deeper this work will be.

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

Mangere Arts Centre (return season), Auckland - VERBATIM: Touching, affecting, moving

- reviewed by Chris Molloy

Compiled from real interviews with Kiwi families and victims of violent offenders. These verbatim scripts are the foundation of these confronting works. Verbatim and Portraits allow us to go inside the lives of those who have been torn apart by the violent crime. Both the victims’ and the offenders’ stories are equally told; told simply, no frills, no distracting sets, simple modest, raw.

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

Newtown Community Centre, Wellington - A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN: A script in search of a dramaturg
- reviewed by James McKinnon

A Disaster Waiting to Happen presents a slightly amped-up version of a classic comedy scenario: Chad is covertly dating three women simultaneously and, well, there’s the eponymous disaster.

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

People’s Cinema, 57 Manners Street, Wellington - WOLF: Humanity abandoned
- reviewed by James McKinnon

The performers seem to be attempting to submerge their humanity and embody ‘wolfness’. They communicate only through gesture and appropriately lupine noises, and they do not recognize conventions of polite behaviour or personal space. They do not seem to care if we empathize or identify with them, which is another major departure from theatrical convention.

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

Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland - TUNA MAU /EEL MAN: Mobile sculptural forms evoke local connections
- reviewed by Jonathan W. Marshall

Seen in these terms of space and location, the choreography of this wordless performance might be characterised principally by the generation of pathways, by an axial or lineal push or pull, or by coils, spirals and elevations of various degree, as the women curve around the end of one or more of the lines which are created between them, whilst other trajectories cross at right angles or parallel to such virtual corridors stretching from one distant actor to another. As such taught connections over a distance evolve, the audience typically becomes strung out in irregular clusters beside or about these lines and forms, constantly in the process of trailing behind or anticipating forward and backward movement. Additionally, some of the short choreographic sections which evolve later in the piece do produce a certain level of physical, as well as spatial, complexity: notably the stuttering, nervous arm movements of the Widow in Black and the Bride in White.

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

Regent Theatre, Dunedin - TUTUS ON TOUR (2013): A little something for everyone
- reviewed by Hannah Molloy

The golden lighting and skin and silvery costumes in Charlie evoked an essence of Aotearoa and the discordant music of the Split Enz song folded itself around the dancers’ fluidity and perfect curves, angles and lines as they found themselves together and apart on the stage. Maree White and Loughlan Prior seemed to be in perfect harmony with each other, their bodies curving neatly around each other and the lines of graceful legs and arms more in sync than in some of the others.

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

Hagley Open Stage, Christchurch - SAVE IT FOR ME: A satisfying showcase
- reviewed by Kate Sullivan

‘On your side’, is choreographed by company director Candice Egan. This piece captures the trust and unity within the company as the dancers put their own safety in each-others hands. Dancers fly across the stage and are caught with confidence and without anticipation. They stand on each-others’ backs and lift one another high until you think they are going to drop. The intensity of the movement is high and the dancers raise the temperature even more with their commitment to the work.

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

Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - BLACK GRACE XMAS VERSES: A light hearted end to the working year

- reviewed by Tia Reihana-Morunga

‘A backyard somewhere in Auckland’ provides ongoing stimuli as Ieremia lightly unpacks a ‘kiwiana’ narrative of the summer time BBQ. It is complete with drinks with friends, too many drinks with friends, potential others and significant others. A picnic/bar table is a focus of Sasa shaped sequences that exert togetherness. We have the before and after in a day in the life of the festive season gathering, that melts into sweet beer goggled, summer evening attempts at romance and courtship.

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

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.