The latest Theatreview Weekly with reviews on Dark Deeds, Citizen Gef, and They Saw a Thylacine.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly with reviews on Dark Deeds, Citizen Gef, and They Saw a Thylacine.

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

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BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - CITIZEN GEF: Whimsically insightful

- reviewed by John Smythe

Citizen Gef is so elusive and allusive on so many levels it’s hard to know where to grasp the tale for the purposes of review.

The titular Gef is a talking mongoose, discovered on the Isle of Man in 1931 but born in New Delhi in 1852, according to himself. Surely you’ve heard of him?

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - JUST ABOVE THE CLOUDS: A charming curiosity of simple complexity
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The story too is a simple – though somewhat cerebral and surreal – insight to the dilemma of a young man who claims he can’t love because he has a heart like concrete, and sets out to discover why.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - THUMPER: Plenty of humour in challenging play with brilliant final twist
- reviewed by Forrest Denize

Relatively new to the playwriting scene, Ward has jumped in the deep end with a play tackling the controversial issues of violence and rape in a society where sports that rely on ‘brute force’ as much as skill are celebrated, and their champions – no matter how troubled – revered.

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The Dark Room at Te Manawa, Palmerston North - THEY SAW A THYLACINE: Enthralling, thoughtfully crafted and passionately presented
- reviewed by Richard Mays

Like one of Banjo Patterson’s bush ballads, double Melbourne Fringe award-winner They Saw A Thylacine cracks along at a terrific clip.

For this tale of tragic extinction, Australian performers Sarah Hamilton and Justine Campbell inhabit a wood and wire cage littered with fruit and rinds.

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The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street Palmerston North, New Plymouth - DARK DEEDS: Entertaining, offbeat intrigue
- reviewed by Richard Mays

In the course of a short evening, there are crimes committed – resulting in deaths. With a relatively high body count, these are indeed dark deeds exposed in this premiere programme of short plays produced by Skin Theatre.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - END OF THE RAINBOW: 'Rainbow' a torrid portrait of Garland extremes
- reviewed by Alan Scott

It was the end of the rainbow, sure enough, at the Court on Saturday night as we watched the fading of the light in this compelling story of Judy Garland’s decline from supreme performer to needy, booze-addled, pill-popping addict, desperate for love and nowhere to go but down.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - END OF THE RAINBOW: Vitality, poignancy and sheer theatricality
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Christchurch audiences do not often roar. Polite applause certainly, or sometimes enthusiastic whoops, but very rarely a spontaneous roar such as rose from the auditorium on the opening night of this riveting play. It was a fitting tribute to directors, cast, musicians and production team.

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Opera House, Wellington - CARL BARRON: A ONE ENDED STICK: Co-ordinated, accented, energetic, linguistic, insightful and intelligent
- reviewed by Lucy O'Connor

His comedy set flows like an enema right from the start. He is self-effacing to the point where I start to embrace my own short comings and wonder if I too can create comedy gold just by looking in the mirror. His tales of family life and childhood are all too relatable and we get a sound knowledge of where his questioning the English language with its quips and quirks began.

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The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street Palmerston North, New Plymouth - DARK DEEDS: Unreal alternatives
- reviewed by John Ross

Here’s a bracket of four experimental theatre pieces, where – what the hell – writers, directors and actors can play around any way they like, so long as what they do is enjoyable, in one way or another; challenging, effectively engaging and holding an audience, and somehow hanging together, on its own terms.

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Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson, Auckland - ACCESS: THE MIXIT SUMMER PROJECT 2014: Gifting stories we can all relate to
- reviewed by Christina Houghton

Beginning with a vibrant celebratory atmosphere of a hot summer’s evening, with music and dancing by the sausage sizzle, we were taken on a meandering journey between the personal and the narratable through the changing sites of past, present and future. As the promotional blurb stated “What does it mean to have, or be denied, access to information, knowledge, opportunities and support?” Access was a performance piece that entwined these questions into an abstract, complex and deep work that left me feeling like I had been welcomed into the wonderful enriching process that the Mixit Summer Project must have been for all participants invloved.

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NASDA Theatre, E Block, CPIT, Christchurch - THE SECRET LIVES OF HENRY AND ALICE: Well-worn but still welcome
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Domestic quibbling is given a rigorous – though possibly not exhaustive – once-over in this gently satirical comedy. The real life of Henry and Alice Smith is contrasted regularly with fantasy escapes, played by the same two actors.

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

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