The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of  Black Grace Presents Xmas Verses (2014), The Pink Hammer, and Le Franglais Improv Comedy Show.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of  Black Grace Presents Xmas Verses (2014), The Pink Hammer, and Le Franglais Improv Comedy Show.

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

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VANILLA MIRAKA: Having the nerve to touch this nerve
James Cabaret, Hania Street, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

Vanilla Miraka is personal, dramatised, comedic storytelling that eschews the unities of ‘time, place and action’ despite the setting. Hayley Sproull is right here, right now, telling her story to us in this contrived performance space. It’s about her attempts to deal with being a quarter Maori but not looking it ...

Sproull excels in ‘comedy of awkwardness-cum-embarrassment’ ...

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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR: Jesus and co cover visual cracks with voices from heaven
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

In reimagining Jesus and the Apostles as a rock band, director Oliver Driver delivers a hot mess; it's sometimes excellent, often obvious elements haven't yet quite cohered. It may not matter: the superstar of this Auckland Theatre Company production is the singing, and, boy, we hear some impressive pipes.

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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR: Jesus Lives!
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Jesus Christ Superstar is a deceptively difficult musical. What seems at first a song-list with the appropriate momentum to a presumptuously well-known plot can also be exposed as an inadequate foothold for character journeys and development. Thankfully, director Oliver Driver has handled this difficulty with excellent casting decisions.

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THE PINK HAMMER: Good script, strong cast, impeccably directed
Centrepoint, Palmerston North
- reviewed by John Ross

Clearly, then, this is not entirely straightforward feel-good comedy, although it does offer quite a lot of good laughs, grins and smiles. It does get fairly dark, especially later on, and this production does justice to both sides.

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MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN: ‘Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose’
Unitec Theatre, Entry 1, Carrington Rd, Mt Albert, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Clever Mr Brecht, I think, to use such tools to create what has become the most profound anti-war play of all time. Clever Mr Szusterman as well for wrenching it all off the page, understanding the intent and making it happen for us in such a confronting and powerful manner.

Perhaps cleverest of all, though, is genius wordsmith and translator Tony Kushner. While Brecht is certainly alive and well in this work, it is Kushner’s cracking, snarling, in-your-face text ...

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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR: Fantastic, magical journey involving and immersing
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Jan Maree

Director Oliver Driver states in the programme notes that he wanted to raise the roof and give us the same sense of the musical as was delivered in the original of the 1970s. He has done that, involving and immersing the audience in the show. We are in no particular place, in no particular time. As someone raised in the church I feel he has bowed to, and remained ultimately respectful of, the true religious nature of the show: it’s not modern and yet it is… Does that even make sense? It will if you see this production.

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ZOMBIES?: Zombies farewell BATS out-of-site
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

Our MC, Greg Ellis, explains the raison d’etre for this show is to end the ‘love-in’ that festivals inevitably become. Audiences – largely made up of participants, he suggests – cheer on their new friends’ work regardless of quality and this must be stopped. In the last show of a festival dealing with an art form that relies on creating a supportive environment, Ellis wants to destroy that entirely.

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TAKING OFF THE BIRD SUIT - NZIF: Mayhem, shemozzle, shambollocks and a right old mess with audience participation
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Grace Hoet

Take nine improvisers, throw in any type of personality, situation, location with the odd one liner, give a jolly good shake and you might end up in Waitomo Caves on a tour with a couple of women revealing their martial secrets of murder and hitmen.

Next you're in Wainuiomata meeting the mum with super powers; a good start.

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SPACE PATROL 5: The strongest genre-piece of the festival
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

In the guise of a computer named Computer, our guide Matt Powell walks on stage carrying a variety of space junk with him. It is revealed these are in fact starships created by industrious audience members before the show. Powell asks us to clap for the ship we would like to be our Starship Enterprise. With the appropriate Thunderbird-esque bottle-taped-to-egg-tray-designed ship selected and christened the Black Eagle by the crowd, the show begins in one of the more stylish opening sequences seen at the festival.

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A HALLOWEEN DOUBLE-BILL: Justice not done
Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Cherie Moore

A collaboration between WildBoy Productions and Female Company hits the Musgrove Theatre this Halloween, with a double bill of The Cagebirds by David Campton and Mark Healey’s adaption of The Collector by John Fowles. These dark tales ask what you would do if you were kept in the dark.

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DUOS: Two by two
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Grace Hoet

Halloween Night and the NZ Improvisation Festival serves up live theatre at its scariest! No safety nets, no theatricality/gimmicks; a one-day rehearsal period, one live musician, a general wash lit stage and a keen audience, sets the scene for some dynamic Duos.

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SYLVESTRO'S SPOOKY CABARET BURLESQUE: Bawdiness, tawdriness, mayhem and madness – in the library
BATS Theatre (Out-Of-Site) Understudy Bar, Wellington
- reviewed by Jonathan Kingston-Smith

On a crisp All Hallow's Eve, beneath a star-scarred sky and beyond the throngs of drunk young folks in Hallowe'en costumes, something wicked comes to the library.

It first appears in the form of our leering and malevolent guide, Sylvestro: lank of hair, gravel-choked of voice and chunky of calf. He opens this performance with a spirited and startlingly accurate rendition of Tom Waits' 'Reeperbahn'. He also reveals that virtually any sentence can be followed by the phrase “...in the library” with consistently amusing results.

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MONSTER OF THE WEEK: Succeeds aesthetically but not immersive
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

Television programmes like The X-Files and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer were some of the purest forms of escapism to be had in the 1990s. Each week you could tune-in to see your favourite protagonist hunt various monsters, demons and beasties as they tried to maintain relationships and lead ‘normal’ lives. Monster of The Week takes this winning formula for tonight’s show and in doing so creates nostalgia for that bygone era of excellent science-fiction.

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GHOST CONFERENCE: Needs retooling
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

The tone of the piece is similar to a film by Jim Jarmusch: brooding and contemplative but also lacking a clear narrative or plot progression. Because these characters have all ceased to be, their days consist of scaring people for no particular ends, they are stuck in a vacuum, their lives are inherently meaningless.

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Go see this production and take the kids, they need to know about Dickens.
St James Theatre, Wellington
- reviewed by Lyne Pringle

Act II is fantastic. Lighting gauzes, costumes and scene changes are imaginatively used to conjure various ghosts and sprits. Here this grand production really takes off. Scrooge moves through his dark night of the soul as he confronts his shortcomings led by the Ghost of Christmas Past; the lithesome Lori Gilchrist with the best entrance in the show and the Ghost of Christmas Present; the flamboyant MacLean Hopper with the best costume in the show.

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THE GOOD GOD SINGALONG: A bawdy, irreverent hour
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Jonathan Kingston-Smith

The improvised lyrics are impressive, with all of the featured soloists adroitly concocting amusing words and phrases. The majority of the cast handle the singing duties well, providing apt harmonies and amusing interjections with only a smattering of the expected pitching issues. There is a marked preference for musical theatre-style belting (with a sliver of Gospel hollering for good measure) and it would perhaps benefit the production to utilise a wider range of vocal expression.

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CONARTISTS OLIVER TWISTED: Authentically grounded and monumentally silly
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

As pointed out by our effervescent host, Penny Ashton, Dickens is filled with larger-than-life characters and ConArtists do not disappoint, weaving a story filled to brim with Dickensian tropes of hidden identities, sudden turns of fortune and a hero undergoing a life of hardship, grief and toil.

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PLUS ONE: Delightful and satisfying
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Lori Leigh

The show is divided into three segments, each featuring Haddad joined by one of his international scene partners. No musicians and no complicated premises or concepts here. The show is simply two actors meeting on an empty stage and playing from a place of listening, trust, and skill.

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IN THE PARLOUR: Truly a delight to hilariously flutter over trivialities
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

Anna Renzenbrink and Jenny Lovell play sisters Tilly and Flora Georgeson respectively: two delightful sisters from the small English country town of Cottesloe. Rezenbrink and Lovell have been developing these characters over the past three years and their time and dedication is on show. Tilly and Flora seem like they have stepped out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel.

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THE PAPER CINEMA’S ODYSSEY: Sophisticated theatrical magic
Lower NZI, Level 1, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

Homer’s Odyssey is an epic journey that has become one of the touchstones of the literary canon. But at its heart is the journey of a father who wishes to reunite with his wife and son. Of course in true Homeric style the way home is scattered with obstacles that include monsters, unforgiving gods, descent into the underworld and ravenous suitors waiting to take his wife and kingdom – should he not return.

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THE PAPER CINEMA’S ODYSSEY: Dionysus would approve
Lower NZI, Level 1, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

For a story that has passed from an oral tradition, and then written down by Homer, it’s intriguing how The Paper Cinema tell their Odyssey mainly through visual imagery and sound, filmed and played live. Even with the technological mediation (or perhaps because of) I felt connected with a story that has been retold and repurposed throughout the ages ...

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THE TOPP TWINS GRAND OLE TOPPREY TOUR: A Variety Show with real class
TSB Showplace, New Plymouth
- reviewed by Holly Shanahan

Every time I have seen the Topp Twins it has been a total delight, and they certainly did not disappoint a full house at the TSB Showplace in New Plymouth (where they have had to add a show due to demand: go the Naki!). This show, however, differs from their standard format, playing out much more as a variety show, with some of the most talented country/blues performers NZ has to offer.

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LAST CHANCE CAFE: A great sense of fun, openness and play
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
- reviewed by Cherie Moore

Each character in Last Chance Cafe is a creation of the actor playing that character. All are clearly defined, recognisable and sustained throughout the piece. Many are also very funny, and each seems to fit within this world and complement the others well. There is a strong sense of the ensemble at work and a true support of each other on stage.

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LAST CHANCE CAFE: Give them another
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

The Hobson Street Theatre Company has something significant on their hands: real people with real stories. Founded four and a half years ago, it began as an activity on offer at the mission, eventually developing into a legitimate theatre company, and its company is legitimately developing.

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BLACK GRACE PRESENTS XMAS VERSES (2014): Dance that sparkles with freshness, exuberance and wit
Playhouse, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton
- reviewed by Debbie Bright

We are treated to a programme of projected moving and still images, humour, and high energy, high impact, high velocity dance. The first section is a video of the work Mother Mother (Music: Fat Freddy’s Drop), hugely energetic and fast with gaspingly high lifts and throws of dancers; this piece is then presented live as the danced finale. The rhythms are often toe-tappingly enjoyable. The dance is extreme in energy and accuracy. The audience’s response turns from giggling to outright laughter, particularly during the antics of boys who have had too much to drink, and the girls who try to manage them. All sections of the work are enhanced by back-dropped visuals featuring cleverly designed images of the company, and holiday and backyard scenes. These visuals, of course, add to the humour, atmosphere and general entertainment of the work.

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THE UNDERARM: Laughter with insight – and a chance to throw cans
Hannah Playhouse (previously Downstage), Wellington
- reviewed by Maryanne Cathro

It has been my experience of the middle-aged man that he does not express how he feels except under extreme duress. How appropriate then, that the action unfolds at the Basin Reserve between two middle-aged brothers, trying to fill in time after the catastrophic news that the start of the test has been delayed for an hour. Duress indeed!

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LE FRANGLAIS IMPROV COMEDY SHOW: A different kind of thinking
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Shannon Friday

Bonus points of awesomeness for doing both languages at the same time. Because that's one of improv's key drivers: the people working so hard in front of you might just fail spectacularly. Sometimes you're here to watch a train wreck; conversely you might hope for a miracle.

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PANTO: Infectious reckless abandon
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Alex Wilson

Pantomimes are a carnival. They offer a liminal space where tyrants can be mocked, fools are our heroes and the audience can come together as an infantile mass to celebrate all that is vulgar, admonish all that is uncharitable and break any sense of theatrical decorum with shouts of “He’s behind you!”

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THE MAP: Great setup compromised by not accepting audience offers
BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington
- reviewed by Shannon Friday

This show has such a great setup. At the beginning of the night, we as an audience get to make a map. This map will form the landscape for the scenes the rest of the night. I love the engagement with the crowd and openness to suggestions. After an early split between a hot and a cold location, we wind up with a tropical island, complete with a geyser, shipwreck, a giant lagoon, a tribal village surrounded by magically-unmelted snow, and a cave of snakes.

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

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