A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: The Island Bay Loners Doomsday Christmas Sing Along, The Taming of the Shrew,  Wheeler’s Luck,  Munted, and  Gaga: The Unmentionable.

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

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: The Island Bay Loners Doomsday Christmas Sing Along, The Taming of the Shrew,  Wheeler’s Luck,  Munted, and  Gaga: The Unmentionable.

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

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Old Folks Association Hall, 8 Gundry St, Newton, Auckland - GAGA: THE UNMENTIONABLE: Absorbing interplay communicates richly
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

In her latest work, Gaga: the unmentionable, the material comes from her own life, touching on her struggles with Gagana Samoa (Samoan language), her experiences while being raised in Auckland by hard-working parents who regularly sent money back to Samoa to help relatives, and with neighbours and other members of the community as she passed through primary school. Throughout the work there are references to the selfless gift of love, skill and commitment required from performers and their family members if art projects are to be brought to fruition.

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WHITIREIA THEATRE - return season, Wellington - WHEELER’S LUCK: Lively Wheeler’s Luck turns at full throttle
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

You have until this Saturday to see this gloriously funny production of Wheeler’s Luck, which was originally a comic tour de force back in 2002 for Nigel Collins and Toby Leach.

The End of the Golden Weather and Toa Fraser’s No 2 have been transformed but not distorted by being filled out with more than one actor and now Wheeler’s Luck has been expanded from two actors playing fifty roles between them to twelve actors playing the forty-nine characters of a remote coastal town and one outsider ...

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Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - MUNTED: Solid
- reviewed by Matt Baker

From Liz Carpenter and Alana Kelly’s poster design to the un-credited set design in performance, the teacup motif in Munted is both an accurate and elegant metaphor for the fragility and communal aspects of life surrounding the February earthquake. It is also brilliantly used in breaking the fourth wall the moment the audience enters the performance space ...

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TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland - THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: Full of energy, adventure and daring
- reviewed by Johnny Givins

“We shouldn’t teach Shakespeare, we should perform Shakespeare” – Sir Ben Kingsley.

The proof of this is on stage at TAPAC and it is wonderful to watch. Rita Stone formed the Young Auckland Shakespeare Company in July 2012 for 14-21 year old actors. The Taming of the Shrew is the first performance by this enthusiastic young company.

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Gryphon, Wellington - A CHRISTMAS CRACKER: Creative ingenuity, responsiveness and – yes – wit
- reviewed by John Smythe

Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is bulging with presence this festive season, mounting multiple performances of five improv formats plus a charity event within a fortnight, under the collective title A Christmas Cracker. I caught the two opening shows …

As we find our seats in the Gryphon, musician Tane Upjohn-Beatson is playing with himself ...

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WHITIREIA THEATRE - return season, Wellington - WHEELER’S LUCK: Truly ridiculous, utterly hilarious, and refreshingly agenda-free farce
- reviewed by Caoilinn Hughes

I have to admit that I’m often reluctant to review ‘youth group’ theatre, as I worry that the critical eye that is calibrated for first-rate professional productions might need re-calibration, given the inexperienced actors and minimal rehearsal time given to casual, youth ensembles.

However, Long Cloud Youth Theatre’s production of Wheeler’s Luck needs no such leniency.

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Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - MUNTED: Given fresh, engaging life and vigour
- reviewed by Stephen Austin

With the Christchurch quakes still fresh in our minds and the cleanup still very much in progress, it should be a difficult job of theatre to add something valid without over-dramatising or sentimentalising situations. There is so much deep feeling, even for those on the outer of this greatest of natural disasters in this country, that we all need some form of catharsis to help us process it.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - GREASE: Infectious verve, irresistible songs, dashing personalities
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Musical theatre at The Court has always been a great marker for summer and all the good things that go with a holiday season. The sheer scale typical of the genre has challenged the company's resources many a time and the result has always been rewarded by warm applause.

The ecstatic roar which kept the cast returning for yet another bow and the extra round given to the band once the actors had cleared for the last time, was something else.

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BATS, Wellington - THE ISLAND BAY LONERS DOOMSDAY CHRISTMAS SING ALONG: A whimsical excuse to sing a few songs
- reviewed by John Smythe

Impending apocalypse is the premise that brings a bunch of loner misfits together (or not) on the tiny island in Island Bay to share (or not) the best last Christmas Day ever.

The Island Bay Loners Doomsday Christmas Sing Along is ‘writen’, according to the programme & song book, by Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobsen and Edward Watson. Directed by Uther Dean with musical director Kerina Deas, the opportunity it affords for a Christmas sing-along is welcome and fun. Other elements are under-developed.

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Aotea Centre at THE EDGE®, Auckland - GISELLE: Giselle - a truly magnificent production
- reviewed by Rosemary Martin

Giselle, danced by Antonia Hewitt, soon makes an appearance. Hewitt dances the role of Giselle with fragility and picture book perfection. While seeming a little nervous in her act one solo, by the mad scene she had convinced us of her character. In the midst of going mad she is momentarily perfectly still, sitting in the middle of the stage, hair loose and eyes glazed, her pain and aching heart become all very real – a wonderful dramatic interpretation. In act two, Hewitt really settles into the role. Technically superb, she gives an entrance in the opening of this act that is breath taking.

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

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