Although no-one is an island entire unto themselves, some are doomed to live in isolation. Quarantine is the third (at least) piece of Wellington theatre to be inspired by Matiu / Somes Island in the past 13 years.

Just one of many reviews added to theatreview.org.nz in the last week. See the list below.

Although no-one is an island entire unto themselves, some are doomed to live in isolation. Quarantine is the third (at least) piece of Wellington theatre to be inspired by Matiu / Somes Island in the past 13 years.

Just one of many reviews added to theatreview.org.nz in the last week. See the list below.

Theatreview is the New Zealand Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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BATS, Wellington
THINK OF ALL THE FUN YOU'LL FIND IN THE RUBBER ROOM: Simply Rubber
- reviewed by Phoebe Smith

The play explores the bizarre (and genuine) existence of 'rubber rooms' - a sort of detention facility for teachers awaiting hearings for disciplinary matters. Teachers must report to the room and spend their days (still earning their regular salaries) sitting there passing the time.

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fortyfivedownstairs, 45 flinders lane, Melbourne, Australia
SKIN TIGHT: An Intense Night of Intimate Portrayal
- reviewed by Mel Dodge

The tension is high from the word go, with a physical fight sequence. In fact the physicality of this show is one of its strengths. The choreography, moving between a fight sequence, dance and a beautiful push-pull movement section enhances the storytelling greatly.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington
DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN: Reality Takes Back Seat
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

With characteristic bravura Long Cloud Youth Theatre is presenting on alternate nights two plays concerned with youth and the discovery of the truth behind the typical Wildean witticism that 'the worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so unromantic'. Romance in both plays leads to murder.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: Reality Takes Back Seat
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

With characteristic bravura Long Cloud Youth Theatre is presenting on alternate nights two plays concerned with youth and the discovery of the truth behind the typical Wildean witticism that 'the worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so unromantic'. Romance in both plays leads to murder.

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Somes Island-meet at Queens Wharf, Wellington
QUARANTINE: Grim Diagnosis for Island-set Quarantine
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Matiu/Somes Island has attracted theatrical attention before now. And now Quarantine, a play that links the tormented ghosts of the island's past with the problems of the contemporary world.

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BATS, Wellington
BROKEN CHINA: Behind the style and smile mask
- reviewed by John Smythe

Back when suburbia encroached on the semi-rural surrounds of towns and ... whole new subdivisions sprouted, a different dimension was added to middle class New Zealand life.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: Mixed-result vehicle for Wildean epigrams
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

The Picture of Dorian Grey is a tribute to the beauty of youth, a love song to vanity and artifice, and a philosophical musing on morality, conscience and the soul. Oscar Wilde's novel, published in 1890, is an incisive portrait of the hypocrisies of nineteenth century society, chock full of his signature epigrams and fiendish wit.

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Somes Island-meet at Queens Wharf, Wellington
QUARANTINE: The realities of long-gone lives seen as metaphors for ours
- reviewed by John Smythe

Although no-one is an island entire unto themselves, some are doomed to live in isolation . Quarantine is the third (at least) piece of Wellington theatre to be inspired by Matiu / Somes Island in the past 13 years.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington
DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN: Challenging roles for talented youngsters
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

For those less familiar with the tale, Michelanne Forster's play Daughters of Heaven [1991] centres around the case of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme: two young girls from Christchurch whose obsessive friendship leads them to beat Pauline's mother to death with a half of a brick in a stocking.

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BATS, Wellington
THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE: 'Fairytale' a bizarre muddle
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

The making of too much apricot jam, an escape from an island by six women, a book called 'Magic for Dummies', a trek up a mountainside, what is the love of your life, and then back home to Plimmerton. These are roughly the essential points (or what I could gather from the events on stage) of The Love of Your Life ...

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Basement Theatre, Auckland
I WON'T BE HAPPY UNTIL I LOSE ONE OF MY LIMBS: Brave and original experiment
- reviewed by Lillian Richards

If the Basement were a human being it would be a cross dresser: one night an elegant lady, the next a garish whore. For tonight's opening ... the building is no longer a darkened dungeon but an hallucinogenic miniaturized Kiwi town populated by ice cream vendors and Astroturf, paddling pools and bark symbolising mountainous terrain.

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Matterhorn, Cuba Mall, Wellington
ETIQUETTE: A thespian at your table
- reviewed by Lynn Freeman

Theatre reviewers have to come up with an entirely different vocabulary to describe Etiquette. European company Rotozaza came up with the idea of a show where audience participation is more than an element, it's the whole performance.

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