The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of  Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Events, and The Travelling Squirrel.

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

* * *

The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of  Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Events, and The Travelling Squirrel.

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

* * *

THE BLACK: The start of a powerful and creative courageous conversation
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

Heartfelt, honest and creative, it exposes the dark side of depression by using a variety of different storytelling forms and for the most part, these work well together. It’s a personal story written and performed by Josephine Stewart-Tewhiu (Cleo) along with Kate McGill (Sondra) and Julia Croft (The Black).

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

KNIFED: Yet to reveal its true self
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The six well-rehearsed actors are impressively on top of their roles as individuals and work fluidly together as an ensemble. Moment by often frenzied moment, punctuated by welcome oases of coherence, they clearly know all about everything that’s going on. But for much of the play their audience is relegated to the role of onlookers whose capacity to tune into the undoubted details, complexities and possibly even subtleties within this drama is severely restricted.

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

ERNEST RUTHERFORD: EVERYONE CAN SCIENCE!: ON THE MONEY
The Basement -return season, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Entering in an ego-fuelled bluster and cutting right to the chase, Rutherford’s informative lecture on the principles of atomic physics soon transforms into an animated life-story, rich with poignant discovery and poetic passion, and for some reason more than a little bit obsessed with swans.

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

SHORT+SWEET THEATRE NZ 2015 THEATRE WEEK 1: Deserves a bigger audience
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
- reviewed by Bronwyn Elsmore

These evenings of 10-minute dramas are valuable for several reasons. They provide opportunities for theatre practitioners – writers, directors, actors, backstage crews – to learn, share, and showcase their skills, and they can also be entertaining evenings for new audiences.

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

30FORWARD- FOOTNOTE NEW ZEALAND DANCE: Eclectic diversity and virtuoso inventiveness
Opera House, Wellington
- reviewed by Chris Jannides

While Flip Pivot Boom may have one section in it too many, I don’t know anyone here who currently does it better or so often. Malia’s choreographic images are never less than crystal clear. She is a movement maestro who is in heavy demand. As I watch, I scribble these words: clever, complex, fast, thrashy, pulsy, tight, angular, twisty, hoppy, runny, frenetic, spastic, show-offy, airborne. I try to label it: pop-art dance set to a modernist videographic aesthetic of cool monochrome and pastel

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

THE EVENTS: Asking the Unanswerable
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

When we hear reports of mass shootings, we can recognise the actions of, in the case of the forcibly nameless Anders Behring Breivik, a complete stranger in "human" terms. Tragedy without character is comprehensible, but it remains impersonal, however empathetic one may be. So how do we understand beyond the 'what' without character motivation? How do we make sense of the senseless?

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

THE TRAVELLING SQUIRREL: Robert Lord’s The Travelling Squirrel gets a much-needed resurrection at Circa
Circa One, Wellington
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

One of our more esteemed playwrights, Robert Lord has had a number of his plays produced locally, the most successful being Joyful and Triumphant. Yet The Travelling Squirrel, written in 1987, has only ever had one production in New Zealand in 1994, languishing in the vaults of Playmarket ever since.

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

HEROES: A touching, honest window into friendship and solidarity
Maidment, Auckland
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

The undeniable craft of George Henare, Ray Henwood and Ken Blackburn delivers a sublime performance of Gerald Sibleyras’ perceptive yet quirky play, Heroes. Under director Alison Quigan’s unrushed touch, the men’s effortless ensemble-interweave hits all the right notes.

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

THE TRAVELLING SQUIRREL: Reality revealed through fantasy with delectable flair
Circa One, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

As a New Zealand playwright ‘living the dream’ in New York, it could be said Robert Lord bit the Big Apple of fantasy to discover the worm of reality that became his muse. As an outsider seeking recognition, his empathy with artists trying to ‘make it’ doubtless made his observations of the infrastructure they sought to infiltrate particularly acute. Multiple strands of reality entwine to create the fantasy that is The Travelling Squirrel. Twist Roger with Bart to get Robert.

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

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT: Wit and audacity tightly packaged
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

Showbiz Christchurch’s original production of Spamalot was in rehearsal during, and ultimately fell victim to, the Canterbury earthquakes in early 2011. It’s fitting, and a great Python-esque middle finger to seismic events, that the premiere of this season of Spamalot comes on the fifth anniversary of the first earthquake in September 2010.

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

DUCK, DEATH AND THE TULIP: Entrancing
Isaac Theatre Royal, The Gloucester Room, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

Duck, Death and the Tulip is a philosophical and moving fable about the emergent friendship between a duck and his own personal Death. Based on a German children’s book, it gently and agnostically deals with the way that death is simply a part of life.

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

THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES: Uplifting, edifying, impressive
Fletcher Construction Festival Studio at The Arts Centre, Christchurch
- reviewed by Grant Hindin Miller

Billed for children and families, this show has the elegance of simplicity, the refinement of mastery, the magic of live theatre and does justice to the poetic imagination of its Provencal author, Jean Giono.

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

FARLEY’S ARCADE: THE WILDEST PLACE IN TOWN: A truly remarkable achievement
Athenaeum Building, The Octagon, Dunedin
- reviewed by Brenda Harwood

Early Dunedin is brought to life in all its raucous, muddy glory in Wow! Productions' delightful and fascinating promenade theatre event, Farley's Arcade – The Wildest Place in Town.

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

FARLEY’S ARCADE: THE WILDEST PLACE IN TOWN: Great amusement in this arcade
Athenaeum Building, The Octagon, Dunedin
- reviewed by Barbara Frame

Set in 1865, it has three distinct parts. First, the audience assembles in the Athenaeum Theatre for the first act of The Golden Handkerchief, a shamelessly overwrought and derivative Victorian melodrama penned by Richard Huber.

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

YANA ALANA: BETWEEN THE CRACKS: Outrageous, messy and fun
Concert Chamber, Town Hall, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by Roxanne de Bruyn

Yana Alana’s voice has great range and versatility and her talent, stage presence and wit gives her performance surprising depth. She plays with the audience throughout the act, drawing us in, as she takes us on the journey with her, letting us spiral through her thoughts and insecurities. She often builds up the punchlines, so they come as no surprise, but it’s the anticipation that’s much of the fun, allowing us to laugh with her.

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

KRAKEN (TRYGVE WAKENSHAW): Completely won over
Isaac Theatre Royal, The Gloucester Room, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

His free associations are silly, often surreal, intermittently smutty and occasionally quite grotesque. This is something that I am well into, but which the couple sitting next to me find borderline offensive, and when they are called on to participate they sit in stony silence. Well, too bad for them.

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

SHORT + SWEET DANCE 2015 - SHOW 2: Broad array includes some gems
TAPAC - The Auckland Performing Arts Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

The programme opener Escalated, a trio danced by Monique Westerdaal, Chancy Rattanong and Shane Tofaeono, and choreographed by Casey Reid is finely tuned and cleverly pitched to ensure that audience attention will be riveted on a white-taped rectangle on the stage floor which serves as the arena for a series of (mostly) good-natured tussles for spatial dominance. Each dancer gets their turn in the spotlight which clings to the rectangle, Westerdaal in the opening sequences as she tapes the shape on the floor than makes it her own for the moment; Rattatong as the others have counted themselves out via their own tussling, and Tofaeono after a particularly robust booting of the others out of contention. At just under 6 minutes in length, this was perfectly pitched.

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

HAMLET: THE VIDEO GAME (THE STAGE SHOW): Lovingly patched gameplay pastiche
Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into an avatar in a bad-ass action game in which Hamlet, packing heat, takes on the rotten state, one non-player character at a time.

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

THE EVENTS: More poetic, spiritual and still than graphic
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

There’s the rub: how can a perpetrator ever really explain why they ‘step inside a 30-second moment’ (to quote the wonderful Celia Lashlie). Are they mad, bad or just plain evil? What do we do with ‘monsters’ and how do we make sense of their actions? These are big questions – possibly unanswerable – and this is the play’s challenge.

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

TIM FINN: WHITE CLOUD: A fascinating expression of layered artistry
TVNZ Festival Club, Arts Centre, Christchurch
- reviewed by Grant Hindin Miller

New Zealanders are a people “who are defined by what they’re not” (White Cloud). One of the things we don’t do is draw attention to ourselves. Tim Finn’s stroll onto stage in the TVNZ Festival Club without sound, lighting, musical, or dramatic cue, exemplifies this sentiment.

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

LADY RIZO: UNDER: A deep and meaningful ritual of glitter
TVNZ Festival Club, Arts Centre, Christchurch
- reviewed by Grant Hindin Miller

As well as being glam, adorable, a consummate entertainer (with an amplifier in her throat), she has a dynamic stage presence. What a voice and what a presence. Did I mention she’s delicious, lovely, and a bundle of joy? And she is one smart blonde.

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

AN EVENING WITH THE INCREDIBLE MR CAPSIS: Truly incredible - has to be experienced
Concert Chamber, Town Hall, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Young

A reserved but thoroughly attentive crowd might have been forgiven for being left a little stunned by the charismatic Capsis as he covers repertoire and style that runs the gamut between Paul Kelly and Diamanda Galas. An invitation to break the rules ( ‘that’s what Cabaret is all about says Capsis) is tempting to accept, as in this case one gets the impression that audience participation would probably be more pleasurable than painful.

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

THE WHITE GUITAR: A theatrical experience not to be missed
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

The most striking aspect of this production is the ability of the father Fa'amoana to be able to sit, strumming his white guitar, watching and listening as his two sons describe, often in graphic detail, the horrors of growing up with him as a father.

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

MEASURE FOR MEASURE: Presented with a passionate intensity
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

"With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," said Christ in The Sermon on the Mount and with Measure for Measure Shakespeare was in a Shavian mood for a theatrical debate about morality.

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

TRAPPED: An interesting patchwork of human behaviour
Fletcher Construction Festival Studio at The Arts Centre, Christchurch
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

A barman, putting out the empty bottles at the end of a long night, shuts himself in an inescapable alley. A circus performer finds comfort in the confines of routines and an impossibly constraining box. A young butcher plans to end an abusive relationship.

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

THE VODAFONE SEASON OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: Love makes the world go round
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Bernadette Rae

Scarlett seems to have cast a spell of his own over the company, who dance with an abundant natural joy. The choreography is speedy and sparkling as befits a tribe of sprites, rambunctious for the earthlings and strictly within the classical technique for all, and it is all superbly performed. But there is also a new openness and freedom so each character's personality shines from within, bringing the narrative an unselfconscious clarity with never a moment of clunky ballet mime.

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

SISTER ANZAC: Effectively affecting despite some affectation
Te Pou Theatre, 44a Portage Road, New Lynn, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

One hundred years on* from the Great (absurd and tragic) War ‘to end all wars’, humanity is still piecing together what they can from official records and diaries of the time to … what? Try to make sense of it all? Learn from their mistakes? Simply acknowledge the sacrifice our recent ancestors made in the belief that they were fighting for a better world for us, their children’s children’s children?

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

CAMILLE O'SULLIVAN: ‘There’s a crack in everything; that’s where the light gets in’
Concert Chamber, Town Hall, Auckland Live, Auckland
- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

The real strength is O’Sullivan’s voice. She finds the still point in a song and stretches it, massages it, then fills it with emotion. She has a gift for finding the chink in the armour of a song and swimming around in its emotional texture. ‘There’s a crack in everything; that’s where the light gets in’, writes Leonard Cohen, and this sums up her approach perfectly as her voice gets in to the heart of a song/story. O’Sullivan is inherently dramatic and capable of telling a story with words and tone. Her version of ‘Hurt’ is like hearing a female Johnny Cash and it’s fantastic.

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

IF THERE’S NOT DANCING AT THE REVOLUTION, I’M NOT COMING…: Audacious, liberating, outstanding
The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Croft is wearing a white ostrich feather in her hair, a blingy pink dress with oodles of tulle and, underneath, what looks like a green shirt thingie. There’s obviously more clothing to come but just exactly what is still not visible and Californian film maker James Broughton’s A Long Undressing comes to mind along with his advice to movie makers that they should “follow their own weird”. I’m not finding Croft’s ‘weird’ particularly peculiar but it’s certainly different and in a very good way, and this is just the beginning.

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

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: Strong performances subverted by lighting
St Paul’s Cathedral Crypt, The Octagon, Dunedin
- reviewed by Jennifer Aitken

Casting Bassanio as a female is fine; turning Shakespearean works into a contemporary comment on sexuality and same-sex relationships is a valiant mission. I do however question the use of The Merchant of Venice with which to do so. I feel there are potentially easier Shakespearean plays to do this with. Perhaps Bassanio could have been renamed Bassania (given the masculine and feminine structures within the Italian language)?

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

MEASURE FOR MEASURE: Brave, ambitious, artful
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Lori Leigh

The ‘human capacity for contradictions’ lies at the heart of Hilary Penwarden’s production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure on at BATS Theatre this week. The play itself is contradictory in nature, defying genre. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio, it is typically referred to now as a ‘problem play’ due to the many speeches about death and an uncomfortable ending; yes, it ends with marriage but also with forgiveness and reconciliation.

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

THE VODAFONE SEASON OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: Away with the fairies
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

Liam Scarlett's choreography keeps up a cracking pace to lay out and tie up all the necessary plot points within 2 hours. The dancing is clean, confident, crisp, and decorative as required, and all the major characters are well played... Subtly lambent lighting by Kendall Smith plays nicely with the black light used to produce the special effects, and faces are especially well lit.

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

WINGS: Superb as sisters
The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street, Palmerston North
- reviewed by Alexandra Bellad-Ellis

All three actresses are superb in their roles, giving the audience fully rounded, believable characters. Mohekey as the ‘normal’ sister running from her past, Sayer as a lovable vegan (hippie) who looks light on the outside but feels things deeply, and Cohen as a darker young adult dealing with the issues left behind at a home she couldn’t leave.

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

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2015 - WRAP #2: Visceral and powerful | Important truths | Terrifying then affirming | Admirable and charming | The best I've ever seen
Various Fringe venues, Edinburgh, Scotland
- reviewed by Sarah Tuck

The second Fringe Wrap from Edinburgh 2015.

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

LADY SINGS THE BLUES: A class act
Auckland Town Hall, Auckland
- reviewed by Kathryn van Beek

The show-stopping number of the evening came from Ladi6, who performed an outstanding version of Strange Fruit that left us feeling as though we’d just witnessed the scene at the poplar trees ourselves. The power of the words and the emotion of her voice added up to a truly transcendent moment.

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

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.