A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including These are the Skeletons of Us, Eight, and King Lear.

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

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Victoria Theatre (The Vic), 93 Victoria Rd, Devonport, Auckland - INTIMACIES: SWEET THING & I’D RATHER BE THE POPE: Watchable if somewhat abstruse black comedy

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Two new thematically linked one-act plays show something of a conceptual departure from playwright Stephen Sinclair’s previous celebrated works, with mixed results.

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Basement Theatre, Auckland - THESE ARE THE SKELETONS OF US: Fully formed, well realised, very funny

- reviewed by Stephen Austin

Theatre about relationships can often be fraught with traps. It is so easy to fall into angst-ridden clichés and well-worn stereotypes to get the point across and it can quickly fall into a conjugal bore. How to make material like this work well and still make an attempt at being original?

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Basement Theatre, Auckland - THE TERRIFIC TALE OF TABATHA TALMUS: A play around with well known tropes and images creates a cracking story

- reviewed by Stephen Austin

It is Tabatha’s thirteenth birthday. She receives a book as a gift. Reaching for the highest shelf on her bookcase, it falls on top of her and she tumbles into a netherworld of her own imaginings that are at once whimsical and darkly troubled.

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Circa Two, Wellington - EIGHT: You be the judge

- reviewed by John Smythe

Serendipitously when I saw the second (Sunday) show, the two monologues not covered in Caoilinn’s review (link below) were included.

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Circa Two, Wellington - EIGHT: Eight becomes six as choice examined

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Eight is the play you can vote for the characters you would like to see. You can vote on-line or you can vote as you enter the theatre. The voting form provides the briefest of descriptions of them and which New Zealand fashion house has dressed them. You will get to meet six of them.

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Meteor Theatre, Hamilton - KING LEAR: Great play done exceptionally well

- reviewed by Gail Pittaway

Full House Productions deserve full houses for this gripping, fast-paced performance of one of the most complex plays Shakespeare ever wrote. Michael Switzer’s direction is imaginative, yet makes clear the many factions and rival jealousies that arise when aging Lear decides to divide his kingdom between three daughters ...

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Circa Two, Wellington - EIGHT: Relevant, revelatory and entertaining

- reviewed by Caoilinn Hughes

Four talented performers play eight different characters/ monologues in the production of British writer Ella Hickson’s Eight currently running at Circa Theatre. The catch is that we only get to see six of these performances. The play is marketed on its quirk: the audience has to vote which six monologues they want to see before the show.

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The TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland - THE INTREPID BAZAAR: Relaxing immersion in arty whim

- reviewed by Natalie Dowd

An evening of enjoyable fun and relaxing immersion in arty whim, and as the name suggests; dauntless fancy. It is a well organised event and it is fantastic to see the camaraderie within the dance industry supporting one of our own to fly.

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Downstage - return season, Wellington - STRIKE: ELEMENTAL: Subtle brilliance, visceral energy

- reviewed by Caoilinn Hughes

There were earplugs on the armrests of the seats last night at Downstage Theatre for Strike Percussion’s performance, but very few people used them. Most members of the audience didn’t want to miss a beat. If you don’t want to miss a beat in the pulse of New Zealand culture, book tickets for Strike Elemental now.

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Whitirea Performance Centre, 25-27 Vivian Street, Wellington - ANGLE POISE: Dexterity, discipline and tongue-in-cheek humour

- reviewed by Greer Robertson

Diligence, tenacity, grace but above all, discipline is required in dance.

And with that discipline comes freedom.

The Crows Feet Dance Collective performers comprising of two groups from both Wellington and Kapiti Coast, certainly find that freedom! Their heartfelt desires are evident in their overall joy to express their common passion.

They throw caution to the wind and just dance!

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Basement Theatre, Te Whaea National Dance & Drama Centre, Wellington - HAMLET: An understanding simple and unschooled

- reviewed by Kiran Matthews

In reviewing a faithful adaptation of any Shakespearean tragedy, without having so much as a basic grasp on Elizabethan vocabulary, one would expect a bewildering and foreign experience. I did, and for the first half-hour of Hamlet, that is exactly what I got. Curiously, this changed as the story progressed.

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Circa One, Wellington - WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING: A must see at Circa

- reviewed by Lynn Freeman

You may remember just a few months ago I urged you to go and see August:Osage County at Circa. I urge you even harder to see this production. It’s that important.

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

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including I Love You Bro, One by One, and When the Rain Stops Falling.

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