The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Grimey Times, Hauraki Horror, The Reviewers, and Do Not Touch the Exhibition.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Grimey Times, Hauraki Horror, The Reviewers, and Do Not Touch the Exhibition.

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

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THE REVIEWERS: Multiple rings of ‘reality’ ring false
Level 2, Anvil House, 138-140 Wakefield Street, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The promo material calls it “shows within shows within shows” but actually The Reviewers plays fast and loose with shows without shows without shows … And by “without” I mean both standing outside and lacking, in this case rhyme or reason; without any internal logic to make it a cohesive show.

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DOGS: Not enough
Level 2, Anvil House, 138-140 Wakefield Street, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

When you settle your audience in a restaurant setting without a ‘stage’ as such, the expectations and anticipation that usually attend the preshow moments diminish. Because the game ‘restaurant’ is being played – complete with waiters who welcome us, ply us with water and will serve real food – anything that breaks the restaurant convention is automatically unsettling and potentially entertaining.

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HAURAKI HORROR: Silly Seas
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

The Basement Christmas show feels a little less ambitious this year. Long gone are your Kim Dotcoms and entire children’s choirs that have featured in Christmas shows pasts. The most ambitious thing in Hauraki Horror is probably the boat set designed brilliantly by Grant Hall to fill the length of The Basement, and one of the best sets The Basement has had all year.

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HAURAKI HORROR: Ridiculous romp encapsulates the silly season
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

When I was little I used to make my numerous Barbie dolls indulge in amorous lesbian affairs and cajole my one and only Ken to accept the responsibilities of polygamy and do endless acts of service (I’m talking cleaning the pool, kitchen and car, whatever you might be thinking) to keep his women accustomed to the life they were leading.

However, having no brothers I don’t quite know what a lot of little boys were doing back then. But on Saturday night as I watched Tom (Sainsbury) and Chris (Parker) swordfight with an appropriate ectothermic animal ...

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HAURAKI HORROR: Silly, shambolic and fun
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

The Basement's Christmas fundraising tradition is as scruffy and silly as a present wrapped by toddlers using tinsel and a gluestick. This year, the kids gifting the hokiness – even more of it than usual – are playwrights Thomas Sainsbury and Chris Parker.

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ROMEO AND JULIET: Timeless tale of love gets shot in the arm from young Shakespeareans
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Shakespeare's tale of teenage love is brought to life with an authentic, very contemporary infusion of teenage vitality from the Young Auckland Shakespeare Company.

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ROMEO AND JULIET: Keeping it real, spontaneous and new
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

TAPAC* is the chosen venue for Young Auckland Shakespeare Company’s classy modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s social commentary disguised as tragic romance, Romeo and Juliet. Directors Paul Gittins and his prodigiously talented progeny Calum Gittins have wisely focused on a topical social equivalent and their 2014 production is as modern as tomorrow.

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BUS TICKET MOVING ON: Best enjoyed with a friend
Bus-bay outside the TSB Arena, 4 Queens Wharf, Wellington
- reviewed by Deborah Eve Rea

Most characters seek out private conversation with audience members, some more successfully actually engaging and listening to audience members while other performers are little distracted and fall into the trap of ‘talking at’ their chosen audience member.

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GRIMEY TIMES: Howells of laughter a joy
Athenaeum Theatre Basement, Dunedin
- reviewed by Jennifer Aitken

Grimey Times has a unique and intriguing narrative. They play follows millionaire children’s horror writer Morris Grimes as he confronts the demons from his past in order to embark upon the journey of writing his autobiography. Intercut throughout the narrative are scenes from a television adaptation of Grimes’ novels, Grimey Times; Howells’ establishes and then utilises this convention well.

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A VERY MERRY SCRIPTLESS 2014: Comedic troops go over the top
Court Theatre Pub Charity Studio, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

It might be wartime, but by golly it’s still Christmas. This homage to World War One front line shows offers us, the assembled troops, some good keen British seasonal entertainment from the Ancillary Reserves Service Entertainment (ARSE) Brigade, as directed by Dan Bain...

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DO NOT TOUCH THE EXHIBITION: Commitment, passion and vulnerability is fresh and exciting
Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Ave, Christchurch
- reviewed by Erin Harrington

After the show we have the opportunity to talk to the performers, and their questions and comments about their own work reinforces how robust, intelligent and rewarding the devising process has been for them. It also highlights that they are interested in theatre as practice and process, not just as an opportunity to perform.

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YOUNG GUNS COMEDY SHOWCASE: Continuous peals of laughter
San Francisco Bathhouse, 171 Cuba St, Wellington
- reviewed by Phoebe Smith

The Humorous Arts Trust’s Young Guns Comedy Showcase draws a large crowd at the San Fran (San Francisco Bathhouse) on Thursday night. The show features eight young comedians who are billed as ‘the cream of the crop’ from the more than 50 first-time performers at Raw Meat Mondays in 2014.

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YOUR BODY IS A BATTLEGROUND: A thought provoking 50 minutes
Te Whaea National Dance and Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Rd, Newtown, Wellington
- reviewed by Lyne Pringle

Choreographically the work is inventive and for the most succinct. These elegant movers feel into the possibilities of each other’s auras, pushing at the boundaries of stereotypes, conditioning and acceptability. They pose physical questions to each other and to the audience; expressing tension, fear, frustration, confusion and surrender. Bodies are compiled and dismantled in humorous and poignant vignettes. They dance a touchless waltz and grapple with the lack of acceptable ‘platonic touch’ in our culture – mudras of longing create very powerful images and words – ‘soft of the hard gaze’ ‘simple streamlined, dangerous’.

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BINGE CULTURE’S UNAUTHORISED AUDIO TOURS: Exciting, cool and inexpensive
Te Papa Tongarewa, 55 Cable Street, Wellington
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

The piece plays with the way people interact with social space, observe and are observed: we are all exhibitionists; are we all part of some giant exhibition? As I move through the museum I am uncomfortably aware of the people all around me, each moving on their own trajectory and driven by their own agenda.

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

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