A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week - including the NZ International Comedy Festival 2011.

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week - including the NZ International Comedy Festival 2011.

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

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Comedy Chamber, Auckland - THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE: Charming, inventive and very funny

- reviewed by Sian Robertson

An intense young man with a piece of black tape over his mouth and very expressive eyes sits on the stage impatiently waiting for the audience to be seated and the lights to go down. The show starts the moment you step through the door, and finishes before you want it to.

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BATS, Wellington - DAN IS DEAD/I AM A YETI: Method in delightful madness

- reviewed by John Smythe

To call it idiosyncratic would be an understatement. It’s off the wall. A pure white Yeti – Natalie Medlock – has just completed the screenplay of her “rife” (she has a Nepaling accent), funded by the Warner Brother Film Commission of New Zealand. Now she wants to inspire us all with her “hairy tale come true”.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - STEVE WRIGLEY IN KEVIN: THE MUSICAL: Wit, stylisation and intelligence makes for stand out production

- reviewed by Stephen Austin

Steve Wrigley is quite possibly one of the most creative comics on the current Kiwi comedy circuit and Kevin: The Musical is the best Kiwi musical you’ve never seen.

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BATS, Wellington - WELLINGTON IMPROVISATION TROUPE (WIT) – CSI: WAINUI: WIT delivers

- reviewed by John Smythe

With the plethora of cop shows on TV an improv format was probably inevitable and the Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) has obliged with CSI Wainui. Why Wainui? Why not?

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - USO: Poverty, drugs and the ties of brotherhood

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

The Black Friars, a theatre group based in South Auckland and made up of New Zealand-born Pacific actors, have brought to Wellington Uso, a lively if conventional melodrama spiced with rough comedy, a social message, and some fine singing.

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Civic Theatre, Auckland - THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: Lloyd Webber’s best songs performed with heartfelt emotion

- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

With more than 30 songs on offer, musical theatre's most successful composer is given a comprehensive retrospective in a package which includes all the blockbuster hits as well as some lesser-known gems.

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Maidment, Auckland - MARY STUART: Leads give Schiller’s royal scrap an electric edge

- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

ATC’S production of Mary Stuart provides a thrilling introduction to Friedrich Schiller – the philosopher, poet and playwright who is honoured in Germany with the same kind of respect that English speakers reserve for Shakespeare.

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Maidment, Auckland - MARY STUART: Accessible and neatly stylised

- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Surrounded by conflicting advice, from an army of men, the vast majority with ulterior motives and self-serving agendas, Elizabeth’s decision resonates clearly with today’s Obama-Osama situation: will the execution create martyrdom that will prove a much stronger enemy?

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Espressoholic, 136 Cuba St, Wellington - YOU CANT BEAT WELLINGTON (ON A GOOD DAY): A flat white with your flat night?

- reviewed by Lori Leigh

You Can’t Beat Wellington (On A Good Day) is inspired by American sitcoms It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Curb Your Enthusiasm ... This New Zealand theatrical version follows four individuals whose lives are intricately bound up in the running of a Wellington café.

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Tararua Tramping Club, Mt Victoria, Wellington - BIKES I’VE OWNED VERSUS GIRLS I’VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH: Genuinely likeable autobiographical chat

- reviewed by Robbie Ellis

The festival brochure bills this show as “an autobiographical piece about bicycles, love and misanthropy.” But how could anyone possibly call Joseph Harper misanthropic? He bares his feelings, his failings and his triumphs in such a way that you can’t help but feel more human.

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