The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Solothello, Maui and the Sun / Maui Me Te Ra, and Swan Lake.

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

* * *

The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Solothello, Maui and the Sun / Maui Me Te Ra, and Swan Lake.

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

* * *

LIVE ORGY: Entertains with purpose and delight
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

I have to say I am shocked! As a baby boomer who participated in the Sexual Revolution and has the campaign buttons to prove it (‘Make Love Not war’; ‘How Dare You Assume I Am Heterosexual’; ‘The Personal Is Political’ … were there others?), I simply assumed subsequent generations had absorbed the appropriate values through enlightened education and by social osmosis.

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

LIVE ORGY: Energetic Live Orgy has serious intent behind its comedy
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

"Home is heaven and orgies are vile /But you need an orgy once in a while," wrote American humorist Ogden Nash. Freya Desmarais would agree.

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

SOLOTHELLO: Bravura performance and haunting music highly rewarding
The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street, Palmerston North
- reviewed by Joy Green

Delivered in a combination of Shakespearean language, modern dialect and Te Reo M?ori, Solothello embodies four characters from Shakespeare’s text: Othello himself, Iago, Roderigo and Desdemona, with other characters invoked and engaged in conversation but not present on stage.

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

MaUI AND THE SUN / MAUI ME TE RA: Captivating
Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

It is structured as a series of telling episodes in Maui's quest to tame the mighty sun. The problem is set out very clearly. The sun is welcome and appreciated, but moves too fast across the sky for all the work of Maui's people to be completed in a day.

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

SWAN LAKE: Being Russian - Swan Lake
Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, Auckland
- reviewed by Jack Gray

This group have a particular aura. At first I see it as “effortless” and “subtle”. I don't mind these qualities, in fact, it's rather refreshing. I am curious about the lack of emotional expression in the face, and the austerity of the whole proceedings. I think that this is probably very “Russian” and then imagine the folk traditions, and wonder who is drinking the vodka and having fun around here?

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

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES: Cheerful, high-spirited absurdity
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish

Not only do the actors have the opportunity to show their versatility by undertaking all 17 roles, creating massive hilarity in the audience as they duck and dive between costumes, wigs and accents, but in the play outside the play, they establish and build on a very funny, usually competitive relationship.

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

GLITTER AND SPIT AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS: Good idea disappoints
The Athenaeum Theatre, Lower Octagon, Dunedin
- reviewed by Barbara Frame

Lifting two of Robert Lord’s short comedies, both unusually daring and inventive when they were new in the 1970s, out of semi-obscurity and presenting them together is a great idea. Sadly, though, the Globe Theatre’s double bill (at the Athenaeum because of continuing repairs at the London Street theatre) disappoints.

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

FRANKENSTEIN: Plenty of shocks and surprising twists
Centrepoint, Palmerston North
- reviewed by John Ross

This is a classic Gothic horror story with plenty of shocks and surprising twists. The action is inevitably compressed, with Frankenstein’s pursuit of the Creature across the world conveyed in a single scene, which ends surprisingly.

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

GLITTER AND SPIT AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS: Underwhelming
The Athenaeum Theatre, Lower Octagon, Dunedin
- reviewed by Alison Embleton

Glitter and Spit is unquestioningly lack-lustre … The essential feeling is that the actors on stage are underprepared … Balance of Payments also suffers from a lack of preparedness in general.

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

HOME / THE HILARIOUS COMEDY ABOUT HOW I NEARLY KILLED MYSELF / A PLAY ABOUT HOW I NEARLY DIED BUT DIDN'T THEN LEARNED A LOT ABOUT LIFE AFTERWARD: Massively admirable guts and grace
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Lena Fransham

As the title of this play suggests, Freya Desmarais tells an autobiographical story of depression and attempted suicide, with a fair bit of self-mockery thrown in. I'm not sure, before turning up at BATS, what to expect of it. How can you honestly convey, on stage, an account of your own deepest despair and at the same time still be funny?

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

HOME / THE HILARIOUS COMEDY ABOUT HOW I NEARLY KILLED MYSELF / A PLAY ABOUT HOW I NEARLY DIED BUT DIDN'T THEN LEARNED A LOT ABOUT LIFE AFTERWARD: Home is where both darkness and laughter reside in impressive new play
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Then something arresting happened. The stand-up slid gently into a carefully structured solo play "about how I nearly died but didn't, then learned a lot about life afterwards".

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

BETWEEN TWO WAVES: Dramatic Collapse
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
- reviewed by Jess Holly Bates

It is a dizzy experience, on the steep rake of the Herald seating block. It always takes a moment to re-adjust. From my high angle I can see a single man on a couch, on a stage, and his tale will be no less giddy than my perch. He is earnestly polar fleeced and stumbling through an introduction.

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

BETWEEN TWO WAVES: A well-executed, smart production
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

Ian Meadows surprises his audience with a compelling examination of human frailty. Despite the advancements of the 21st century, the play highlights that the deeper anxieties of our psyches continue to plague our sense of mortality – perhaps even more so than ever before.

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

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.