A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including McKenzie Country, Strange Resting Places, Triple Bill by Touch Compass, C’mon Black!, Tic Tic, Hotel - A Cabaret, Joan of Hearts, Two Daft Sopranos, Womanz Work! Plays from New Zealand’s Female Playwrights.

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including McKenzie Country, Strange Resting Places, Triple Bill by Touch Compass, C’mon Black!, Tic Tic, Hotel - A Cabaret, Joan of Hearts, Two Daft Sopranos, Womanz Work! Plays from New Zealand’s Female Playwrights.

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

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BATS, Wellington - MCKENZIE COUNTRY: Held together by excellent performances

- reviewed by Hannah Smith

The epic family saga is meaty stuff, and family reunions, with the return of prodigal sons and revolt of prodigal daughters, have provided plenty of fodder for the dramatic canon. McKenzie Country is firmly rooted in this territory, although in places it feels more like a battlefield.

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Various venues - on tour, - STRANGE RESTING PLACES: Utterly captivating

- reviewed by Nadene Milne

As we settled into our places in the over heated Arrowtown Community Hall, the almost exclusively Pakeha ‘Narrowtown’ audience, were given shots of black coffee and Amaretto biscuits by the three cast members of Strange Resting Places.

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Te Whaea, Wellington - TRIPLE BILL BY TOUCH COMPASS: Triple Bill a trifecta of triumphant dance

- reviewed by Stephen Olsen

Triple Bill, the latest Touch Compass Dance Trust production, presented an elemental tour-de-force on its final day in Wellington at the weekend, with the power of integrated dance shining through in a fluid marriage of human movement, muscular choreography and musical composition.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - C’MON BLACK!: Far from being just a game

- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

To tell a rugby loving nation like New Zealand that as a sport, rugby “is only a game” is tantamount to heresy. This was never more evident than in the aftermath of the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa where Laurie Mains All Blacks lead by Sean Fitzpatrick were beaten in extra time by the Springboks.

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TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland - TIC TIC: Compelling narrative delivered in a frank, easy, natural style

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

There are large shiny cartoon letters spelling ‘TIC TIC’ swaying gently against the plush black curtain backdrop, with the audience quite clearly reflected in them, offering us a literal look at ourselves. Which is all very nice, but we’re here to look at Paul Barrett and he himself is here to show us himself, as indeed he does.

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TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland - HOTEL - A CABARET: Consummate showmanship in theatrical equivalent of a compilation tape

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The premise is ostensibly an insight into the lives of four female characters that inhabit the rooms in a small rundown hotel. It’s a curious enough means of conceptually linking what is essentially a lovingly executed collection of favourite show tunes hung on a string of loosely contrived narratives.

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Old Folks Association Hall, 8 Gundry St, Newton, Auckland - JOAN OF HEARTS: Experimental, courageous outcomes

- reviewed by Felicity Molloy

This time round, Joan of Hearts is presented by Sweaty Heart Productions as a collective “with a focus on supporting and encouraging” dancers, “namely women”....... each dancer/ choreographer maintains an individuated focus on their own particular work.

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Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, Auckland - TWO DAFT SOPRANOS: Repetitious romp

- reviewed by Richard Howard

Titled Two Daft Sopranos and described in the programme as “a comedic and musical romp into the diva heart of darkness,” this show sets out to amuse by using and abusing the stereotypical character of the operatic soprano.

It is indeed a romp; a collection of arias, over-dramatic antics and acid repartee between three performers.

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Various schools - on tour, - WOMANZ WORK! PLAYS FROM NEW ZEALAND’S FEMALE PLAYWRIGHTS: Delicious slices of theatrical pie splendidly acted and beautifully directed

- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Drama rooms in secondary schools have a sameness about them that can be both cosily welcoming and irritatingly bothersome. As places where young people make discoveries about themselves and their place in the universe, where drama teaching and theatre creation happen in tandem, they can be exciting ...

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - C’MON BLACK!: Interesting anecdotes short on emotional engagement

- reviewed by John Smythe

When Roger Hall’s C’mon Black kicked off on 1996 – at Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre with Tim Bartlett as Dickie Hart, then at Wellington’s Circa theatre with Grant Tilly in the solo role – the tragedy of the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the optimism of the new South Africa, of which Nelson Mandela had become president in 1994, were fresh in our minds.

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