Here is a selection of recent reviews from theatreview.org.nz from the last week.

Theatreview is the New Zealand Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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Here is a selection of recent reviews from theatreview.org.nz from the last week.

Theatreview is the New Zealand Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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70 Cable St (opp. Te Papa), Wellington
CROSSING LINES: When two cultures collide
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

Community is the essence of Crossing Lines and in particular two communities - Maori and Somalian. The production is the result of two years work involving many people from these two communities plus the artistic community of South Wellington ...

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Capital E, Wellington
BOATS: Ordinary objects ingeniously used
- reviewed by John Smythe

Pitched at ages 4 to 10, according to the brochure, Boats has both adventure and romance, playing as it does with the male sailor's age-old emotional conflict between his love of the sea and love of a woman.

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ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
THE SOUND OF OCEAN: Articulating water as a nourishing element
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

The dominant philosophies of Artistic Director Liu Ruo-Yu and Musical Director Huang Chih-Chun are strikingly articulated by U-Theatre (Taiwan)'s fiercely fit and gifted ensemble of drummers, musicians and singers.

On the one hand, the hypnotic rhythm and mesmerising pulse of the concert speaks to Huang Chih-Chun's belief that "performance is not an outdoor force but is to turn one's thoughts inwards."

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Ilott Green by Capital E (Town Hall if wet), Wellington
THE WHALE'S TALE: Madness with a purpose
- reviewed by John Smythe

The ingenuity of this manifestation must be acknowledged. It spurts water, ups a periscope; its eye - the one we can see - closes, opens and rolls; its huge mouth opens, its tongue lifts; its pectoral fin moves, its tail lifts . It is even able to poop out people! Unseen puppeteer Jamie Bishop does a wonderful job of animating this creature and making us believe.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland
FIRST LOVE: Openhearted Misanthropy
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Up from the front row jumps an emaciated looking bald man in a grey-green suit covering a bulky hood sweater and old-looking but shiny red-brown shoes. With a straightforward understanding that we are here to hear his story for some reason, he proceeds to tell it with a lyrical air of Irish candour.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington
GRIMACE: Well-paced fun fit for the purpose
- reviewed by John Smythe

The title bemused me: what has a circus show for children got to do with pulling a face in pain or disgust? In retrospect I can concede Deborah Pope and her Awkward Theatre Company have aced the Grimms (and rolled the Dahl, for that matter).

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Spiegeltent, Aotea Square, Auckland
TITERES PORNO: Well endowed, open and diverse
- reviewed by Sian Robertson

It's amazing to watch the puppeteers' considerable feats of coordination, often with three humans manipulating one puppet (each around two-foot tall) in the act of dancing, talking, gesticulating and grinding, all with stereotypical Latin abandon. Occasionally the humans are part of the stories, though they keep most of their clothes on.

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Soundings - Te Papa, Wellington
KIDZONE GIGGLES LIVE!: Green screen fun for diehard fans
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

The Giggles is a TV show for preschool age children. Giggles Live is, surprise surprise, a live show version in which the audience of kids join forces with the Silly Pirate and others to prepare a special episode of The Giggles for TV.

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Paramount, Wellington
PASSING WIND: Inspired and kooky educative experience for kids and adults
- reviewed by Hannah Smith

The things that Linsey Pollak can do with a rubber tube are genuinely amazing.

In this 45 minute show, the self styled "instrument inventor" takes us on a musical journey in which he demonstrates how one can make a plethora of musical instruments out of common household objects. If something is hollow and has some holes in it, Linsey will pass wind through it with surprising results. Over the course of the show he blows a watering can, a feather duster, even a carrot - and, of course, our minds.

Starting with the fairly simple balloon and garden hose, the instruments increase in complexity and cover an incredible range of sounds.

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