The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Moko, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Promise and Promiscuity: A New Musical By Jane Austen, and Colt.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Moko, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Promise and Promiscuity: A New Musical By Jane Austen, and Colt.

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

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - VICE: Revels in abnormal behaviour

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

When a mysterious shadowy man with no face in a smart suit takes your ticket and directs you up a graffiti-art covered back stairway festooned with beer crates, wine bottle candles, exotic dolls and such, into a room with a stark white stage where the cast of seven lurk awkwardly and wistfully and so on, and the auditorium floor, walls and half the ceiling thickly papered with thousands of pages of advertising junk mail using sticky tape, it’s fair to assume that what ensues probably won’t be typical, usual or normal.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - VICE: Perverse

- reviewed by James Wenley

For the past few weeks, Jordan Mooney has been posting a series of clips promoting a range of different vices. The crazy-eyed front man has whipped himself, walked naked in the wilderness, shoved his face in a toilet bowl, and lit his hair on fire.

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Suter Theatre, Nelson - COLT: Phenomenal work
- reviewed by Janet Whittington

The degree of physical complexity builds into a series of stunning poses, romantic, tender, requiring great strength and skill from the performers. Sarah-Foster Sproull’s direction and choreography augmented by the dancers own input is acknowledged in the opening credits of the programme. Her thoughts about community are portrayed by the community spirit that went into this phenomenal piece. I think this combined choreography is what finally lifts this performance into a class of its own and validates Foster-Sproull’s concept.

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The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland - THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT: The power of creation and the enchantment of storytelling
- reviewed by Grace Hoet

The Owl and the Pussy Cat breaks the mould on what is often an assumption that Children’s Theatre is for children, often fun for the younger generations with adults purely there as chaperones. The Tim Bray production of The Owl and the Pussy Cat is a colourful delight for both children and adults.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES: Complexity handled with charm
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Melanie Camp's direction keeps plot and execution nicely balanced. A critical factor, and one she stresses in her programme notes, is the positioning of the audience. The fourth wall convention is well and truly disestablished as we are addressed, admonished and engaged. The response to a twitter about pace sees the whole of the first half replayed at reckless speed to open the second half, to the delight of a thoroughly charmed audience.

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Rangi Ruru Girls School, Merivale Lane, Christchurch - PROMISE AND PROMISCUITY: A NEW MUSICAL BY JANE AUSTEN: Literary witticism, acerbic satire, musical mirth and dollops of double entendre
- reviewed by Robert Gilbert

Every character is a lesson in human nature and study societal snobbery. The lemon-lipped Lady Wrexham and her withering son Reginald, the dashing Digby Dalton, the lisping Thomasina, and the suppurating horror that is Horatio have us all sniggering at the frivolities and mindlessness of the middle-class.

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Globe Theatre, Dunedin - THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES: Short show about private bits popular with public

- reviewed by Barbara Frame

The Monologues concentrate, of course, on the out-of-sight bits of female anatomy not usually mentioned in polite society and sometimes coyly referred to as "down there." A show not much more than an hour long packs in a wide spectrum of moods - lyrical, poignant, moving, funny, triumphant, but taking darker turns when medical indignities are aired, or when the horrors of sexual abuse, genital mutilation and rape are revealed.

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Globe Theatre, Dunedin - THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES: All very natural
- reviewed by Jennifer Aitken

What I enjoy most about this production is that these actors are real women – which is kind of the point – and they are not trying to be anything else. We get a sense of each woman’s personality as they share the monologues with us. The actors are really enjoying themselves, laughing with us and acknowledging the truth and universality behind the things they are telling us which makes the audience very comfortable.

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SKYCITY Theatre, Auckland - MOKO: Moments of sublime beauty
- reviewed by Paul Young

Undeniably strong dancing by all, a bold aesthetic, conviction, and a strong ethical compass make Atamira a company worth supporting and encouraging. While I miss the charisma and characteristic diversity of the old guard, I am looking forward to what comes next. I hope its nothing that I can imagine.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - CAROUSEL AND CLOTHESLINE: Infused with enchantment
- reviewed by Candice Frankland

An audience favourite was the Saturday Night Fever inspired acrobat act performed by Coen Clarke and Jason Fergusson adorned in white spandex bell bottoms and all their disco glory! Rather than repelling the crowd with his cheesy antics, Clarke draws sniggers and giggles while transforming his lifter Jason from a green and reluctant participant into a dancing queen.

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Q Theatre Loft, Auckland - APT Y IDOS: Disconnection, dissociation and detachment
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

The degree to which you respond to this work as a timely warning, or reject it as “just another dance ” will no doubt depend on your own degree of reliance on your cell phone and Facebook and other digital devices and the relationships they make possible. Still, it raises issues which can only be addressed one person at a time, and it would seem hopeful that the work can have some salutary effect.

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

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