The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Othello, Putorino Hill, DNA, and Giant Teeth.

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

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PUTORINO HILL: Hill of Memory

The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of Othello, Putorino Hill, DNA, and Giant Teeth.

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

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PUTORINO HILL: Hill of Memory
Q Theatre, 305 Queen St, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

“More of a murky puddle than a fresh water spring” is how Whiti (Rob Mokaraka) describes trying to look back into his past. Taki Rua’s new work, Putorino Hill by Chris Molloy by is a captivating memory play where the past’s reflection is a murky place indeed, revealing curses, hushed up scandals, patupaiarehe (fairies) demons.

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DNA: Probe the DNA
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

DNA, by British playwright Dennis Kelly and directed by Benjamin Henson is the odd one out in the lineup. Though localised for the Auckland cast, Kelly’s dialogue – disjointed faltering articulate teen-speak – is performed with less apparent ease by the cast.

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GIANT TEETH: Grit the Teeth
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

Giant Teeth, devised by its cast, shares thematic similarities with Skin, also displaying a distinct generational point of view, but the format could not be more different. We move upstairs, ushered through a hurried and outrageously carnivalesque-costumed cast making last minute preparations backstage (I’m asked to help straighten the neck of a blue PVC sailor’s costume), given crazy hats, and find ourselves in a unrecognisable Basement Studio with its very own (not very) big top calico circus tent.

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SKIN: Grate the Skin
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

In Skin, directed by Rising Voices Youth Poetry Movement's Grace Taylor, the company delve deep past the surface to deliver a series of profound, self-penned spoken word meditations on their lives, experiences, and attitudes.

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HIS FIRST BALL: Having a ball with song, dance and physical theatre
Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

A fictionalised account of Ihimaera’s own experience, have been invited to the Governor’s Ball in the early 60s, the light-hearted tale is a charming, comical parable exploring the meeting of cultures that don’t entirely understand one another. Such a simple premise seems ideal for a team of energetic young emerging performing artists to showcase their abilities.

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SIN: There's good and bad in Outfit's exploration of sin
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Outfit Theatre has established a strong reputation for edgy, high-energy, ensemble work usually performed in studio-style venues. Stepping up to a full-length show at Q's Rangatira auditorium highlights the strengths and exposes the pitfalls of the company's method of devising drama from actors' improvisations.

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SIN: Seven Deadly Narrative Sins
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

In a secular society, what does it mean to sin? When you are encouraged to take whatever you want, who decides mortal morality? If there’s no-one there to judge you, who is there to stop you? In Outfit Theatre Company’s devised show around the seven deadly sins, what is striking is that religion plays no part in the lives of the contemporary Aucklanders that make up the characters.

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DNA: Naturalism presented with force and conviction
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Stephen Austin

I’m going to admit to not being terribly impressed by British playwright Dennis Kelly’s single act thriller. It takes a few too many leaps in logic and off-stage character development to give it a credible or substantive flow, so rather short-changes an audience with its somewhat forceful plot-points.

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GIANT TEETH: Ultimately cathartic experience for all
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Stephen Austin

Audience are bundled upstairs, through the cast dressing room space, encouraged to find a colourful hat to wear from amongst the exploded performer detritus and plonked into a seat in the tiny calico circus tent created in the Basement Studio space, cast milling busily preparing the space, and themselves, for the impending performance.

What happens over the next hour is nothing short of magical.

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SKIN: Brave, thoughtful, exciting, smart and evocative
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Stephen Austin

Would you like an example of the direction modern youth-based theatre is heading these days? I’ll give you three. They’re all playing at The Basement theatre currently, staged by Auckland Theatre Company’s initiative for finding, engaging and broadening current youth talent.

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WONDERFUL WINTER WOLLIE FLOPP: Children transported
Raye Freedman ARTS CENTRE, Gillies Avenue (Cnr Silver Road) Epsom, Auckland
- reviewed by Candice Lewis

There are plenty of beauty pageant smiles, pretty hairdos (Clare Cairns) gorgeous costumes, catchy songs and fun dances throughout this 45 minute fairy inspired romp. I may not be convinced that love emanates from the pores of each grinning fairy, but I am not three years old!

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CAT VS DOG: Marvellously inventive
Fortune Theatre, Dunedin
- reviewed by Terry MacTavish

“They’re best friends if anyone else intrudes,” their loving grandmother confides, “But much of the time they really do fight like cat and dog!” Which, of course, makes my guests, brothers Oliver (7) and Harry (5), the perfect target audience for Dan Bain’s latest school holiday charmer, Cat vs Dog.

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LA TRAVIATA: Sumptuous and emotionally-charged
St James Theatre, Wellington
- reviewed by Pepe Becker

Full of reflected and refracted light and emotions, expressed within the context of the story’s societal ironies, this production of Giuseppe Verdi’s famous and most loved opera leaves one with a sense of warm positivity and a fullness of heart. This is definitely the case for me and fellow audience members as we leave the theatre under the light of a nearly-full moon in Wellington on opening night.

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MANA WAHINE: Feeling the love
Regent Theatre (Dunedin), Dunedin
- reviewed by Anna Bate

The five dancers’ training speaks loudly, shaping their forms into muscular powerhouses that overflow with energetic accuracy. Their precision is in no way mechanical as these women have porous edges that seep and seek connection beyond the vessels of their bodies.

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OTHELLO: Truly immersive and memorable despite missed opportunities with gender-switching
The Moorings, 31 Glenbervie Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Lori Leigh

The most valuable asset to the Moorings, however, is the intimacy it affords. The Lord Lackbeards create a small thrust arrangement in the ballroom and the actor-audience relationship is absolutely electric. It’s my favourite aspect of early modern dramaturgy, and this company of actors realises its full potential. We are not at the play. We are in the play.

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HOKI MAI TAMA MA: Cross-Commedia Clarity
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
- reviewed by James Wenley

The masks, masterfully crafted with aroha by maker Tristan Marler, are exquisite. The etched mokos glimmer with detail under the stage light. The performers tongue flicks out from under the half mask. It’s as if the ancestors, carved on the beams of the wharenui, have jumped off and sprung into fresh and blood life. It is these masks that make Hoki Mai Tama Ma special, a new artform the Te Rehia Theatre Company call Te Mata Kokako O Rehia, blending Maori tikanga and the Italian art form of Commedia dell’Arte.

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SIN: Confusing at first and gets clearer
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Candice Lewis

It’s an ambitious undertaking: more than two hours of theatre with many cast members and an unusual, and at times difficult, ‘stage’ on which they play. Director Sarah Graham and Assistant Director Andrew Ford have worked with the seating arrangement to make a gladiatorial spectacle of the players: we surround them on four sides.

Boxing ring or lion’s den, take your pick. If you are hard of hearing, make sure you get as close to the front as possible – there are many times when the actors will be facing away from you and lines get lost.

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EGLANTYNE: Rewarded with an empathetic insight
4th Wall Theatre, New Plymouth
- reviewed by Ngaire Riley

What makes us care? What makes someone work so hard for others, it is to the detriment of their own health? Why give up a cushy comfortable life and fight for those who have little or nothing? Male names spring to mind: Christ, Martin Luther King, Ghandi. But women? Joan of Arc... Tonight Anne Chamberlain’s rich and fascinating creation and portrayal of Eglantyne Judd introduces a new name and life to most of us.

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NICK: AN ACCIDENTAL HERO: Captivating, spirited, playful and emotional
The Mussel Inn, Onekaka (near Takaka), Nelson
- reviewed by Hannah Schenker

Renee Lyons is a dynamo as she plays all the characters in this true tale of a healthy young man, Nick Chisolm, who in one devastating moment suffers a stroke on the rugby field, forever altering the course of his life.

Taken from his reasonably happy life as architect, star rugby player, keen mountain biker and fan of the ladies, Nick now faces the grim realities of ‘Locked In Syndrome’: bed-ridden, hooked up to all manner of machines, unable to move anything except for his eyes.

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PRINCE SETH & THE PRINCESS – PIRATE ADVENTURE: Never a dull moment
Centrepoint, Palmerston North
- reviewed by John Ross

This is fun, and well-pitched to its target audience: primary school kids and younger. Like most of them, right now, Seth (Jacob Wilson) and his friend Ricky (Kristi Atkins) are on the middle of their school holidays, and at a loose end. They’re having to hang around in their care-givers’ office-building, and forbidden to touch things or make a mess. Boring!

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SHIPS: A playwright to watch
Gryphon, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

That all the characters are named for sea-going vessels alerts us immediately to this being more than a naturalistic tale. The play is set aboard The Great Australasia Cruise where five young adults have taken their hospitality skills to make money, explore the world and have fun.

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KISS THE FISH: And yet we keep on laughing
Theatre Royal, Nelson
- reviewed by Gail Tresidder

Is it the flapping fish that no-one seems to get a handle on, or perhaps the realistic monkeys, the endless chronicle of strange symptoms from hypochondriac Govind or just the whole crazy thing? Whatever, from the start a near-capacity audience is convulsed with laughter.

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THE ROAD THAT WASN'T THERE: The road to take is one that delight
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

On display at Circa 2 is a lovely example of rich and splendid storytelling. It is a story that will enchant young and old and if it’s the first visit to the theatre for the young it will make sure there’ll be a demand for many more visits.

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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: Fun with fashion and the vulnerability of vanity
Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Playing on the fashion nous of today's youngsters, the show opens with our Emperor (Chris Mc Rae) strutting his stuff under the similarly self-promoting attention of his chief fashion designer (Emma Cusdin). All very colourful and sophisticated, with poses and show-offs galore, until, oh horror, he reaches the undergarment, a torturingly clingy unitard. The imperial person can stand constraints no longer, his designer is fired and he is down to his Y-fronts.

With the royal parade due, he is now in a sorry fix. He must have a new designer and one with special flair. His daughter Eva (Carrie Green) will help work things out.

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

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