A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: Tracing Hamlet, Queen, Squidboy, and Goodbye My Feleni.

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

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: Tracing Hamlet, Queen, Squidboy, and Goodbye My Feleni.

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

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - QUEEN: Gay-up Storytelling
- reviewed by James Wenley

By placing the play in the context of the marriage equality debate, I do not mean to suggest that Brooks is flying a political flag. Nor is it preachy. Nor does the marriage question play into its drama. It’s political only in that the play presents stories, and says these stories matter.

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Lake Wanaka Centre, Wanaka - KINGS OF THE GYM: Comedy 10 – Boredom Nil; political correctness on detention
- reviewed by Jo Blick

Drinking during work hours… gambling… skiving off ... Welcome to life as a PE teacher at Hautapu High School, the setting for Kings of the Gym: a play that measures up modern teaching methods, political correctness and religion and sends them off for twenty quick laps of the school field.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - SQUIDBOY: A wonderfully entertaining hour of whacky whimsy
- reviewed by John Smythe

In contrast to his stolid – if knife-fearing – Fisherman, the childlike nature of Wakenshaw’s Squidboy does include moments that could be construed as mindless violence. Or are they simply a convenient way of dispensing with something in order to move on to something else? Are we dealing with sociopathic humour here or are we simply liberated by the freedoms of imagination? The very last moment of the show pretty well answers that question – and you will have to see it to get it.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - QUEEN: “I am Queen, and I am here.”
- reviewed by Johnny Givins

Last night the GBLT community celebrated the passing of the Marriage Bill. It was the culmination of over 30 years struggle for equality for the community. The law now fully recognises that any discrimination against gays and lesbians is no longer legal. What a triumph for equality presented with passion, eloquence, and understanding in our parliament.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - GOODBYE MY FELENI: Play pays tribute to Mari Battalion’s little-known Pacific soldiers
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

When playwright DF Mamea chanced upon a CD of Maori Battalion songs he was surprised to find the disc contained a couple of Samoan songs. His play attempts to bring this forgotten history life and he approaches the task with a lively sense of humour.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - GOODBYE MY FELENI: Come back soon
- reviewed by Matt Baker

“In a day and age where we idolise ‘glamour and swag’ – we often forget the people who died getting us here, these should be our idols and heroes. It’s been an honour breathing life into this part of our Pacific heritage with the boys and the crew in acknowledging the role which our smaller Pacific counterparts (Niue and Cook Island) played in our identity in Aotearoa. Lest we forget.” Truer words could not be written in regards to the need for Pacific culture to be portrayed on stage.

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Flair Hair Design, Wanaka - SALON: Nice insights and clever lines
- reviewed by Nigel Zega

Once you get over being part of the action, seated as if waiting for the next available stylist, you realise you’re eavesdropping on the kind of conversations you could pick up on in reality.

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Puzzling World, Wanaka - TRACING HAMLET: Stimulating theatre in a labyrinthine setting
- reviewed by Sue Wards

Director Sara Brodie does it again for Wanaka's Festival of Colour, wrangling a large cast of mixed experience and talent to produce an action-packed and intellectually stimulating theatre experience.

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Lake Wanaka Centre, Wanaka - IVY – SAVIOUR OF THE DINOSAUR!: Just what the kids ordered
- reviewed by Sue Wards

The kids love it. My eight year old thinks it's hilarious, from the T Rex named Diane to the bare bottom accidentally mistaken for the moon by Galileo. With just the right amount of toilet humour (a flatulent Galileo again) and plenty of dinosaur facts and sound effects to keep the kids entertained along the way,

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - BANGKOK: Dramatic contrivances obscure the play’s heart and soul
- reviewed by John Smythe

For some unaccountable reason, beyond serving the needs of the playwright, Faith – now somewhat addicted to Cutty Sark Scotch whisky – has summoned Tom back for a fourth year in order to insist he recounts her story of the previous three. It seems she was happy when she still had – yes – faith in one Mr Heng’s foretelling that she would men three men and the third would be “the one”.

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Suter Theatre, Nelson - FOOTNOTE FORTE SERIES 2013 - WE HAVE BEEN THERE: Fresh and fascinating
- reviewed by Janet Whittington

The increasing tension and movement matched the music, seemingly especially written for this dance piece by Andrew Thomas. This did not adhere to traditional timing but also evolved and subsided, not with instrumental sound but electronic and machinery based rhythms, again reminiscent to me of a decades old album. This time of Brian Eno’s only album Fripp & Eno.

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Aotea Square, Auckland - APOCALYPSE Z: The Stationary Dead
- reviewed by James Wenley

So, the Zombie Apocalypse is finally upon us, but it has arrived with more of a low moan than a blood-lusting scream.

Royale Productions’ high-concept Apocalypse Z – written by Simon London and David Van Horn and directed by Andrew Foster - has barricaded itself securely within Aotea Centre.

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Centrepoint, Palmerston North - SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP: Murphy’s Law meets Cock-up Theory
- reviewed by John Ross

As I remember it, which is dimly, this play in its premiere production at Centrepoint back in 1998 was a quite clever, amusing comedy with patches of farce. Contrariwise, this version of it, in this production, is largely farce, often quite full-on, with interludes of character-comedy. As either, it works.

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Aotea Square, Auckland - APOCALYPSE Z: Theatre of Horrors as zombies invade
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Audience members find themselves cast as B-movie extras and interactive drama hits a new level.

The growing trend towards interactive theatre is thrown into overdrive in a show that invites you to immerse yourself in the always hazardous task of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

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The Riverbank Centre, Whangarei - TALKING OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD: So magical and forceful
- reviewed by Mark Houlahan

You might think we can move on now from Mansfield. And you might think that playwrights and scriptwriters would find other New Zealand subjects. She is surely the most ‘represented’ historical figure in New Zealand drama: there seem to be more scripts about her any anyone else. And yet, as Cathy Downes shows in her riveting new show, we are only just now digesting what Mansfield might mean.

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Aotea Square, Auckland - APOCALYPSE Z: Be prepared to get frightened in a whole new, bloody fun, way
- reviewed by Stephen Austin

Zombies are ubiquitous in popular culture at the moment. Books, film adaptations, video games, TV series and even children’s animations, they’re so plentiful and nigh-exhaustive you’d think there would be nothing new left to explore within this area of the horror genre.

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Downstage - return season, Wellington - THE GURU OF CHAI: Love and loss, greed and selflessness, devotion and betrayal
- reviewed by Phoebe Smith

For a decade and a half, Indian Ink has been creating magical theatre that is very popular, well-received and tightly woven. The Guru of Chai is no exception. Here Rajan and director/co-writer Justin Lewis have incorporated elements of the traditional Indian Folktale of Punchkin into a contemporary tale of crime and intrigue on the streets of Bangalore.

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

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