A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week - including the NZ International Comedy Festival 2011.

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

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week - including the NZ International Comedy Festival 2011.

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

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Comedy Chamber, Town Hall, THE EDGE, Auckland - BILLY T & ME: ‘The Cuz’ would be proud, bro!

- reviewed by Stephen Austin

It would take a true Grinch to deny the fact that Billy T James left a lasting impression on comedy and, indeed, popular culture in this country. Many of his sketches are now firmly etched into this country’s heritage as icons and his sense of timing was the sort of genius that comes along rarely in any generation.

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BATS, Wellington - IDIOTS: BACK 2 SCHOOL: Quality comedy

- reviewed by John Smythe

Sampson has a sharp eye and ear for what makes people tick and insightfully probes their pretentions, dreams and vulnerabilities to deliver the blueprint for unerringly good performances in this Wellington production of Idiots: Back 2 School, which premiered last year in Auckland ...

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BATS, Wellington - STEVE WRIGLEY IN KEVIN: THE MUSICAL: Wrigley sets the bar higher again

- reviewed by John Smythe

Some of the best comedy arises from tragedy and Kevin: The Musical is no exception.

A tragic accident has left Kevin the cleaner (Steve Wrigley) ... with no option but to stage his favourite musical himself, thanks to his happening to have the karaoke CD ... to replace the deceased show band.

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The Basement, Auckland - THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO URZILA CARLSON: Audacity and fearlessness in well constructed routine

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Carson illustrates in detail the pros and mainly cons regarding the application of an array of itemised lie categories: white lies, small lies, big lies, necessary lies, obvious lies, inappropriate lies, evil lies and lies for basic survival. She seems to be a bit of a compulsive liar herself ...

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Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland - KINGDOM OF LOTE: You will likely end up falling off your chair

- reviewed by Nick Bakulich

There was much anticipation at the Mangere Arts Centre as the eager audience were about to witness New Zealand’s first ever full length Tongan play to be performed by a full Tongan cast with both English and Tongan dialogue.

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Circa One, Wellington - THE LEAD WAIT: O’Neill-style drama with a Kiwi kind of darkness

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

If Dreamlife uses Hollywood’s film noir for its basic framework then The Lead Wait also has a distant connection with America: the heightened realism of an O’Neill drama. There’s the same rural isolation, the same sense of foreboding, and the intensity of the underlying emotions that destroy already dysfunctional relationships.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - DEATH AND THE DREAMLIFE OF ELEPHANTS: Quest poetic but just too elephantine

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

When Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants first appeared at Bats two years ago ... it was the brilliant staging, the low-key, slightly off-beat acting, the wry comedy and the excitement of watching a group of performers riding high that really caught the imagination.

Now, on the larger stage of Downstage, all the ingredients that made the first production so successful are still on display seemingly new-minted.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - MR BOON’S BIG TIME LAST CHANCE QUIZ SHOW 2011: Hilarious lo-fi kidstuff

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

With little more than a minimal set – 2 chairs, a laptop, projector screen and a large gold paper-wrapped box entitled Mr Boon’s Big Box of Bits – it’s plain Mr Boon is an active proponent of the ‘just give them a box and they’ll be happy’ theory.

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Circa Two, Wellington - SNAKE OIL: The premise has promise

- reviewed by James McKinnon

I feel I should extend an apology to Mr Ellis on behalf of the audience on Sunday night, because a solo improvised show lives or dies on the generosity and energy of its audience, and we didn’t give him much to work with.

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Circa One, Wellington - THE LEAD WAIT: Potent and provocative play well placed in election year

- reviewed by John Smythe

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere a skeletal house, stripped for renovations, is occupied by a brother and sister – Leon and Juliet – and their younger boarder, Ian.

Leon, who obsessively digs holes instead of completing the renovations, is childish in his supposedly playful malevolence towards Ian. Ian is childish in his idealistic love for all living creatures ...

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