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

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CORIANDER’S YOGA(ISH) SHOW: A feel-good funfest
BATS Theatre, The Heyday Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Written and Performed by Jess Brien 
Directed by Imogen Prossor
- reviewed by John Smythe

She includes her audience without undue pressure and is good enough at yoga not to look for laughs by doing it badly. It’s her bling, innocently suggestive chit-chat, selectivity with the history and science of it all, and some rather odd behaviour that generate the comedy.

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KEEP OUT OF MY BOX (AND OTHER USEFUL ADVICE): Entertaining energy and charisma
Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh, Scotland
Written and performed by Torum Heng 
Presented by Little t Productions
- reviewed by Acushla-Tara Sutton

We meet the recovering lover, the sexually liberated one, the experimental actor, the obsessive-yet-confused one and the sisterhood preacher, before coming back to our host to see how their revelations have affected her.

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WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN: Passion and commitment
King George Hall, Napier
A Henrik Ibsen play 
Directed by Iris Henderson 
Presented by Walking Shadows
- reviewed by Karen Beaumont

Designed by world-renowned Art Deco architect, Louis Hay, the King George Hall in Bayview seems to be an odd choice of venue for the Walking Shadows presentation of When We Dead Awaken, yet its isolation from Napier, its austere furnishings and empty spaces prove to be the perfect match.

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SISTER ANZAC: Silence a testament to the power of the play
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
by Geoff Allen 
Presented by Galatea Theatre (2014)
Produced by Stark Theatre (2015)
Directed by Amanda Rees
- reviewed by Leigh Sykes

To some extent, all of the characters are types: the naïve, posh one; the brash, confident one; the spiritual one and the experienced one who has seen war before. However, the play and the performances allow us to see beyond the surface types.

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STATE HIGHWAY 48: A cracker
Clarence Street Theatre, Hamilton
Words & Music: Chris Williams
Director: Nick Wilkinson
Music Director: Trevor Faville 
Presented by Old Rockers Inc
- reviewed by Russell Armitage

This is a musical that has everything – catchy music, interesting characters you can relate to, a story many in the audience would have experienced and, to cap it all, terrific lyrics. In other words, a lot more than many musicals.

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VENUS IN FUR: Theatrically Stimulating
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
Written by: David Ives 
Directed by: Shane Bosher 
Presented by Auckland Theatre Company
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch could never have expected Venus in Furs (plural), which exists as its own story-within-a-story, to result in an eponymous sexual condition, no more than he could that an American playwright by the name of David Ives would take inspiration from it ...

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WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN: ‘Good value’ production works well
The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street, Palmerston North
A Henrik Ibsen play 
Directed by Iris Henderson 
Presented by Walking Shadows
- reviewed by John C Ross

Just about everything costs someone something, and high achieving costs highly. What will it cost to ‘awaken’ Arnold Rubek, an artist who’s gone ‘dead’ because his creating of masterpieces is way back in the past; when all he has been able to do ever since, to earn a crust, or use up his left-over life, is to churn out conventional portraits, using mere technique without any flicker of a creative spark?

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RICHARD II: A Shakespeare for Brexit times
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by James Cain 
Presented by Sceptre Theatre
- reviewed by Max Rashbrooke

If Richard II were a person, it’d be an older brother too often upstaged by its showy younger sibling, Richard III. But Sceptre Theatre’s production proves that there’s as much – if not more – matter in the older work.

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VENUS IN FUR: Kinky costumes steam up stage
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
Written by: David Ives 
Directed by: Shane Bosher 
Presented by Auckland Theatre Company
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

If the title Venus in Fur sounds vaguely familiar you could be thinking of Velvet Underground circa 1967 or the 19th century erotic novel by Austrian man-of-letters von Sacher-Masoch that inspired Lou Reed's song.

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DON GIOVANNI: Wonderfully engrossing
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
An Opera in Two Acts
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
Director: Alex Galvin
Conductor: Simon Romanos
Producers: Alex Galvin & Sandra Malesic 
Eternity Opera Company
- reviewed by Pepe Becker

A particular highlight for me is hearing these wonderful individual voices combined in the moral summing up of Don Giovanni’s demise, in the melodically rich and complex sextet near the end of Act 2. It’s a fine thing to behold a group of soloists who are also great at blending.

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VENUS IN FUR: A comic farce suitable for garnering titters and stolen glances
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
Written by: David Ives 
Directed by: Shane Bosher 
Presented by Auckland Theatre Company
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

Leopold Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novella Venus in Fur is a literary accomplishment that has held sway over human sensibility ever since it was written. Originally part of a series that was to be called The Legacy of Cain, it was part of the first volume: Love. 

But love features little, or so it would seem, in David Ives’ play that had its Off Broadway premiere in 2010.

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MATING IN CAPTIVITY: Page to Stage
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Writer: Oliver Page 
Director: Renee Lyons
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Inspired by his mid-twenties friends marrying and the dialogue-driven sex farces of 1930s cinema, Mating in Captivity is Oliver Page’s theatrical scriptwriting debut. Considering his body of short work in film, Page has made a clear transition from screen to stage, with a truly modern day romp.

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ORESTE: A high standard of style and interpretation
Mercury Theatre, Auckland
By Handel 
Directed Benjamin Henson 
Presented by Auckland Opera Studio & NZ Barok Orchestra
- reviewed by Penny Dodd

Oreste is a rare gem – an obscure, recently revived opera by Handel, performed by a sensational New Zealand cast in the live acoustic of the Mercury Theatre, accompanied by NZ’s only Baroque orchestra.

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GISELLE - THE ROYAL NZ BALLET: Tonia Looker and Joseph Skelton cannot be faulted
Municipal Theatre, Napier
Choreographers: Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg (after Petipa)
- reviewed by Sonia Mackenzie

From the opening moments of heart shaped leaves drifting from a woodland tree the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s latest adaptation of Giselle is captivating. Having seen this ballet performed several times, the slightly new slant on the beginning of the work renews my interest.

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STATE HIGHWAY 48: Impressive, entertaining, witty
Clarence Street Theatre, Hamilton
Words & Music: Chris Williams
Director: Nick Wilkinson
Music Director: Trevor Faville 
Presented by Old Rockers Inc
- reviewed by Mark Houlahan

The show now has a fully professional cast. Shane Cortese as Dave is excellent. He sings up a storm and when the moodier numbers require he eases up into a truly affecting high register. He is blessed that while being handsome and charismatic on stage he can seem convincingly ordinary.

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016
ON THE CONDITIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF HILLARY CLINTON TAKING ME AS HER YOUNG LOVER: Top-notch satire ★★★★★
Summerhall, Edinburgh, Scotland
adapted from the book by Richard Meros 
by Arthur Meek and Geoff Pinfield 
directed by Geoff Pinfield 
Presented by Theatre Beating 
Produced by Show Pony
- reviewed by Tim Bano

Richard Meros B.A. is the ultimate millennial charlatan. In his mind, he’s an academic; in reality he’s unemployed. This alter-ego of performer Arthur Meek delivers one of the smartest bits of writing at this year’s Fringe.

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SISTER ANZAC: Unmistakeable commitment
Meteor Theatre, Hamilton
by Geoff Allen 
Presented by Galatea Theatre (2014)
Produced by Stark Theatre (2015)
Directed by Amanda Rees
- reviewed by Gail Pittaway

It’s great to receive this timely play to Hamilton and the Meteor Theatre as it celebrates stories of some of the women of ANZAC, a history only recently coming to our attention.

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MATING IN CAPTIVITY: Enjoyable farce
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Writer: Oliver Page 
Director: Renee Lyons
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

Mating in Captivity is fun, naturalistic farce.

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HIPPOLYTUS VEILED: Highly stylised melodrama
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
after Euripides 
Written by Nathan Joe 
Directed by Patrick Graham
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

Hippolytus Veiled is a wonderfully stylised melodramatic myth.

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RICHARD II: Fresh, fruity and pertinent
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by James Cain 
Presented by Sceptre Theatre
- reviewed by John Smythe

Listed in the canon as a history, Shakespeare’s Richard II is nevertheless a tragic story about a leader promoted beyond his level of competence who rules in the belief his right to rule is divinely ordained.

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RICHARD II: Cohesion leads to vibrancy
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by James Cain 
Presented by Sceptre Theatre
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

Every aspect of director James Cain's production has been meticulously thought through, with the acting, set design, lighting and costumes all working together in a wonderfully cohesive way to bring one of Shakespeare's most lyrical plays vibrantly to life.

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MATING IN CAPTIVITY: Hilarious and profoundly frustrating
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Writer: Oliver Page 
Director: Renee Lyons
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Oliver Page’s uproarious script skirts the tenuous line between healthy communication and irrational obsession. The trio’s painfully inefficient discourse cracks along at a screwball comedy pace, albeit with less suave and more distinctly Kiwi personae.

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THE PLAYS OF BRUCE MASON A SURVEY: Takes every opportunity to take the plays back to ‘Bruce the man’
Playmarket Bookshop | Victoria University Press | Unity Books, New Zealand wide
By JOHN SMYTHE 
Published by Playmarket and Victoria University Press
- reviewed by Ralph McAllister

Book review: The Plays of Bruce Mason by John Smythe

Reviewed by Ralph McAllister, published by Victoria University Press.

From Nine To Noon on 07 Dec 2015

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THE PLAYS OF BRUCE MASON A SURVEY: Skimming the works of a master
Playmarket Bookshop | Victoria University Press | Unity Books, New Zealand wide
By JOHN SMYTHE 
Published by Playmarket and Victoria University Press
- reviewed by Roger Hall

The first comprehensive survey of playwright Bruce Mason’s dramatic works has left fellow playwright Roger Hall in a reflective frame of mind as he considers Mason’s contribution to New Zealand theatre

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THE PLAYS OF BRUCE MASON A SURVEY: The play’s the thing
Playmarket Bookshop | Victoria University Press | Unity Books, New Zealand wide
By JOHN SMYTHE 
Published by Playmarket and Victoria University Press
- reviewed by Helen Watson-White

Actor, author and critic/founder of online journal Theatreview John Smythe has achieved in this welcome book a comprehensive critique of the work of Bruce Mason (1921-82), a major playwright who only late in life received some of the recognition he was due.

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THE PLAYS OF BRUCE MASON A SURVEY: Notes … mainly about Bruce and two or three of his plays
Playmarket Bookshop | Victoria University Press | Unity Books, New Zealand wide
By JOHN SMYTHE 
Published by Playmarket and Victoria University Press
- reviewed by Dean Parker

I’ve been asked to review the book and I don’t have time to do it properly so I’m offering this, which makes notes about the book but it’s mainly about Bruce and two or three of his plays. And perhaps it’s not very considered. It reads as a terrible put-down of Bruce, and I didn’t mean it to be, it’s just that I was concentrating on a narrow range of criticisms. So I’ll continue with the piece, in lieu of a proper review ...

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016
THE CREEPS: A twisted gem of a show
theSpace @ Jury’s Inn (Venue 260), Edinburgh, Scotland
Catherine Waller
- reviewed by Acushla-Tara Sutton

Waller is ugly, crude, overtly sexual, pitiful and absolutely phenomenal. Her physical, vocal and emotional performances are fantastic and as awful as I feel, I can’t look away.

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016
ROSE MATAFEO IS FINALLY DEAD: Skilled in self-deprecating and observational humour
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), Edinburgh, Scotland
By Rose Matafeo
Directed by Madeleine Sami
- reviewed by Acushla-Tara Sutton

Matafeo performs her set with incredible energy and great comic timing. We’re laughing from the top and keep on laughing all the way through. I must commend her for bringing humour to this taboo subject. I end up laughing at a few things that might have otherwise darkened my mood.

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

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