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

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
RHYSENTLY GRANTED: Outrageous, zany comedy with a Kiwi twist
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
Rhys Darby and Grant Lobban
- reviewed by Stewart Lund

Part sketch-show, part musical and part stand-up comedy, Rhysently Granted feels like Monty Python or Little Britain done the ‘New Zealand way’.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
A PUBLIC AIRING OF GRIEVANCES: Candid and intimate: will surprise, delight and entertain
17 Tory St, Wellington
Written and performed by Uther Dean 
Presented by My Accomplice
- reviewed by Dianne Tennant

With self-effacing comedic wit, punctuated with brief sojourns into the profound, Dean takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through a series of interconnected anecdotes that converge into a raw and frank confession. He confronts us with our own demons: how he fills the emptiness, the callous breaking of hearts and the crippling fear of being alone.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
NIC SAMPSON HAS FALLEN DOWN A WELL: Fall-down elevates stand-up
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington

- reviewed by John Smythe

It’s a surprisingly short set but hey, less can be more and [spoiler alert?] wait … There is more! 

Suffice to say all that has been covered in the first half feeds into a wonderfully imaginative exploration of the premise implicit in the title

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
THE MOA SHOW JAMIE MCCASKILL: More than the sum of its hugely entertaining parts
BATS Theatre, The Propeller Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Devised by Jamie McCaskill & Craig Geenty 
Performed by Jamie McCaskill 
Directed by Craig Geenty 
Presented by TIKAPA PRODUCTIONS
- reviewed by John Smythe

We’re invited into The Junction Hotel – a rural pub like any other – to meet Brian with a mullet, a dodgy hip and an addiction to beer; Henry the dart-player who claims to be good at all sorts of things and has a fund of ever more bizarre “That reminds me of when I was in …” tales; and the suave drifter Carmichael, whose faith in the Moa becomes the main driver of the story.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
FIVE FUN FACTS ABOUT FINLAND JEROME CHANDRAHASEN: Fluid, funny, casual and brilliant
IVY BAR, 49 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington

- reviewed by Patrick Davies

Chandrahasen has an easy flow and by five minutes in we know at least three interesting, fun things about Finland, not the least of which is the amazing number of lakes it has. While we get a wonderful tour of Finland and its psyche we also sit back in the hands of very good comic on form.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
JUST THE RIGHT LEVEL OF WELSHNESS LLOYD LANGFORD: A nice safe show
The Classic, Auckland
Presented by COMEDY.CO.NZ Productions Ltd
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

Langford has a very easy style, conversational and warm. He walks through his set easily riffing with the audience and garnering relaxed laughs with his observational humour. Sex toys in the hotel room? No problem. The plight of the Kakapo? Easy as. Paula Yates and Mike Hutchence? Bit dated.

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
SHE WAS PROBABLY NOT A ROBOT: SURREAL, FUNNY, POIGNANT EVEN
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland LIVE, Auckland
STUART BOWDEN
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Bowden is never in any hurry with his exposition, taking every opportunity to enrich the narrative with poetic detail. With intense verbal and physical detail he describes his odyssey floating around the town and out to sea on his airbed, witnessing all the mass death and destruction that goes along with a global-warming induced apocalypse.

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
RESET - WORLD PREMIERE: Absolutely, unrelentingly hilarious
The Classic, Auckland
James Acaster
- reviewed by Stewart Lund

It is the ability to find humour in the mundane and ordinary which I think makes Acaster all the more entertaining to watch, making you think, laugh and question yourself all at once.

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THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER: Laughs and pathos in true ensemble performance
Selwyn Theatre, Kohimarama, Auckland

- reviewed by Leigh Sykes

In adapting Mark Twain’s story, playwright Mike Hudson has created a show that moves at a lively pace and tells its stories with great craft and affection. The darker sections of the story are left intact, leaving my young companion surprised to see a crime take place on stage, and admitting to being a little scared of Jackson Bliss-McCauley’s Injun Joe.

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THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER: Gentle laughs, wondrous moments, could be more wild
Selwyn Theatre, Kohimarama, Auckland

- reviewed by Dionne Christian

Miss six and Miss five sit cross-legged in their seats, elbows on knees, chins in their hands, leaning forward often deferring to one another about what's going on in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

For the most part, they are enchanted by the genteel production adapted by playwright Mike Hudson from Mark Twain's 1876 novel and directed by Margaret-Mary Hollins.

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
MARCEL LUCONT'S WHINE LIST: Masterful arrogance
Comedy Chamber, Town Hall, Auckland Live, Auckland

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The sharpness of Lucont’s repartee is equally if not more impressive than his masterful scripted shtick. When an IT worker whose contracts include the comedyfest itself admit they didn’t pay for their tickets, he advises them to ‘expect a virus very soon’. His ripostes to other punters’ anecdotes about horse-trailer coitus and diminutive male genitals are similarly as spot-on as they are quick.

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
MARCEL LUCONT'S WHINE LIST: Moments of genius
Comedy Chamber, Town Hall, Auckland Live, Auckland

- reviewed by Stewart Lund

While improvisational comedy is hard to master, Lucont manages to make most of it look effortless, with the majority of jokes hitting their mark. Inevitably, some fall flatter but then how else would we know it was improvised? The usual staples of Lucont’s performances are included, albeit in smaller doses, with most of the bigger laughs reserved for his video interludes and recitations.

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FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL: It’s not the fun kind of bad
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Book by Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay) and Robert Cary
Direction and choreography by Paul Stancato 
New songs - music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.
Musical Director Brent McGee
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

The final number – even if the costume owes more to Jennifer Lopez than Jennifer Beals – is great. Julia Macchio can dance. 

But this revelation comes as a relief and surprise after the preceding two-and-a-half hours:

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
CAMPING: Fantastic Foursome
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
By Thomas Sainsbury and Chris Parker
- reviewed by Nathan Joe

It quickly becomes obvious that the title of the play refers less to the setting and more to the entire show as a whole. That the husbands of the play both share repressed homosexual desires is only part of that. In fact, it’s the whole cast who are camping it up in their entire performance style, giving their Kiwi caricatures the fullest commitment even in their most ridiculous moments.

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PIGS ON THE RUN: Totally ingenious and wildly funny
Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland
Directed by Troy Tu'ua and Alison Quigan 
Musical director Nastassia Wolfgramm
- reviewed by Lexie Matheson

Pigs on the Run is an absolute hoot from start to finish. It’s classy, sophisticated, with a uniquely Pacific chic, diverse, droll, and every bit of it is encapsulated within a flamboyantly stylish, story-telling mode. Risks are taken, it’s as cheeky as all get-out, and my family and I huff and puff about it all the way home.

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PIGS ON THE RUN: Family theatre for contemporary and urban kids
Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland
Directed by Troy Tu'ua and Alison Quigan 
Musical director Nastassia Wolfgramm
- reviewed by Dionne Christian

Restraint isn't a word that could be applied to Pigs on the Run at the Mangere Arts Centre. This show, based on The Three Little Pigs and co-directed by Alison Quigan and Troy Tu'ua, is a riot with a cast of 21, a live band, which includes six-year-old drummer George Chu Ling, and attitude to burn.

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Sundays only
A DORIS DAY SPECIAL: Day’s aspirations outstandingly well served
The Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
Written by and Starring Ali Harper 
Director – Stephanie McKellar-Smith 
Musical Director & Arranger – Michael Bell 
Choreographer – Kirsty Allpress-Goudie
Produced by Ali-Cat Productions
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

At the centre, of course, is the indefatigable and super-charged talent of Ali Harper. Her range and conviction has the audience in delighted thrall. The artful arrangement is tied together by snippets of Day's life story, but it is the songs themselves, some classy choreography by Kirsty Allpress-Goudie and a sense of warm engagement with every soul in the auditorium which characterise the production.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
FIRST LAUGHS 2016: More hits than misses – and lots more hims than hers
Opera House, Wellington
Hosted by Rhys Darby 
Presented by New Zealand Comedy Trust & Flick Electric Co.
- reviewed by Simon Howard

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is well into its third decade and the First Laughs and Comedy Gala events are well-established as the launch pads for three weeks of shows across Wellington and Auckland. 

Rhys Darby is the host for First Laughs 2016, despite not bringing a show to Wellington for this year’s festival.

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Flick 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival
THE LAUGHTER MASTER: The Laughter Master is witty, intellectual, and worldly
SKY CITY Theatre, Auckland
Stephen K Amos
- reviewed by Aminata Hamadi

Still, walking onto the stage, and into the spotlight your entertainer for the night – an energetic and excited Stephen Amos. From the outset, he establishes the only purpose to the next hour is laughter. And there’s lots of laughing to be done and heard throughout the set. There’s the tears rolling down your face kind, the occasional snort, synchronised laughter and the boisterous outburst of that one person that gets the joke a minute after everyone else which again sends the audience into an uproar.

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SHAKESPEARE’S WILL: An absorbing and timely tale
Old St Paul's, Wellington
by Vern Thiessen 
Directed by Robert Tsonos 
Presented by Twice as Good Productions
- reviewed by John Smythe

The will Bill (as she calls him) left is indeed what the play foreshadows and ends with. En route, however, from their market-place meeting – she’s 26, he’s 18 – to his death at almost 52, it is his wilfulness in pursuing his career and neglecting his wife and children that informs the form and pressure of Anne’s flashback-laced monologue.

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NZ International Comedy Festival 2016
CAMPING: Cheap laughs, ridicule and an outrageously raunchy conclusion
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
By Thomas Sainsbury and Chris Parker
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The merry late-night full house of opening-night comedyfest goers is all a-buzz as we chaotically convene – and crack up literally seconds after lights-up at the sight of Tom Sainsbury and Kura Forrester’s amusing retro wigs.

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MOVE: Pasifika youth acknowledged and affirmed
Te Oro, 98 Line Road, Glen Innes, Auckland
Written & directed by Heto Ah Hi and Leilani Clarke 
A Kinetic Wayfinding Theatre Production
- reviewed by Dione Joseph

Kinetic Wayfinding believe in telling stories that need to be heard. 

Of course, that’s not an unfamiliar commitment but the company’s family-orientated kaupapa mean they create works in different ways and through different processes. Equally importantly, they do it in ways that directly respond to addressing the needs of Pasifika youth.

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PLAYSHOP LIVE: AUTUMN SEASON 2016: Support and challenge in good balance
BATS Theatre, Studio, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
Directed by Jonny Paul
- reviewed by James McKinnon

Over the last few years, PlayShop has emerged as Wellington’s most innovative improvisation company and one of its most important (albeit in an unofficial sense) performance training centres. And for all the risk implied by making up theatre on the spot, PlayShop also consistently delivers excellent value for your entertainment dollars on any given night in Wellington.

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FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL: Leg-Warming
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Book by Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay) and Robert Cary
Direction and choreography by Paul Stancato 
New songs - music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.
Musical Director Brent McGee
- reviewed by James Wenley

It would seem like a no brainer to turn Flashdance into a stage musical. Nostalgia is a powerful seller, and many an 80’s kid rewound their VHS copies to oblivion. The 1983 film is told with the logic of a musical, with just enough dialogue to get us to the next MTV-like dance montage.

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FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL: Triple treat specialists pump out energy and exuberance
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Book by Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay) and Robert Cary
Direction and choreography by Paul Stancato 
New songs - music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.
Musical Director Brent McGee
- reviewed by Jenny Stevenson

The dance numbers, as arranged by Jim Abbott feature a lot of raunchy strutting and posing in the club/bar sequences and some balletic enchainment and barre work that the dancers only just pull off. But it is the joyful jazz dance and street dance routines at the heart of the work that resonate most strongly, creating an infectious feel-good atmosphere. There is some fine old-school hip hop and breaking, taking the forms back to basics.

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JUKEBOX HEROES: THE LEGENDS OF ROCK'N'ROLL: A wealth of talent and energy
Gryphon Theatre, 21 Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Directed by Kira Josephson 
Music directed by Bruno Shirley
Presented by Backyard Theatre Productions
- reviewed by Brian Smythe & Liz Elson

The show opens with the full cast giving us Foreigner’s ‘Jukebox Hero’. Then Michael Stebbings launches into Bill Hayley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock’ (the first-ever number 1 hit on the charts). From this 1950s icon, we are taken on a high-energy ride through the decades, from Hayley to the recent hit by Hozier: ‘Take me to Church’.

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FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL: Exciting choreography and one star turn stand out
The Civic - Auckland Live, Auckland
Book by Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay) and Robert Cary
Direction and choreography by Paul Stancato 
New songs - music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.
Musical Director Brent McGee
- reviewed by Penny Dodd

If you want to see a talented cast of ‘triple threats’ in action then Flashdance the musical is the show for you. Don’t expect too much of the book or the characterisations, this is a dance musical in music video style.

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NOW 2016: Disparity in delivery
Te Whaea National Dance and Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Rd, Newtown, Wellington
Choreographers: Julia Harvie (Christchurch), Sarah Knox (Auckland), Lucy Marinkovich (Wellington) and Jessie McCall (Auckland)
- reviewed by Ann Hunt

The Company's current line-up is particularly strong. Jeremy Beck, Brydie Colquhoun, Emma Dellabarca, Jared Hemopo and Lana Phillips are excellent dancers, whose energy never falters. They also contributed choreographically to two of the evening's works – Centerfolds and Disarming Dissent.

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THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS LUNCH: Nautical nostalgia for the ever young at heart
The Pumphouse, Takapuna - return season, Auckland
Based on the books written by Ronda and David Armitage 
Adapted and directed by Tim Bray 
with an original song by Christine White 
Incidental music by NICK GARRETT
TIM BRAY PRODUCTIONS
- reviewed by Dionne Christian

My heart nearly broke when, last year, my firstborn announced she was "too old" for children's theatre now she'd reached double digits but there was solace in Miss Six saying she's not too old and intends to keep going "forever".

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WHITE/OTHER: Smart theatrics
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
Created and Performed by Alice Canton 
Directed by Holly Chappell and Thomas Eason
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

An assured, strong presence with a wonderfully clear voice, Canton uses sound, light and movement as well as speech to express her personal, subjective reality – to great effect. We see the process of making theatre onstage.

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THE BOOKBINDER: A marvellously gripping tale
Philip Carter Family Auditorium, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch
Written & Performed by Ralph McCubbin Howell 
Directed by Hannah Smith 
Trick of the Light Theatre
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

The impact of this small company, Trick of the Light, is evident in the following it has attracted in its comparatively brief existence. A capacity crowd has gathered outside the Christchurch Art Gallery’s Philip Carter Family Auditorium. A short hour later, it is not hard to understand why. It is ‘theatre of the imagination’ on offer, at once playful and thought-provoking, presented with finesse and boundless inventiveness.

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

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