A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: A Thousand Hills, Zen Dog, Lung Tree, and Gloria.

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: A Thousand Hills, Zen Dog, Lung Tree, and Gloria.

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

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - ZEN DOG: Mick’s Epic Odyssey a generous offering
- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

In Homer’s Odyssey, the hero, Odysseus, takes ten years to reach Ithaca after the Trojan War. In this time he is a keyless wanderer, encountering all manner of temptations and beasts to lure, excite, test and stretch the real journey of inner knowledge that underscores this epic tale.

Cut to 2013; actor Mick Innes uses the solo form as a chance to recount his own keyless odyssey of excess and redemption. In his version, though, there is very little fantasy at work, just selective and colourfully edited versions of a life lived as an actor.

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Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland - A THOUSAND HILLS: Multiple narratives effortlessly weave a clear and distinct course
- reviewed by Chris Molloy

Set in Rwanda, 1994, in a Zairian Congolese refugee camp following the genocide, it is based on the real life story of the courageous, Rwanda-born Francois Byamana and and his chance meeting with UN Volunteer Bob Askew a South Island Kiwi.

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Carrara Park, Newtown, Wellington - LUNG TREE: In celebration of the trees
- reviewed by Jillian Davey

Lyne Pringle , with the help of seasoned dance company Java Dance, newly formed Muted Crane Productions, jazz band and local favourite The Troubles, Wellington Parkour, and Wellington Youth Circus, has put on a programme of contemplation and celebration.

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TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs - return season, Auckland - GLORIA: Woman’s bold tenacity caught in memorable monologue
- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

In a moving tribute to her grandmother, Waller vividly captures the swirling emotions of a wartime romance that became front page news when 21-year-old Gloria Stanford abruptly disembarked from a ship that was departing for America with a cargo of Kiwi war brides.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - BROKEN RIVER: Ambitious work holds sway despite odd mix
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Dominating Chris Reddington and Nick Zwart’s stage design is their working kinetic water sculpture that resembles one of those terrifying mutant insects called a pivot irrigator that crawl all over the Canterbury Plains. On either side of it is a braided river bed made out of 500 plastic milk bottles.

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Aurora Centre, Christchurch - Canterbury - TUTUS ON TOUR (2013): Cheerful and Lively new Peter and the Wolf
- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

For this matinee performance, the Aurora Centre is crowded with children, parents, grandparents and a scattering of older ballet-lovers and students. Every item is received with warmth and often excitement. The infectious sense of occasion augurs well for future tours by this versatile and generous company.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - BROKEN RIVER: A major theatrical work that captures a highly topical set of conflicts
- reviewed by John Smythe

The visual impact is achieved with Chris Reddington’s impressive kinetic sculpture, inspired by the pivot irrigators that dot the Canterbury landscape. The narrative is driven by the return to his roots of Nick, now a social scientist and commissioned to conduct a survey on the social impacts of the irrigation scheme. The environmental debate underpins the action without being overtly articulated and an undercurrent of small community politics is ever-present in subtext too until it spurts out under pressure.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - THE MIKADO: Theatrically delicious creative wizardry
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Ross Gumbley is at his inventive best in directing this mad scramble of a tale, where irrational rules, pomp and ceremony give rise to all sorts of tricky situations before true love has its triumph with the blessing of a ruler whose terrible severity was only in the name of fun. In the fantasy realm of Titipu, oriental exoticism and English bureaucracy offer deliciously comic opportunities.

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TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs - return season, Auckland - GLORIA: Heart-felt illuminations
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Amy Waller takes on the story telling in the form of a solo-show, and 1940s upbeat swing and dance is employed, to break up the narrative. She moves with wonderful grace and aplomb, rising to the challenge of performing couples’ moves from just one dancer’s perspective.

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Raye Freedman ARTS CENTRE, Gillies Avenue (Cnr Silver Road) Epsom, Auckland - FIN - UNITEC DANCE SHOWCASE 2013: Impressive celebration of contemporary dance
- reviewed by Tia Reihana-Morunga

There is energy on stage that works during the duo performed by dancers Eddie Elliot and Ben Temoku. I believe it, I want to watch it. I am also drawn to the vulnerability as the dancers spend the first part with their backs to audience. There is a moment when they shift to face us and by this stage I am already nested in shaded actions of filling kinaesthetic space, pushing, pulling and moving in and out. I thought about the relationship Hemopo was exploring through his choreography... Sometimes we are the most ‘slippery, shifting, insecure and vulnerable’ with those we are the most closest to. In its honest simplicity, this was a beautiful work.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - BETWEEN THE SHEETS: Sleeping with Godot – two women’s fight for a man
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

There's an immediate frisson of friction between the two characters - a teacher and a mother – in this hour-long, real-time conversation. It's not long before we find out why: the mother (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) accuses the teacher (Beth Allen) of having an affair with her husband.

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Newtown Community & Cultural Centre, Wellington - VERBATIM: Timeless questions confronted
- reviewed by John Smythe

Empathy and the lack of it: this is what my thoughts and feeling focus on in the wake of 90 minutes with the perpetrators of violent crimes and those their actions have profoundly affected, channelled by three very fine actors indeed.

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Te Whaea National Dance and Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Rd, Newtown, Wellington - NZ SCHOOL OF DANCE GRADUATION SEASON 2013: Treats from talented young dancers
- reviewed by Jillian Davey

“The Land of Yes and the Land of No” comes from Sydney Dance Company’s Rafael Bonachela, a current sensation in the world of dance. The third year contemporary students do a fine job of tackling the excerpts of this technically demanding work, holding their own with controlled strength. Short solos and a lengthier duet were characterised by large, sweeping undulations juxtaposed with small hand movements. The ‘soft strong’ style was retained even in the final, more intensely crescendoed section. The timing of the ending is an important and sometimes elusive task to tackle. “The Land of Yes and the Land of No” does it perfectly; ending after the audience has a chance to settle into the movement but before they’ve had enough.

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

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