A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including: Corner Diary, Gifted, After Miss Julie, and Brel.

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: Corner Diary, Gifted, After Miss Julie, and Brel.

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

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Theatre Royal, TSB Showplace, New Plymouth - GIFTED: A literary ode to love and language
- reviewed by Holly Shanahan

From the power play of their initial meeting, in which Sargeson attempts to size-up the delicate and elusive Frame, to his obsession, fascination and frustration with her challenging and obscure artistic temperament, the relationship that unfolds is unconventional and enigmatic.

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The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - CORNER DIARY: Riveting, raw and somehow healing
- reviewed by Candice Lewis

Each show features different people reading excerpts from their child hood or teenage diary entries and the results are heart breaking and hilarious in equal measure. I can’t remember when I laughed this much and yet felt so much love for people I ‘don’t know’.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - AFTER MISS JULIE: Up close and extremely personal
- reviewed by Simon Wilson

Up close in the small, wonderful space of the upstairs Basement Studio, After Miss Julie is a power-play between three people that comes drenched in equal measure in political fury and emotional trauma. A very good night in the theatre.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - AFTER MISS JULIE: A touch of class
- reviewed by Sharu Delilkan

The three actors, Jodie Hillock (Miss Julie), Dena Kennedy (Christine) and Erroll Shand (John) utilised the space to its fullest. And being in the front row gave us even more of a dramatic view, especially when the actors were literally performing at our feet.

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Mayfair Festival Club, 67-73 Devon St West, New Plymouth - BREL: Delights for the ears and eyes and balm for the soul
- reviewed by Ngaire Riley

This time Brel is shared by four edgy singers and four passionate musicians. Most of the lyrics are in English which is a lovely surprise and the crisp diction and melodic arrangements make the evening an absolute treat. What a sumptuous evening; delights for the ears and eyes and balm for the soul.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - THE YETI TRILOGY: Absurdist theatre reinvigorated
- reviewed by John Smythe

The long white fur of Natalie Medlock’s delightful comic creation, Yeti Himalaya, first graced our stages in the 2011 Comedy Festival in a show called Dan is Dead / I am Yeti. Last year, also in the Comedy Festival, we saw the sequel: Yeti is Dead / I am Tom.

Now The Yeti Trilogy revisits those works in revised form – the first part distilled; the second part radically cut and reworked – and adds a third act, which takes in some of what used to be in Part Two, brings it all to a dramatic climax and adds a component that involves us in deciding how the story will be resolved.

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Regent Theatre, Dunedin - THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE: Committed performances compromised by sound issues
- reviewed by Patrick Davies

In this cut-back production the ensemble fills not only their own roles but the men’s and women’s chorus as well. At first I miss the lush sound from a large group of voices but only for a short while. The smaller group not only enables them to take a blistering pace but to bring a staccato to the chorus patter songs that fairly bounce them and the audience along.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - AFTER MISS JULIE: Post-war passions superbly acted
- reviewed by Johnny Givins

The Basement Theatre in Auckland is on a roll! After Miss Julie takes a strong full blooded play with a cast to fit, sets it upstairs in the studio and releases a three sided battle of sex, class and repression. The explosions are wonderful and the passions white hot.

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Creative Waikato, Vero House, 127 Alexandra Street, Hamilton - TE TIRA PUHA: He manawa reka; he tino whakangahau
- reviewed by Jillian Tipene te tuhinga whakapae nei

He maringanui noku, e rua ke aku matakitakitanga o te whakaari reo Maori hou a Taki Rua, ko Te Tira Puha: ko tetahi kei tona whakaaturanga hapori i Kirikiriroa, kei te whare tapere o Creative Waikato; ko tetahi he matakitaki tene kei to matou nei kura kaupapa, kei te taha o nga tamariki reo Maori – kaore i tua atu! Ka whai tenei whakaari i etahi hoa tokotoru, kei Horiwara (Horiville) e noho ana, i a ratou e rere tahi ana ki te rapu kiri mohio mo ratou.

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Opera House, Wellington - FOOTNOTE MADE IN NEW ZEALAND 2013: Fitting tribute from dancers
- reviewed by Ann Hunt

Colt is Foster-Sproull's best work in many years. Inspired by her own experiences of working in the dance community, it explores observations of being part of a community in the throes of creation and the dangers of manipulation by a director, guru, or even a politician, at a stretch.

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Various Fringe venues, Edinburgh, Scotland - EDINBURGH FRINGE WRAPS: Wrap #3: A man, a couple, a woman …
- reviewed by Robbie Nicol (3)

For the past three weeks I have been living in Edinburgh during the Festival. I am yet to visit Edinburgh. Edinburgh during the Festival has twice the population of Edinburgh, it has a different time zone (up at one, asleep at five), and it even comes with a different currency (70 pence to the pound).

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Circa Two, Wellington - THEATRESPORTS FREESTYLE 2013: More jeopardy please
- reviewed by John Smythe

It used to be called Improv Cage Match and the same format by any other name is just as challenging. Theatresports Freestyle pits two teams against each other, each asked to play out their ever-evolving improv in three parts that total 30 minutes.

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Assemby, George Square, Edinburgh, Scotland - NICK: AN ACCIDENTAL HERO: Emotionally potent and inspiring
- reviewed by Robbie Nicol

Perhaps the most compelling performance by Lyons is of Chisholm’s mother. Nick doesn’t have the ability to verbally speak throughout the performance, and it is through his mum that we grow to care for the protagonist we rarely see or hear.

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Creative Waikato, Vero House, 127 Alexandra Street, Hamilton - TE TIRA PUHA: Full of heart and highly entertaining
- reviewed by Jillian Tipene

Kotiro has a gift she doesn’t understand and that the doctors and her whanau perceive as an illness; Awa’s vivid imagination and talent for drawing are not validated by his whanau, who view artistic endeavours as a waste of time; Norman (Norm) is afraid of his own shadow and can’t speak up for himself, particularly when it comes to his major crush on Kotiro.

What this trio lack in self-belief, however, their imaginary alter egos, the ninja-like ‘Te Tira Puha’, make up for, performing heroic feats to defeat the evil Koka Niwha who terrorises Horiwara.

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South Dunedin Community Hall, Dunedin - INTER-PLAY: DANCES ABOUT SUPPORT: Worth its weight in more than gold
- reviewed by Hannah Molloy

The large space meant it was difficult to watch everyone and everything but there was movement all around the room and my two young guests were not the only ones sitting on the edge of their seats, making sure they missed as little as possible.

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Fletcher Building Festival Club, Christchurch - Canterbury - CANTINA: Provocative and enormously thrilling
- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

Live music greets the audience, and underlies the daring acts of the performers. Men and women challenge each other in the conventions of the 20th century, in 1930s costumes. TheCharleston ensembles are terrific. Then the performers proceed to throw, thrust, lift and catch each other in an enthralling array of encounters, each with specific dramatic or sexual tension, each with specific endgames that the audience delight to see and applaud.

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Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch - THE GREAT ART WAR: Music, dialogue and action in elegant balance
- reviewed by Lindsay Clark

Stuart Hoar’s work as a dramatist has established him as a leading exponent of New Zealand material and Philip Norman is thoroughly respected in the world of musical theatre. Their shaping of the eternal debate on the values of art, about what makes it important, to whom and why, is intelligent and engaging, but also sufficiently dispassionate to allow the audience its own wriggle room. Music, dialogue and action are in elegant balance under the careful direction of Melanie Camp.

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The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland - TE AWARUA: A triumphant trifecta
- reviewed by Sharu Delilkan

Watching a theatrical production such as Te Awarua, that utilises three languages and cultures as a storytelling device, is indeed a treat. And knowing that the story was being told by the talented Albert Belz certainly made me have high expectations.

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Chapel Off Chapel ,12 Little Chapel Street, Prahran, Melbourne, Australia - STIFF: Some challenges met, others not
- reviewed by Kent Seaman

New Zealand writer April Phillips first conceived Stiff in 2002 for the Adam Playwriting Series. This is the first time the play has been performed in Melbourne and no doubt director Gen Campell has had to make the odd adjustment here and there to be current and geographically relevant.

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Assembly, Roxy, Edinburgh, Scotland - NO HOLDS BARD: A masterpiece of Elizabethan schizophrenia
- reviewed by Robbie Nicol

This is how Shakespeare should be performed. All of the skills are there – the communication with the audience, the willingness to let Shakespeare’s words do the acting, the mastery of physicality and voice – but what is most Shakespearean about No Holds Bard is its ability to examine the human condition so delicately amongst a storm of violence and humour.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - GUNPLAY / HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN / THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF FIREARMS AND HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: Performed with pizzazz
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Just as there was a Grover's Corner in all fifty states for Thornton Wilder's famous play Our Town, so there is a Fairview for every state in Paul Rothwell's Gunplay, which begins with a Narrator introducing us to the citizens when suddenly and marvellously everyone sings a rousing and funny, full-on patriotic Broadway musical opening chorus.

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BATS - Out Of Site - Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - WHAT GOES UP…: Playing with apples
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

What Goes Up is closer to abstract dance than theatre and is built around a game which the actors perform as the audience enters the theatre: a variation of Grandma’s Footsteps involving apples, which get eaten, thrown, juggled, and offered to the audience.

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Rudolf Steiner School Theatre, Christchurch - GIFTED: The stuff of dreams
- reviewed by Alan Scott

There could not have been a more fitting opening to the Christchurch Arts Festival than this play by Patrick Evans, a play which covers the period in which Janet Frame resided at Frank Sargeson's home in 1955.

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Theatre Royal, TSB Showplace, New Plymouth - THE ANIMALS & CHILDREN TOOK TO THE STREETS: Post-modern, classical, alternative, filmic, macabre, joyful, exciting!
- reviewed by Holly Shanahan

As if emerging from a strangely enjoyable bad trip, or some mad enthralling dream that lingers with you long after, I am still awash with how exactly to describe 1927's new show. The Animals and Children Took to the Streets is a genre-mashing, mind-bending hypnotic parable of exquisite live performance, storytelling, music and animation.

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Mayfair Festival Club, 67-73 Devon St West, New Plymouth - VANCE FONTAINE IN COMMAND PERFORMANCE: Amazing talents
- reviewed by Ngaire Riley

We quickly realise that his dated physical appearance of glittery hair and sparkly shirt beneath a cream baggy suit, belies the creative skill of his mind, talent and knowledge. He immediately identifies a Mrs Burnside in the audience and elicits that the man she arrived with is a budding mayoral candidate in an orange tie. All these elements become part of a song about his thwarted love for her and his wish to still ‘tick her box’ and for her to be ‘first past my post’.

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Westpoint Performing Arts Centre, Auckland - GRIMM: Dark fairy burlesque certainly entertains
- reviewed by Barbara Snook and Kit Suuring

The highlight of the evening is Chris Olwage's The Youngest Swan Brother. This dance combines gymnastics with his own unique approach to ballet and is performed quite beautifully en pointe. Chris wears a stunning black tutu and little else. He is a delight to behold. Close on his heels, in the highlights, is the final item of the one hour cabaret, a seductive young Snow White via the voluptuous Leda Petit who dances and strips with beautiful timing, creating dramatic tension and bringing the show to a climax.!

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The Pumphouse, Takapuna, Auckland - TE AWARUA: Warm-hearted romantic conviction within tragic setting
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Initially reactions are volatile between these three desperate specimens of humanity as they assert their respective positions and assess each other’s trustworthiness. As quickly as needs must, in a could-die-any-moment scenario, they manage to remember they’re on the same side and work together to achieve their common goal of defeating their common enemy.

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Rudolf Steiner School Theatre, Christchurch - GIFTED: Love of language frames love triangle
- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

This delicious and engaging play is set in the 1950s, when Frank Sargeson, the “father of New Zealand fiction”, finds his house, garden and shed semi-invaded by a Janet Frame who is only just beginning to find articulation as a person, never mind a writer. Frank is struggling to write anything himself at this time, and also misses desperately his mate and love, Harry Doyle.

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Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Edinburgh, Scotland - CHEESED OFF: Uncertainty makes for manic energy
- reviewed by Robbie Nicol

Jodie Ellis plays Desiree, a reclusive New Zealander on the other side of the world with only a goat for company. Amanda Walden, after taking us through a humorously casual safety briefing as a flight attendant, becomes Melinda – a ‘worldly’ woman on the run after accidentally killing her boss. Ellis portrays the boss as a much smaller Douglas Reynholm from Graham Linehan’s the IT Crowd, and the rest of the show has a tendency to feel as though it lies in that genre of sitcom.

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The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - RESIDENT ALIEN: One-queen show brings wonderfully quotable Crisp to life
- reviewed by Janet McAllister

This one-queen show is a loosely plotted grab-bag of the flaneur's amusing "mail order guru" aphorisms: "Sex smudges your make-up," he says, and "Books are for writing, not for reading."

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

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