The latest Theatreview Weekly with reviews on All’s Well That Ends Well, An Unseasonable Fall of Snow, and Empty City.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly with reviews on All’s Well That Ends Well, An Unseasonable Fall of Snow, and Empty City.

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

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BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - AN UNSEASONABLE FALL OF SNOW: Riveted to an electrifying game of cat and mouse
- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

Who these two are, what their relationship with each other is and what the outcome will be of their intense and dramatic encounter are just some of the pieces in this puzzle. A set of psychological mind games ensure that are not so much concerned with who did it but why.

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The Long Hall, Roseneath, Wellington - ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Comedy beats drama in this Shakespeare
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Women had it tough in Elizabethan times and were often forced into arranged marriages with unpalatable men. In All’s Well Shakespeare, with some help from Boccaccio and folk tales, reverses the situation. The lowly born Helena is allowed to choose herself a husband. Bertram, a feckless young nobleman, isn’t too happy about her choice.

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Old Recycling Centre (Dave Culham Drive, Pohe Island), Whangarei - EMPTY CITY: Gorgeousness precedes venality
- reviewed by David Stevens

Before our eyes, a complex, intricate tapestry is woven, of daily life – and the machinations of the District Council. It is fascinating, or was to me, and filled with crackerjack, throwaway jokes, some so subtle, so specifically local, that they sailed right over my head but caused many more familiar with Whangarei to laugh out loud.

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The Long Hall, Roseneath, Wellington - ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: The whole amounts to less than the sum of the parts
- reviewed by John Smythe

The Bacchanals’ ‘anything goes’ presentation – most obvious in the all-over-the-place and often strange costume choices – is their solution to the style problem. While their trademark ‘Poor Theatre’ conventions and charming affability remain, they present All’s Well as a rough-hewn Comedy, and ‘once over lightly’ at that in key areas, which would short-change any of Shakespeare’s Comedies let alone a Problem Play that is striving for something more gutsy.

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BATS Theatre (Out Of Site), Cnr Cuba & Dixon, Wellington - AN UNSEASONABLE FALL OF SNOW: Lyrical, poignant and challenging
- reviewed by Maryanne Cathro

I walk into the theatre unfamiliar with the play but having supreme confidence in playwright, director and actors alike to deliver an excellent piece of theatre. For what else can one expect from such a line-up of proven talent?

And they deliver. I am happy not to have seen or read the play, as it is a bit of an enigma that unfolds ...

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Mashina Lounge, Christchurch Casino, Christchurch - DUSTY LIMITS: Irreverent songs of love, lust, loss (at least of innocence), family and death
- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

Shamelessly narcissistic and endearingly outrageous, this guy delivers the goods – sorry, but after an hour in his company, the most innocent turn of phrase becomes loaded with innuendo. According to the World Buskers Festival programme, Dusty Limits is also known as Dorian Black, an apt name for one whose repertoire, superbly executed, covers the invention and reinvention of the self.

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

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