The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of The Kiss Inside, Rose Matafeo - Finally Dead, and Like There’s No Tomorrow.

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

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The latest Theatreview Weekly includes reviews of The Kiss Inside, Rose Matafeo - Finally Dead, and Like There’s No Tomorrow.

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

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NEXT BIG THINGS HOSTED BY BEN HURLEY (2015): Well executed and witty potty humour
SAN FRAN, 171 Cuba Street, Wellington
- reviewed by Thomas Aitken

Next Big Things features seven up and coming Wellington comedians presented by Ben Hurley, best known as a comedian on TV3’s 7 Days.

The crowd laps up his slurred, expletive-laden jokes between 10 minute sets from the supposed “next big things on the Kiwi comedy circuit.”

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CHRIS PARKER - NO MORE DANCING IN THE GOOD ROOM: A cyclone of styles, words, phrases and mood
BATS Theatre, The Propellor Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Jo Blick

What we are presented with instead is a hugely entertaining piece of theatre that is by turns hilarious, strange, physically exuberant and ultimately moving.

No More Dancing in the Good Room lays out its wares very early on. The show opens with Parker alternatively ambling then stalking around the stage, a sheet over his head echoing the sheets over the large pieces of furniture that make up the set.

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ROSE MATAFEO - FINALLY DEAD: Dead funny
The Basement, Auckland
- reviewed by Matt Baker

Ranging from deadpan delivery to lively laughs, Matafeo is a true performer. There are song and dance numbers, guest appearances, and even a processional finale.

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BEN TARGET - DISCOVER BEN TARGET: Deliberately awkward and inevitably divisive
The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

On a drizzly low-vibe Tuesday evening my companion and I set out to the Basement Theatre Studio to discover Ben Target. What we discover is an unnervingly quiet fellow with a short mullet, in a white suit and trainers: a bit like Dr Who if he was played by the love child of Dean O’Gorman and Pete Townshend.

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THE BIG SHOW 2015: Guaranteed great night out
Comedy Chamber, Town Hall, THE EDGE, Auckland
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

The three English and one Welsh stand up comedian who make up The Big Show, are vastly different in style, content and on stage energy, making for a satisfying evening of comedy, full of variety and laughs.

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OLD MOUT CIDER FIRST LAUGHS: A tantalising tasting platter of what’s to come
Opera House, Wellington
- reviewed by Simon Howard

Old Mout Cider First Laughs kicks off the New Zealand International Comedy Festival by offering Wellington audiences the chance to see six minutes of material from fifteen comedians, split evenly between domestic and international performers. With a mix of well-known New Zealand comedians alongside unknown quantities from abroad (primarily the UK), there is always an air of anticipation at which unexpected comedian will steal the show.

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DON JUAN: Surreal comic touches pepper production
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson [Reproduced with permission of Fairfax Media]

Controlled anarchy is the essence of the production, which is taken at a furious clip, that is part scripted, part adlibbed, and involving some well-planned and unthreatening audience participation. The comedy is verbal, physical and at times surreal. Don Juan faces a firing squad with the audience as the executioners, while later they become, with aid of tattered umbrellas, trees in a forest.

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WHITE CLOUD: Shared journeys
Turner Centre, Kerikeri
- reviewed by Alan Scott

Tim Finn’s one-man show, White Cloud, promises more than it delivers. Using song, narrative, film and photographs it explores the question of what it means to be Pakeha. Devised and written by both Finn and playwright Ken Duncum, it traverses the lives of their immigrant ancestors and more recent twentieth century family history, and to a small extent Finn’s own progression from Te Awamutu boy to performing artist.

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THE KISS INSIDE: A gift comprising absurdities and contradictions
Regent Theatre (Dunedin), Dunedin
- reviewed by val smith

What Douglas is talking to us about, and the way in which he does so, will not be done justice by an analytical rendering of ideas through language. The only written response then, that feels appropriate to this work, is to simply thank Douglas Wright for the gifting of The Kiss Inside to a New Zealand public, and for his continued efforts to make his productions come to life. So, I thank Douglas for his energy, and his honesty. I thank him for opening a doorway into his life, his inner journeying, and for a view into his very being.

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TWO DAY PLAYS 2015: An energising celebration of the collective creative spirit
BATS Theatre, The Propellor Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

There is nothing like a deadline and a few constraints to get the creative juices flowing. Over the past four weekends 19 short plays have been created and performed within 48 hours, each embracing the requirement to incorporate specified elements and use assigned props.

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ADRIENNE TRUSCOTT'S ASKING FOR IT: Bottomless capacity for thought-provoking humour
The Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

The woman of the hour enters in her obviously-fake blonde wig, denim jacket, heels and nothing-in-between. Adrienne Truscott’s nicely groomed bare nether-regions have the potential to function equally as a socio-sexually political statement and a salacious selling point.

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DON JUAN: Cleverly crafted fun
Circa Two, Wellington
- reviewed by John Smythe

The ensemble nature of this Leo Gene Peters-directed production – played in sexy French accents by Maaka Pohatu, Andrew Paterson, Susie Berry, Comfrey Sanders and Jonathan Price but constantly referencing Wellington in the here and now – renders Don Juan himself a rather elusive character. And those he encounters are even more two-dimensional. So the complex and contrapuntal intricacies of sexual desire and social conventions – let alone the morality, amorality and torments of addiction – are not up for thorough investigation or interrogation here. Or are they?

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GUY WILLIAMS - YOU CAN SENSE THE DESPERATION: Plenty of laughs and thought-provoking social commentary
Montecristo - Upstairs, Auckland
- reviewed by Chloe Baynes

Nuanced interactions with the internet culture of our time prove Guy to be clued in to our relationship to social media. Particularly standing out are parodied inspirational insta-quotes, life hacks and twitter drafts, drawing laughs all round at the cheeky, absurd and playfully inappropriate.

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NEXT BIG THINGS HOSTED BY BEN HURLEY (2015): A richly variegated array of teasers
Q Theatre, Rangatira, Auckland
- reviewed by Raewyn Whyte

Ten guest slots are filled by an array of "talented up and comers … comedians you're gonna want to see again." Each has a bare 6 minutes to impress and entice us to buy tickets to their show, and Hurley keeps them strictly to time, so there's a cracking pace overall.

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DAFFODILS [INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS]: Rocked by the noise of love and the music of life
Turner Centre, Kerikeri
- reviewed by Alan Scott

As the star-crossed lovers Eric and Rose, Todd Emerson and Colleen Davis are perfectly cast and deliver superb performances. They face the audience and never each other. Though separated by space, with eyes out front, you feel and hear the intimacy of conversation sparking between them, at first playful and then loving. They both have big singing voices ...

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ROSE MATAFEO - FINALLY DEAD: Gripping. Amusing. Hilarious. Original.
The Basement, Auckland
- reviewed by Kathryn van Beek

As Rose explores her fears around death she gives an impression of Audrey Hepburn as a flatmate, tells us what she doesn’t want her last words to be ... At one point she reprimands herself, saying, “You charged these people money to watch you have an hour-long panic attack?”

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CRAIG CAMPBELL'S THRILLING MIC HUNT: Politely confrontational exchanges and frenzied rants
The Classic, Auckland
- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Campbell hits the ground running to the sound of rambunctious drumming and within sixty seconds has acquainted himself with a couple in the front row. Five minutes later he’s scored a tequila out of them, which he reckons hasn’t happened before but being a stand-up comedian there’s no need or expectation to believe anything he says.

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PENNY ASHTON - HOT PINK BITS: A sizzling giggle stick to wrap you laughing gear around
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
- reviewed by Kathryn van Beek

If you enjoy songs, sensuality and sexual innuendo, you’ll want to get up to the Q Theatre Loft to have burlesque madam and master manipulator Dr Love, AKA Penny Ashton, satisfy your desires.

The show opens when the hostess with the most chest takes to the stage in a pink lab coat. She gets the audience in the mood by promising “sex, sizzle and hot wax on nipples… "

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ANZAC EVE: New Anzac play first class
Wanaka Masonic Hall, Wanaka
- reviewed by Nigel Zega

The first public outing of Dave Armstrong’s topical play, Anzac Eve, changed the perceptions of the largely young audience who had a chance to see a work in progress.

Although only a workshop production, the quality of the writing, direction (by Jamie McCaskill), and acting held a packed house without need of sets, lighting or effects.

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KOLOPA SIMEI-BARTON & DENYCE SU'A - GET IT GIRL: Home-grown female talents bring it
Q Theatre Cellar, Auckland
- reviewed by Aminata Hamadi

A funny yet stimulating show – is that combination even legal? It is indeed possible, and the dynamic duo of Kolopa Simei-Barton and Denyce Su’a manages to deliver it with style and finesse in their show Get It Girl. These girls aren’t afraid to say it like it is and they bring a creative and intelligent offering to this year’s Comedy Festival.

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OLD MOUT CIDER COMEDY GALA 2015: Spoilt for choice
Civic Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Overall, while the Gala is (as always) too long and suffers from lack of air conditioning, after the 3 hour comedy marathon, there’s no denying that if every show in this year’s Festival is as good as the 21 hugely varied Gala performers, then NZ is in for an awesome few weeks.

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LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW: Daring, innovative, and full of passion
Gin & Raspberry, Wanaka
- reviewed by Nigel Zega

New talent abounds at this festival. Like There’s No Tomorrow is home-grown, performed almost exclusively by Mount Aspiring College students and gives an insight into how teens tackle the sudden accidental death of one of their peers.

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THE BOOKBINDER: Sure to entertain
Wanaka Masonic Hall, Wanaka
- reviewed by Caroline Harker

Once upon a time there was a festival in a little lakeside town called Wanaka. Every festival included some plays. In 2015 there is one called The Bookbinder. The people who see the play love it very much. They feel very lucky because the play is on for just three days.

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THE DEMOLITION OF THE CENTURY: Cabaret-style enhances the reading
The Pear Tree, Kerikeri
- reviewed by Alan Scott

This fusion of two different presentation styles is both a strength and a weakness of the show. Sarkies’ skill at reading brings the pieces vividly to life. His voice is rich and varied in tone. He knows just when to hold a pause and how to phrase a line, and how to mine the text to bring the emotion of the piece to the surface.

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COALTOWN BLUES: Creates a whole and engrossing world
The Dark Room, Cnr Pitt and Church Street, Palmerston North
- reviewed by Joy Green

Coaltown Blues is autobiography but with a number of fictional twists, because as The Boy, our narrator, tells us, fiction is truer than life sometimes, and “more symmetrical”. So the story opens as the boy is born – in his fiction, if not in fact – on the night in 1935 when Michael Joseph Savage and his first Labour government are elected.

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EMBODY2: Provokes wider speculation
BATS Theatre, The Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
- reviewed by Chris Jannides

The two dance contributors to this programme - Juliet Shelley and Jeremy Haxton - work in very different ways. Yet both create choreographic scores that have a reflective narrative element - Shelley's internal and personal, Haxton's external and impersonal.

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CENTRAL: Spot on insights
Lake Wanaka Centre, Wanaka
- reviewed by Nigel Zega

Prolific playwright Dave Armstrong’s second Festival of Colour offering [Anzac Eve being the other] is a sharply focused comedy drama raising thorny questions about conservation, development, and sticking with principles versus selling out.

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ANZAC EVE: Entertaining and challenging
Wanaka Masonic Hall, Wanaka
- reviewed by Viv Milsom

Set at ANZAC Cove on Gallipoli on 24 April, the play tells the story of two Kiwi guys and two Australian girls meeting and setting up camp for the night as they prepare for ANZAC Day.

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THE PIANIST: Exceptionally skilled performance with an extra helping of panache
Turner Centre, Kerikeri
- reviewed by Alan Scott

Here is a man, a sophisticated, cultured musician beset by a series of calamities. The chandelier is in the way, the piano cover is stuck, the music sheets are unruly, the stool is too high and the piano itself seems to have a life of its own.

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TRIUMPHS AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES: A superb parable
Hannah Playhouse (previously Downstage), Wellington
- reviewed by Chris Jannides

We see humans being formed from dust. Life and language force-fed into pulled-open gaping mouths. Flesh squeezed together at the back of a head to imitate the tubing and crevices of the brain. The Maker as Atlas shouldering his prized human creations. Eve rebelliously separating Adam from their Creator. Adam gawking at her self-animated propulsions and independence. The Creator strenuously squeezing himself between them. There is a see-saw of immanence and transcendence. God sky-high, suspended, distracted. God in creation. God in flesh. God wanting human attention. Story and symbolism everywhere!

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THE KISS INSIDE: The primal search for ecstasy,
SKYCITY Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Bernadette Rae

An inverted tree dresses the stage. In the opening scene Hanna is also suspended upside down to deliver, in fine voice, ancient and beautiful karakia and waita. This unification of the Tarot's imagery and Maori wisdom is not the only cross-cultural reference.

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THE KISS INSIDE: A series of paradoxes
SKYCITY Theatre, Auckland
- reviewed by Francesca Horsley

The juxtaposition between imagination and physical power is demonstrated poignantly when Wright himself dances. Watched over by a nurse, and dressed in plain hospital-like garb that barely conceals his whippet thinness, he executes a flowing narrative of gesture, witty and restrained. This interlude is a pause from the work’s vitality, focussing instead on pattern, nuance and vulnerability.

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CAFE: Brilliant at times with potential to develop
Federal Diner, Wanaka
- reviewed by Viv Milsom

Wanaka’s Federal Diner proves an ideal location for Site Specific Theatre’s latest play, Cafe. The actors can move freely around the tables and behind the counter, while the audience become the customers, sitting at the tables. The concept is great and the audience enjoys being an integral part of the production.

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THE BALLAD OF BACKBONE JOE: Entirely charming idiocy
Luggate Memorial Hall, Wanaka
- reviewed by Pip Harker

This is rollicking, unruly and loose as a goose theatre. The performers are in and out of character, with asides to the audience, mickey-taking at mistakes and more. It's hard to know how much is ad-libbing and how much is scripted. But it works because of the madcap fun, hilarious moments and great live music throughout.

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DAFFODILS [INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS]: Coming to care for characters who stay with you
Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace, Wanaka
- reviewed by Pip Harker

Brilliant use is made of many iconic Kiwi songs throughout, sung live and – oh joy – the actors can really sing! Woven throughout the drama are remixes of these nostalgic songs – by The Swingers, Chris Knox, Darcy Clay, Dave Dobbyn and more – played live onstage by Lips and Abraham Kunin, who add so much to this production they almost steal the show.

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TRIUMPHS AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Epically charged and infinitely intriguing
Hannah Playhouse (previously Downstage), Wellington
- reviewed by Anna Bate

It is UNDENIABLE that the performers are highly articulate, intelligent movers and thinkers. They produce acts that communicate familiar un-name-able states of bodily condition with exceptional clarity. They are precisely concentrated, multi-lingual, epically charged, and infinitely intriguing. It is immensely satisfying to witness movement material that has been shaped with such textural specificity.

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TRIUMPHS AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES: A perfect example of dance-theatre
Hannah Playhouse (previously Downstage), Wellington
- reviewed by Jillian Davey

This Maker character reflects some easily recognisable traits and is at various times passionate, wry, obliviously funny, sad, and obsessive. He moulds his creations into myriad options and seems to ask himself what looks best? Does this look like I’ve tried too hard? Will anyone understand what I’m trying to say?... all recognisable questions if you’ve ever created anything

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

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