Abby Lyons Verdict is a 6 Degrees Production from the minds of MFA students Alanah Munn (director and co-creator) and Pan Clark (scenography lead, hair/makeup design and co-creator). The piece aims to translate “haunted house scare acting to the theatre”. It's bold, ambitious, new and as a combo of scaredy cat and horror-fan myself: I am excited and intrigued by the premise.
Zoe Christall I came for the name, I stayed for the quirky characters, artful depiction of a chaotic mind and emotional renderings of a brain hurt and overwhelmed.
Art Murmurs Team It’s Theatre Awards season and every rehearsal room in the city is popping off with people discussing their favourite shows from the year past. Luckily for us here at Art Murmurs, we have a platform that extends beyond Toi Pōneke - this list! Here are the shows from 2024 that our team really connected with. Welcome to our soapbox.
Katie Hill Wellington’s Pāua Ballads are back off a sold-out Improv Fest show, and a Christmas special with High School: (The Improvised) Musical. Improvising veteran, Austin Harrison opens the show as a ruthlessly cheerful school principal, normally I’d anticipate some kind of audience-rousing activity, but it’s not necessary, this Tuesday night is crowd is warm, particularly a patch in the bottom right who whoop and holler before Harrison gets his second syllable in.
Mia Oudes I am a complete outsider to what it is that Thank You, Ten is celebrating. I have never seen a Footlights show, but I was looking forward to sitting back to watch some musical theatre... and try to resist the urge to sing along.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin The annual Circa Theatre Pantomime is a consistent good time and a worthy watch to celebrate the last leg of the year. Written by Simon Leary and Gavin Rutherford, with Rutherford also taking the mantle of directing. This pantomime marks 20 years since the first at Circa and it’s jam-packed with double-entendre, local jokes, incredible costuming (shoutout to Sheila Horton, assisted by Sharon Johnstone and Maysie Pyatt), as well as song and dance medleys you’ll no doubt know and love (unless you’re the under 10s who got on stage and didn’t know Hot To Go by Chappell Roan).
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin Endling is a show about nothing. Each of its sketches, individually, have no sense of theme or emotional catalyst, and once thought of together, as a collection, they also offer no meaning. We are told by Monckton near the top of the show that if we find any underlying meaning that it is entirely our fault. To search this show for meaning would be to rummage around in an empty box. There is something to be said about emphasizing a point of meaninglessness so much that we, an audience of humans, are going to search harder for one.
Jack McGee By the time we find our seats in Circa Two, it’s all but clear that Kamala Harris has lost the election. The tone of the room is far from sombre. Sure, there’s the occasional sad-sack (myself) wearing it on their face, but mostly people are chipper, excited. It’s rare for me to come to a local show where I know there are fans in the crowd. Not friends of Penny Ashton, fans. Dyed Hot Pink in the wool, branded-tea-towel-purchasing, social-media-following, real, loyal, fans. Ashton is here to give them what they want.
Imogen Capes With a story so well-known and beloved as JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, it is a difficult task to successfully cram the epic tale into anything the average theatre-goer can comfortably sit through. At barely less than 3 hours, The Lord of the Rings - A Musical Tale manages to weave the familiar story, ostensibly told from the Shire hobbits’ perspective, in such a way that the audience is drawn into Middle Earth to join on this quest. Though not without its pitfalls, the show is an energetic and engaging retelling of the seminal fantasy saga.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin Every now and then you go to a show and think “Thank god this was made.” Show do Cafe is a warm embrace of a dance show, a mix of live and recorded music, with a thick aroma of coffee hanging in the air. It is a joyous and heartfelt immersive performance which explores the profound impact of coffee on society.
Jack McGee Before We Slip Beneath the Sea is the multi-Adam-award winning, immersive theatre, partial PHD thesis, brainchild of Aotearoa theatre stalwart Cassandra Tse. It follows the residents of the fictional Eglantyne island, located off the coast of Ohariu, as they are forced to evacuate their homes due to slowly impending climate disaster. Its debut season is produced by Tse’s own Red Scare Theatre in the Aro Community Centre which doubles as the Eglantyne Town Hall. We, the audience, are fellow citizens of Eglantyne. After scribbling out some name tags, we’re let loose in the hall as the island’s farewell party plays out around us. Julia Bon-McDonald Will Duignan’s new play and the Lochburns explores the tensions of a long-separated family coming together under less than ideal circumstances, with direction from Andrew Paterson and musical direction from Hayden Taylor. The play operates in a liminal space, on the thresholds of coming and going, loving and hating, nostalgia and trauma. We often flick backwards and forwards between the current occupants: the present Lochburns, and the former occupants: the past Lochburns. Littered with jazz standards, and the Lochburns runs the gauntlet of uncomfortable family dynamics with flair and incredible heart.
Julia Bon-McDonald DIVAS! Is the latest offering from the trio known as The Lady Killers, comprised of New Zealand legends, Suzanne Lynch, Tina Cross, and Jackie Clarke. The show is comprised of classic hits by well-known ‘divas’ such as Dolly Parton, Beyonce, Stevie Knicks – the list goes on. With the wide array of genres, there’s something for everyone. It also doesn’t hurt that The Lady Killers are excellent singers, frankly, I’d listen to them sing the ingredients on the back of a shampoo bottle if it meant hearing more of their incredible voices.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin History is made on the 28th September 2024 when a drag wedding descends on Old St. Pauls. Brought to us by Willy Smackntush in partnership with Kerryn Pollock at Heritage New Zealand, this gothic matrimony is part of their Rainbow List Project. It's the first event of its kind in the cathedral since it was built in 1866, so, yeah, it’s dawning on me as I enter that this is no regular drag show. Ushered into the ornate, dark wood central chamber, it’s clear that this is a significant event and no doubt highly charged for much of its audience. Regardless of this, the crowd is bubbly and happily mingling. Keen to reclaim a sacred space in the worship of something sexy and fun, we’re guided to our seats.
Brie Keatley It’s been almost a year since I last reviewed a children’s show… This is far too long for me to wait. Good thing the show I’m reviewing is the brilliant Horse with No Name’s Trees, Bees and Me (written by Ryan Cundy and Catriona Tipene, Tipene also directed.) The delightful show follows Mimi (Salomè Neely) and Poppa (Tadhg Mackay) as they adventure through their backyard in order to defeat the dastardly Litterbug (Ryan Cundy) and his sidekick Binny (Gabby Clark).
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