Art Murmurs - Reviews

WEDLOCK: A Drag Wedding

1/10/2024

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.

Trees, Bees and Me

30/9/2024

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).

Ngā Rorirori

15/9/2024

Alia Marshall

Hone Kouka’s latest play Ngā Rorirori (or the idiots in te reo pākehā) is returning to the stage two years after a smash hit season at Circa. I missed it last time, so I’m stoked to finally get to see this piece of mahi from a playwright whose plays sit on my bookshelf full of notes. As the doors are about to open, we are welcomed by one of the ushers with a pōwhiri, who cheekily adds at the end that we’re in the perfect place tonight as the rain buckets down above us.

The Seagull

7/9/2024

Guy van Egmond

Photo credit: Josh Hopton-Stewart

A good theatre adaptation is one that retains the core of the original piece; one that culminates in the same emotional revelation, leaving an audience feeling altered and not wanting. Director Josh Hopton-Stewart hit it bang-on with Stagecraft’s production of The Seagull, by Anton Chekov.

Five Words or Less

5/9/2024

Abby Lyons

Oh That Theatre Company is a multi-award winning young theatre company whose work focuses on creating “fun, wild, camp, ridiculous while also sincere theatre’; and with the horrendous weather in Pōneke currently, this is right up my alley and I’m looking forward to a cozy piece of theatre.

Midnight Confessions

29/8/2024

Zoe Christall

There are parts of my girlhood that shape who I am today. Things like Girlfriend Magazine quizzes (✨Does Your Crush LIKE You Back??✨), asking mum if Gemma can come stay tonight (I PROMISE we’ll be good!), blanket forts, insecurities whispered underneath the covers at midnight, cuddles and promising to be best friends forever. I have never seen my girlhood accurately reflected back at me by any piece of media. Something was always missing. The girls on TV didn’t look the way I did when I was 16. The unique safety and silliness of female friendships was always trivialised. The girls

The Body Politic

27/8/2024

Tadhg Mackay

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a piece of art without having learnt about it beforehand. The Body Politic, written by Elspeth Sandys and directed by Andrew Foster, is a dramedy about four people living in an apartment block in Thorndon. How much can these people take before they need to take a stand? I went into The Body Politic blind beyond the name, when I needed to be there, and that it was at Circa. I left having watched an excellent piece of theatre that would have passed me by if I hadn’t agreed to review it.

Urinetown - Te Auaha

24/8/2024

Julia Bon-McDonald

There is something about knowing you’re going to a show with three Tony awards behind it that invites you to relax. This year, the Musical Theatre Course of Whitireia & WelTec present: Urinetown the Musical. I don’t know much about the show going in, but Urinetown sells itself as a ‘satire of greed, love and revolution’. The moment I see Michael Trigg’s piss-yellow lighting, I know we’re in for some laughs.

HAMLET - BATS 2024

23/8/2024

Jack McGee

Jo Marsh and The Magnificent Weirdos’ ambitious new staging of Hamlet with its striking tagline (One Hour. Three Actors. Denmark will never be the same) and techno-thriller poster (designed by Hamish Boyle based on Marsh’s outlines), promises a take on the prince that's more Ethan Hawke than Kenneth Branagh. Set in a “crumbling, dystopian world filled with surveillance and conspiracies”, projection design (by SPLITelevison) is infused into the very core of the show. It’s as ambitious as it sounds. Pushing a shoe-string BATS budget to its limit, Marsh and her team are shooting for the moon, without cutting any corners for accessibility. It’s a hard show not to root for, even if it doesn’t always rise to its lofty goals.

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

23/8/2024

Guy van Egmond

In their first Wellington show, Shakespeare’s North takes a stab at The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Not a show I was all too familiar with, but the promise of intrigue, sabotage and bloodshed, as well as mysterious interactive seats, had me excited as I took the lift up to two/fiftyseven on Willis Street.

Antarctic Endeavours

15/8/2024

Mia Oudes

Absurdist theatre is a movement that, in essence, agrees with the idea first coined by philosopher Albert Camus, absurdism. In short, it is that the universe is inherently absurd and life is pointless. Here we are, emotional human creatures, trapped in this nonsense without the ability to change it. I am a Camus fan and I love this idea. As a consequence, I really enjoy the genre and I am excited to see this show.

Lizzie the Musical

12/8/2024

Zoe Christall

It’s a Friday night as I walk into the electric atmosphere of Circa One. Everyone’s had a long week and we are ready for some sexy rock n’ roll as boasted in WITCH Music Theatre’s downright (if you’ll excuse the pun) bewitching poster. Seriously, props to Roc Torio’s photography and WITCH’s marketing. If the poster is anything to go by, I’m prepared to be amazed (and possibly seduced) by Lizzie.

Guru of Chai

5/8/2024

Alia Marshall

Seasonal depression is alive and well in Pōneke, but never fear, the Guru of Chai is here to fix all of our problems, or so he says. After scooping up ‘Composer of the Year’, ‘Actor of the Year’, and ‘NZ Play of the Year’ at the 2010 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards, Indian Ink’s Guru of Chai is once again gracing our stages on a nationwide tour. Real ones will remember that my first ever review was for Krishnan’s Dairy (lucky duck, I know), and I have admired this company’s mahi since I first saw Kiss the Fish when I was 16. Safe to say, I’m excited.

Two Girls One Gun

27/7/2024

Alia Marshall

Two Girls One Gun is Comedy Gold’s latest addition to their CGTU (Comedy Gold Theatrical Universe), which promises us sexy spies, boobs, legs, and friendship. This company is known for their genre-parody shows jam packed full of stunts and cheeky slapstick comedy, subverting expectations by placing women at the centre of these traditionally male dominated narratives. Naturally, my interest is piqued.

When We Were Us

25/7/2024

Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin

When We Were Us is a new musical from Playwright and Composer Catherine Zulver, directed by Helen Mackenzie Hughes and produced under Red Scare Theatre Company by the company's very own Cassandra Tse. I have high expectations going into the show as I’m aware of the many talents onboard. As I enter BATS Theatre’s Dome stage I take in the pre-show state: Kevin Orlando’s Dylan resting under a blanket centre-stage and Julia McDonald's Claire to the right, looking out and up. She seems hopeful, and so am I.