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Seven Deadly Stunts

19/4/2018

by Laura Ferguson

One event I truly miss since moving from Christchurch is their annual World Buskers Festival. That’s one reason I look forward to the productions of Rollicking Entertainment starring husband-and-wife team Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman. Their latest offering, Seven Deadly Stunts, brings me more of what I crave in a busker festival-less world: excitement, thrills, fun and the bouncing curiosity of seeing feats even my imagination wouldn’t dare attempt.

Tollemache and Ladderman’s Seven Deadly Stunts is exactly as it sounds: seven sideshow acts that combine anticipation, vicarious fear and comedy. It delivers this in chainsaws, and no, that isn’t just an awkward substitution for spades.

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Our Country's Good

18/4/2018

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Hamish Boyle

Our Country’s Good sees the first shipload of English convicts find footing in Australia after eight months at sea. As the officers bicker on whether it is better to punish or rehabilitate the convicts, 2nd Lieutenant Clark (James Boag) assumes the role of director of a play in which the convicts find personal growth. During rehearsals, Clark begins to fall for one of them. I left this performance with mixed feelings. There were as many moments that fell short of their potential, jokes that didn’t land or tragedy that required more nuance, as there were moments that were near dead-on lovely.

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Spring Awakening

17/4/2018

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by Laura Ferguson

‘WARNING: DARK THEMES’ intones the piece of paper at the BATS Box Office. ‘Colourful language, sex, partial nudity, masturbation, abortion, sexual abuse, depression and suicide’: all are a hefty part of Spring Awakening, which I have braved thunder and lightning tonight to see. I confess to not knowing, well, anything about Spring Awakening before coming here tonight, but I can see people are excited. There is a certain frenzied fever-brightness to those who are already familiar with the musical. The infamy or perceived progressiveness or nostalgia from teenage years listening to the soundtrack of Spring Awakening pulses through the room as illicit desire would rush through blood.

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The Composer

9/4/2018

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Deanne Cherie

The new black box of Te Auaha theatre provides a generous space for the performance of The Composer, a dance circus show of the Wellington Fringe Festival. The stage, dimly lit by a soft purple light, hosts an old brown piano, draped in a silky white sheet of fabric, suggesting it has been neglected for some time. The prospect of live piano playing excites me, but is quickly followed by a loud fearful voice in my head “please dear lord don’t let this be a mime show”. I attempt to relax into the somber mood of the space and reassuringly lower my expectations.

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Tröll

5/4/2018

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Evangelina Telfar

Tröll is a dark coming-of-age tale that deals with a young boy’s depression that manifests as something that crawls through the walls and goes bump in the night. Otto, our twelve-year-old protagonist, takes a journey reminiscent of A Monster Calls, but with a lot more laughter and ingenious staging that captures a nostalgically nerdy 80’s world. The creepy tale explores mythology in a digital age as well as the importance of family and connection.

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Seminar

5/4/2018

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Corey Spence

Four aspiring young writers of different creeds, backgrounds, and skill sets each pay a renowned writer and editor $5,000 to attend a ten-week writing course, with hopes of something getting published. There’s Kate (Natalie Yatsina), the feminist writer who’s more than just her brain; Martin (Shivneel Singh), the seemingly reserved friend of Kate, who finds himself in spots of trouble and insecurity; Douglas (Jacob Masters), who is setting out to prove his talent is tied to his writing rather than his last name; and Izzy (Annica Lewis), flirtatious, determined, and constantly aware of what she wants and how she can get there. They all fall under the abrasive tutelage of Leonard (Jason Tolley), a writer-cum-editor who’s honesty is only matched by his repulsion. Seminar inspects how far we’ll go to achieve our goals and how we navigate past the obstacles in our way. Directed by Corey Sorenson, the performances are lively and we’re in for a comedic-yet-serious rollercoaster. Though at times, this rollercoaster plateaus for too long.

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Reviews

Seven Deadly Stunts

by Laura Ferguson

Our Country's Good

Hamish Boyle

Spring Awakening

by Laura Ferguson

The Composer

Deanne Cherie

Tröll

Evangelina Telfar

Seminar

Corey Spence

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