Aimee Smith What is it about hotels that make them the perfect backdrop for magic and mystery? Perhaps it is all the strange people who come and go, perhaps it’s the fact that they tend to reflect a space which is transitional or an escape from the ordinary. Indian Ink’s The Pickle King, set in the fictional Empire Hotel in the very real Oriental Bay, Wellington, is a tale of love, death, mysterious guests, and of course a little bit of magic.
Aimee Smith The world of Soft N Hard is alien from the get go. Design drives the action as luxurious textiles take center stage and dominate both the costume and set design (Poppy Serano and Owen McCarthy). A large yellow curtain divides the dome stage to create a warm yet lurid sort of world, the brightness of it refusing to be ignored - though what lies behind it is a mystery, at least for now. The costumes are similarly loud, bodies hidden beneath bizarre, billowing shapes. Throw in Waylon Edwards’ spacey sound design, and we start the show in a place decidedly other-wordly. Bodies begin to emerge, full of energy and curiosity, from the seas of embryonic fabric, and it feels like we are witnessing the birth of a clownish Adam and Eve - a fresh new Man and Woman, ready to discover the world full of naivety and optimism.
Courtney Rose Brown Elliot is a nice guy. He’s got a jersey from AS Colour, he studies economics, he doesn’t like rugby and sometimes he actually listens to you when you talk. So why wouldn’t you want to date him? M’Lady is a satirical musical that follows Elliot’s (Aimee Smith) journey of how to ‘get the girl’ and get out of the dreaded friendzone, in his quest for Freda’s love. On his destiny that surely can only be lead to greatness, he meets G (Jayne Grace) and Adrian (Freya Van Alphen Fyfe), two “very experienced and successful” pick up artists. G and Adrian graciously take Elliot under their wings to prepare him for the complex other beings that are women - or not that complicated as G seems to think in his pick up artistry history, one just needs a signature move and that’ll get all the girls to swoon. For him, it’s card tricks.
Corey Spence Life is all about the choices you make and when you make them; such is the predicament in Circa’s current production of A Doll’s House. Housewife Nora (Sophie Hambleton) finds herself falling deeper and deeper into a pit of pacifism and people-pleasing, slowly realising there’s more to life than those around her, that she doesn’t have to stand stationary while everyone around her rushes forward. Written by Emily Perkins (adapted from Ibsen’s original script) and directed by Katherine McRae, there isn’t a better time (or manner) to revitalise this classic text.
 Hilary PenwardenForbidden love, teen angst and mummy-issues are given centre stage in Smoko Company’s new play The Swimmer at BATS Theatre this week. The production gives its audience all the emotional intensity you’d expect from such material. And then some. And then some more after that. Bold and in-your-face, The Swimmer is a refreshing rejection of the naturalist vibes more common of BATS productions. But underneath all the noise, it’s hard to understand or care about what’s happening to the characters.
|