Jenny Nimon For NZICF 2023, two-time winner of NZICF Newcomer of the Year (yes, you read that right) Maria Williams brings us a new iteration of her show Anxiety…the Musical!? where anxiety is amended to ADHD following a decades-late diagnosis. For those not in the know, neurodivergence is often misdiagnosed (and mis-self-diagnosed) as anxiety due to stressors like overstimulation and masking pressure, so this is not a surprising pipeline.
Jenny Nimon 3 Steps Back, written and performed by Emma Katene (Ngāti Kahungunu) and directed by Kate Anderson, is a sharp and generous solo that attempts to map Katene’s experience with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) since her formal diagnosis in 2020. At once performance poetry, physical theatre and vocal show, Katene invites us to ‘sit back and perhaps even eat some snacks, while [she] sings and dances her way through the feeling of two dimensions colliding. Watch out though, you might even see some of your own pathways reflected.’
Austin Harrison The Big HOO-HAA! Pōneke is a competitive improv show (a-la Theatresports) which was originally created in Perth, Australia and has migrated onto our shores for its New Zealand premiere in this year’s New Zealand Fringe Festival. Despite some opening night wrinkles, it’s a rambunctious, rollicking good time starring some of the city’s finest improv talent.
Jack McGee Two hours and fifteen minutes. Making my way into BATS, up to my seat at the back of the theatre, the same question keeps coming out of different mouths. Is this play actually two hours and fifteen minutes long?
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin Isaac Martyn’s show He Māori? asks what it means to reclaim Māoritanga from a Pākehā upbringing. Returning to BATS Theatre for Tahi Festival after a sold-out first season, Martyn leads the audience on a journey of total confusion to partial understanding – weaving together elements of stand-up comedy, waiata, and theatrical performance to explore the doubt, celebration, and the complicated nature of identity.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin Little Dog Barking Theatre Company’s show Party Pigs! is originally adapted for the stage by the late Peter Wilson from the nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy Went To Market." This iteration of the show is given new life by Wilson’s long-time friend Kenny King as performer, Jacqueline Coats as director, original design by Tish Oldham, and puppets by Sharon Johnson. Party Pigs! is a delightful puppetry story set around the excitement and anticipation of a child’s birthday party - piggy style!
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin Pea-Knuckle Productions show Captain Festus McBoyle - The Prose and Cons is a whanau comedy theatre experience laced with songs, poems, stories, and epic fun. The character Captain Festus McBoyle (Rich Manic), joined by his wife Miss Lucy Drawers and strongman extraordinaire The Great Ebenezer (no credits given), have been infecting audiences for over seven years. The latest voyage was at BATS Theatre as part of the Tahi Festival.
Austin Harrison Remember sleepovers? The delirious, sugar-fuelled bonding. Being allowed to stay up past bed-time and share everything while your parents weren’t listening. Heartbreaker Productions has used that time and those memories as a playground to dance, play and laugh in their newly devised anthology Midnight Confessions – and it’s an absolute delight!
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin SquareSums&Co’s show Bunny, written, directed and performed by Barnie Duncan and produced by Yee Yang ‘Square’ Lee is a love letter to clubbing and an exploration of dealing with grief. Made in the weeks following the death of his mother, Robyn, Duncan brings this iteration of Bunny to BATS with a year of development under its belt, having been made for the 2021 Comedy Fest.
Katie Hill Ephemeral Theatre’s RAW! ASMR is a devised solo feminist clown show by Amy Atkins and, according to the programme, is the first of its kind in Aotearoa. Directed by Sara Hirsch and devised by Bethany Miller, Amy Booth, Liz Butler, and Pája Neuhöferov, the show is 45 minutes of whispered chaos, and as an avid ASMR fan, I feel ecstatic that this niche corner of YouTube content has been given some theatrical legs. While evidently a development season, RAW! ASMR is bright, fresh, and Atkins is a skilled entertainer.
Reviewed by Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin The Kallo Collective and A Mulled Whine’s show The King Of Taking is a promising work in development from beloved NZ clown, Thom Monckton. The show is a circus satire of a selfish king receiving gifts from his subjects/us/who cares! The show is already sharp as a tack, even as a demo, with Monckton flexing his international, award-winning clown muscles on home soil.
Jenny Nimon Music Sounds Better Out Here from Squash Co Arts Collective (written and performed by Jack McGee; directed by Ben Kelly) is a storytelling marvel. Everything from set to animation to script to performance is spectacular, and it is the best show I have seen in Fringe so far. I don’t write many all-out rave reviews, but, Fringe judges, I hope you’re watching.
Austin Harrison Wendybird is the latest theatrical outing for fast-emerging company Blue Flicker. This year they bring Prea Millar’s debut solo show to fringe – a playful reclaiming of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, from Wendy’s perspective. More than that though, it is an artful reflection on a young woman’s experience growing up in someone else’s story.
Austin Harrison Shift Your Paradigm is part pyramid-scheme parody, part conspiracy investigation, full quirky comedy good times. Co-created by David Bowers-Mason and Mitchell Botting, this 65-minute offering - while not perfect - is a delightful addition to this year’s Fringe programme. WARNING: SEVERAL CHAIRS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS PRODUCTION.
Jenny Nimon Stain Your Brain Productions’ show You’d Look So Pretty If is wild, frenzied and surreal. In the show description, the creators say that it “will leave you feeling contemplative, and ready to scream”, and based on my own feelings leaving BATS, I’d say it’s a good prediction.
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