Austin Harrison Old Mate is the latest offering from the iconic Josh Thomson. You probably recognise Thomson from The Office Australia, Taskmaster NZ, The Project or, most memorably for me personally, for his extended rants about insignificant subject matter on 7 Days. This is my first time seeing him live, and I am surprised in all the right ways with what I find.
Austin Harrison WOW, You’ve Changed is a double-bill stand-up comedy show by two of Wellington’s newer but most active comedians, Katy Burrows and Indie Vine. The concept is utterly charming. Two people don’t see each other for 10 years, and become friends. In the intervening decade one survived drug addiction and the other came out and transitioned. The show celebrates their journeys apart as they find themselves back together...making comedy.
Austin Harrison Chris Sainton-Clark returns to Aotearoa for another bite at the NZ Fringe cherry. After reviewing his folk tale A Year and a Day last year I was all too eager to see this excellent performer in Pōneke once again- this time with a musical comedy show perfectly placed at the Welsh Dragon Pub.
Tadhg Mackay I loved going to the circus as a child. I would watch the performers achieve superhuman feats with awe and sit on the edge of my seat gaping at the risks being taken. While there may not have been a big top tent in Te Auaha's Tapere Nui, I felt that same joy nonetheless.
Guy van Egmond There’s a delicate tightrope to be walked by writers who use narrative shorthands. Rely on them too heavily and they invariably lead to a disengaged audience keeping one eye on the clock. However, when your show has a shoestring budget and a 60-minute timeslot, cliches can be effective ways to bypass exposition and set up inventive punchlines.
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.
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.
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.
Isaac Andrews Ivan Aristeguieta is a Venezuelan comedian, who in 2012 immigrated to Australia and has since built a stand-up career taking on the challenge of performing in a second language. On this freezing cold Tuesday night, I’m welcomed in by the warmth of the Fringe bar, to his new show tonight: Ivan Aristeguieta - Too Easy.
Isaac Andrews Tom Cashman is an eccentric Australian comedian, who in his show Tom Cashman - Everything, graces an astute kiwi crowd with an epic attempt to cover every topic under the sun. This is as a part of the NZ International Comedy Festival. I’m intrigued to see what Cashman can come up with within the hour, and what ‘everything’ entails.
Lilli Margaret Nick Robertson’s Leave to Enter is, on the face of it, the story of a guy who is stopped from entering Scotland. The reality of this show is a comedic deep dive into the psyche of young 20-something year old Robertson navigating a difficult situation with humour, sadness, optimism, and Candy Crush.
Austin Harrison Eli Matthewson has a reputation for slick, tight good quality stand-up. He’s known to work his gear relentlessly when putting together a festival show and Gutterball shows the value in that hard work. It’s a slick, tight very funny show well deserving of its mid-week sellout crowd at San Fran.
Austin Harrison “No. 3 Stars”. That’s the review Tim Batt jokes about getting on the opening night of Is Climate Change Funny Yet?. Unfortunately, due to some highly distracting audience chaos and a show which hasn’t quite got its balance right, it’s not far from my experience on opening night.
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.
Austin Harrison It’s a sold out Wednesday night in Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui for one of Aotearoa’s most well-known comedians. Famous for his snapchat filter videos featuring quirky characters and tongue-in-cheek political impressions, there is a noticeable excitement in the crowd to see the dude off instagram, live in the flesh.
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