Guy van Egmond Thriller is a genre of control, holding back information to keep the audience unsettled, guiding exactly what they’re allowed to learn and when. An author can drip-feed information by the word; a filmmaker has total direction over what the audience can hear and see. But a thriller on stage is a whole other ballgame.
Guy van Egmond When the call came in to review Shakespeare’s North’s latest production, I was keen. I found their staging of Julius Caesar—last year at two/fiftyseven—endearing; though it lacked spectacle, the company had great enthusiasm and familiarity with Shakespeare’s work. I was curious to see what they’d pull off this time, bringing The Life of Henry the Fifth to the (arguably better-suited) Dome at BATS.
Guy van Egmond When it comes to polished period theatre, Stagecraft takes the cake in Pōneke. ‘Stagecraft Theatre presents’ has become shorthand for well-produced and relevant classic productions, as evidenced by a packed opening-night for their current show, The Heiress. A well-chosen and -directed script, The Heiress proves to be another feather in the company’s cap.
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  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.
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.
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?
Jenny Nimon Inquiet Moments, written and directed by Campbell Wright, is a physical theatre piece that explores anxiety and its impacts on relationships. Caught in a panic attack, Riley (Abby Lyons) is haunted by Wisp (Tom Hughes) and Nightmare (Emily Griffiths), the personifications of her anxiety, as she navigates memories of her relationship with Rowan (Prea Millar). It is a fast-paced and non-consecutive collection of vignettes that seems to draw its inspiration from plays like Constellations by Nick Payne, giving the audience snippets of the story to piece together as they go.
Jenny Nimon The Aliens by American Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker is a poignant piece, and Red Scare Theatre Company handles its themes with sincerity. Over the course of two hours we follow misfits KJ (Jack Sergent-Shadbolt) and Jasper (Jonny Potts) as they take seventeen-year-old Evan (Dryw McArthur) under their wing, and each begin to unravel. In a fitting touch, Red Scare opens the show on Thursday 4 July, which matches up with the show’s holiday setting.
Lizzie Murray MoodPorn is Wellington’s Before Sunset. Red Scare Theatre Company and director James Cain presents MoodPorn, a new play by Matt Loveranes. Jane (Heather O’Carroll) and Atlas (Ali Foa’i) are two long lost friends who reunite after 13 years when discovering each other on Facebook. Their catch-up turns to cathartic closure as the pair fill in the blanks of the years they’ve been apart. The script is emotionally demanding, rich with film references and surprisingly funny.
Jenny Nimon Written and performed by Damien Warren-Smith, and directed and cowritten by Cal McCrystal, Garry Starr Performs Everything is riot of a show that will delight theatre-makers and casual audience members alike. Having won awards in the Adelaide, Brighton, and Manchester 2018 Fringe Festivals, and having been nominated for both Best Newcomer and the Golden Gibbo Award in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2018, I was intrigued to say the least. Let me break down this must-see of Wellington Fringe Festival 2019.
Emilie Hope Cyndi Lauper’s Time after Time, quickly followed by Madonna’s Material Girl, welcomes me into BATS Random Stage to see a show about women, sex, and beauty standards. Low Level Panic by Claire McIntyre, directed by Six Degrees Festival’s Harriette Barker, ticks those three boxes, as we watch flatmates Mary (Charlotte Glucina), Jo (Amy Dean), and Celia (Zoë Christall) as their bathroom turns into a place to confide in each other and to the audience.
Bethany Miller The Wellington Footlights’ first ever musical theatre festival “Heart and Music” has just kicked off. Night B opens with Flatline with Two Sugars, a premiere of an original musical written by company members Laura Gardner (book and lyrics) and Katie Morton (music).
Flatline with Two Sugars is dark magical realism, a bittersweet mix of tragedy, comedy, and bleak reality. A dreary cafe barista has an unwanted gift in which she visualises the time and means of someone’s death just by touching them. This musical sees Lucie’s desperately confined life turn upside down, and we get to experience the drama, excitement, heartache, and even black comedy pleasures that go along with it. by Laura Ferguson The house was full for Wellington Repertory Theatre’s premiere of Nell Gwynn. The air is festive as we sit, orange-sellers of yore hawking their wares, bringing alive that 17th-century spirit. They stay while the play begins in earnest. A young actor flubbing his lines and the orange-sellers heckle him as if they were the crowd. I love this touch, the cheeky calls and the flustered character on stage turning red and more awkward. Nell starts speaking up and her quick-wittedness is apparent from the start. I laugh heartily at the innuendos and sly remarks, Ewen Coleman’s directing allowing for a spectacularly immersive opening.
by Laura Ferguson As I sit in the corner of Circa Theatre, I notice the ever-building buzz of the crowd. Snippets of conversation filter through: ‘Well, Kinane’s Paua was…’ and ‘Oh, Wolfe directed Waru? It’s going to TIFF, right?’ This crowd is very familiar with the works of the playwright, Emma Kinane, and the director, Katie Wolfe. For me, this is my first time. I am not familiar with their previous work and though looking forward to Anahera, I do feel a slight trepidation. The play has been touted as one to come to if you enjoyed Broadchurch, but really, does one actually enjoy something like Broadchurch? I feel the creeping dread that I will be walking into heartbreak.
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