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.
Campbell Wright For My Family, and Yours is a beautiful reflection on love and close familial relationships.
From the moment we enter Nautilus studio, Ravi the Poet is introducing himself to every audience member individually. Don’t let his soft voice fool you, Ravi is one of the most engaging performers I’ve ever seen with a guitar in hand. 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.
Brie Keatley A wooden but nevertheless tittering pīwakawaka flits through the audience, playfully landing on delighted children as we enter the Pāteke room at Zealandia. This sets the scene wonderfully for the charming spectacle we are about to witness from Stringbean Puppet’s Flutter.
Brie Keatley Content warning: discussion of domestic abuse, child abuse, and suicide.
What are Sisters For? is a deeply personal piece by writer and director Josie Eastwood that intimately retells the relationship between them and their late sister. The show has strong performances from the two actors and striking scenographic elements but overall feels too personal for me as an audience member to connect with completely. Brie Keatley Fitting that a show so out of the ordinary has its opening at the peculiar time of 3pm on a Saturday. Antarctic Endeavours, directed by Peggie Barnes, is an absurdist piece of fourth wall breaking theatre. It is a triumph for the whole team to have created something so perplexing and out of the ordinary for a typical theatre show.
Jenny Nimon The Eleventh Trip of Lilibet W. by Continuum Theatre Co., written and directed by James Ladanyi and performed by Aimee Sullivan and Tara Canton, is a timely reflection on regret and accountability; the importance of taking responsibility for your actions even when it is too late to repair the damage.
Jenny Nimon Dialogue Before Sunset, created by transdisciplinary artist and researcher HT (Shannon Xiao) and her company Temporary Show, describes itself as a ‘live art journey’ that connects Ewengki and Māori narratives and traditions. It claims to blend improvised sound and spatial installation with walking, filmmaking and participatory theatre to honour the pūrākau of the Wellington Harbour taniwha.
ONE BEDROOM AVAILABLE IN SUPER SUNNY CENTRAL WELLINGTON FLAT $260 PER WEEK EXCLUDING EXPENSES17/2/2024 Brie Keatley Kicking off my 2024 New Zealand Fringe Festival by seeing a show that hits a little too close to home (or should I say flat?) ONE BEDROOM AVAILABLE IN SUPER SUNNY CENTRAL WELLINGTON FLAT $260 PER WEEK EXCLUDING EXPENSES is theatre company P I V O T’s first show and it’s quite the debut. Austin Harrison Moonroe’s Happy Hour is a variety show featuring song, circus and a touch of burlesque created and performed by Laura Oakley and Jackson Cordery. Variety is the name of the game with this show, with some acts proving to be genuinely astonishing while some were found lacking.
Jenny Nimon Powersuit Productions’ touring show The Culture written by Laura Jackson is a warm and pacey inside view to the relationship of two flatmates as they navigate their past traumas and dating in the modern world. It is billed as ‘a story about deep and enduring friendship’, and it’s exciting to be able to sit in on the New Zealand debut of this Sydney-set production.
Jenny Nimon According to the entry on the Fringe website, ‘something unexpected has come to life in Martin Luckie Park’. Barbarian Productions’ latest venture, U R Here (directed by Jo Randerson), describes itself as an open-world-video-game-inspired showing where you can pick your own path through the park with friends, and based on the company, the cast and Barbarian’s resources, I have high expectations.
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.’
Megan Connolly Hell School: The Musical is an original musical created by a collective of students from the theatre programme of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and is directed by James Wenley.
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