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.
Jenny Nimon Red Scare Theatre Company is back again—this time with Kieran Craft’s Adam NZ Play Award Shortlisted (2019) and Playwrights b4 25 Highly Commended (2018) play, Four Nights in the Green Barrow Pub, directed by Cassandra Tse. Hosted in the upstairs bar space at JJ Murphy’s on Cuba Street, this show is a warm-hearted piece of Irish theatre about a whirlwind gay romance.
Austin Harrison Wise Guy is the latest theatrical offering from the exciting young company, Soy People Productions, and is their second mainstage production at BATS. This ambitious play tackles everything from the foibles of comedy to the harsh reality of an AIDS diagnosis in a full-flight theatrical exploration.
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.
Jenny Nimon Having both received a Highly Commended in Playwrights b4 25 2018 and won the teenage category of Plays for the Young in 2017, Courtney Rose Brown’s Running Late has a bit of a reputation to uphold. On top of its accolades, any show with a completely sold out season creates a buzz of its own, so I was excited to say the least. To add to the opening night hype, audience members were offered the Beth Taylor touch™ of branded Running Late sugar cookies. They tasted great—if you were wondering.
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. |