I have been wanting to see Brynley Stent for quite some time and managed to luck out with my first experience being the chaotic adventure that is Pus Goose. The show is bursting with energy and sketches galore which tickles the comedy lover in me.
Austin HarrisonToxic Shock Bimbo is the Billy T Award-nominated debut hour from Rhiannon McCall. With characters, sketches, stories and jokes- it’s a smorgasbord of comedic jaunts with the central theme “do you like me?”. The answer is yes. I really like McCall- but there is not as much of “her” in parts of this show as I would like.
Alia MarshallŌtautahi based comedian Jo Prendergast is once again gracing us with her presence in Pōneke with her brand new show Cancer and Cartwheels. During her treatment for breast cancer, Prendergast wrote this show as a means to make us laugh through the tough stuff, and lament on her once-great cartwheeling ability. Full of skits, songs, and some harsh truths, Cancer and Cartwheels is a hoot.
Isaac AndrewsAt Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui theater is a one-night special as a part of the NZ International Comedy Festival: the Wellington Comedy Club Rainbow Case. This is an event hosted by New Zealand comedian James Mustapic. There are 10 LGBTQIA+ comedians, local and from further across the nation, who each share a unique stand-up set, making for an absolutely stunning lineup of comedic personalities.
Jack McGeeOne of the things I love about reviewing live art is helping preserve it. So many unique and singular shows happen across Te Whanganui a-Tara every week and end up lost to time, tucked snugly away in the ever-degrading memories of the five to-100 people who saw it. It’s helpful to have a record of some form, even if it’s just some punter like me’s hyper-biased recollection of the evening he had. Often reading a review of a past show is the closest thing you can do to catching up on the first few seasons of a television series or doing a retrospective of a live artist's earlier work.
Isaac AndrewsIvan 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.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin I was not sure what I was in for when I walked into Fringe Bar as I had never heard of Li’i Alaimoana. He won comedy awards in Wellington before I moved to this motu so I was a clean slate of an audience member. Taking my seat I noticed all the stage had on it was a guitar to the right, a microphone to the left and a stool in the middle. A classic comedy set up.
Alia MarshallAward winning comedy duo Ginge and Minge (Nina Hogg and Megan Connolly) are back with their smash hit show Fame or Die, the first and only (as far as I know) game show hosted by the devil that sees comedy duos compete for one last shot at fame. As the other half of the title suggests, the stakes are pretty high. Packed full of chaotic characters, absurd musical numbers, and a lot of gay stuff, this show is a hoot that’s not to be missed.
Corey SpenceA full-crowd attends the opening performance of Persuasion at the Gryphon Theatre. Presented by Stagecraft, it is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, one that is widely regarded as one of her greatest. Interestingly, this production is devised; the company began with no script, and what they present to us tonight has come from the immense work of the performers and designers taking the novel and twisting it into this new form. The question here, of course: should you be persuaded to go?
Jack McGeeJoana Joy is interested in give and take. Having recently completed her studies in psychology and philosophy, she describes to us a fascination with culture. We are who we are because of our cultural backgrounds, she explains, yet we create our culture by contributing to it. Chicken and egg, give and take. Such is comedy. Joy presents us with a second dichotomy, this time audience and comedian. “It’s like sex”, she informs us “If one party is making way more noise than the other, it’s probably not going well.”
Isaac AndrewsTom 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.
Alia MarshallThe Koru Hour: 2 Elite 2 Handle, written by award winning comedians Anna Maclean and Lesa Macleod-Whiting, is returning to the stage after a sold out season in 2019. As I’m sent the tickets for this show, I check my airpoints balance - purely out of curiosity - then miserably put my phone away. I am not the target audience for this show with my measly 16 points, but perhaps that makes me well placed to watch a show about wealth inequity and skeevy politicians - as a student and a poor person, I’m well aware that Chris Luxon would sell me for a corn chip.
Jack McGeeWhen 2024 Billy T Nominee Liv McKenzie, wanders into The Dome at 8:30 on a Tuesday night and notices that her audience of fifteen odd people are scattered out to the far corners of the very wide room, you can see her quickly steel herself. The audience is about as cold as the air outside (6.8°), she’s an out of town comic, it’s opening night - time to scale the mountain
Alia MarshallJust a heads up, this review contains a little bit of course language.
Pōneke is getting chilly as we usher in autumn, and I can feel the seasonal depression preparing a fold out chair to strike me with. Thankfully, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 staged by WITCH Musical Theatre is the passionate, hot and sweaty tonic I’ve been searching for to warm my cockles. Originally performed on Broadway in 2012, this musical is based on part eight of Leo Tolstoy’s broody and dramatic novel War and Peace, written in 1869 - a book I’m only familiar with because when I was a teenager I would try to read it in cafes to look mysterious and hot. Described as "both the most innovative and the best new musical to open on Broadway since Hamilton,” this show blends the modern and the classical in a variety of clever ways. The slick mix of indie rock, Russian folk, and electro-pop is so fun that I’m listening to the original recording as I write this very review. Brie KeatleySeeing Michael Hurst perform feels like something of a rite of passage for a young theatre maker. Getting to experience that rite for the first time with The Golden Ass felt particularly right for me. This adaptation of an Ancient Roman novel, directed by both Hurst and John Gibson, is expertly performed by the veteran actor and enthralls me from start to finish.
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Local Honest ReviewsAt Art Murmurs, our aim is to provide honest and constructive art reviews to the Wellington community. Archives
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