• theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  • theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  Art Murmurs - Wellington Reviews

Reviews

Wonderful

19/2/2023

Comments

 

Alia Marshall 

Picture
The 2023 Fringe Festival started off with a number of productions on a bright Friday evening (finally), and my first show of this huge smorgasbord of art is SBZ Productions' Wonderful, written and directed by Richard Huber. They’re on the second leg of their New Zealand tour in Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui theatre space, having come from Ivercargill’s Repertory Theatre, and it’s clear we’re all excited for one of the first show’s of the festival.

​Entering the space, we’re greeted with a soft but funky soundtrack (Jordan Wichman), reminiscent of a smokey jazz bar, and the cocktail station at the back adds to this atmosphere. A large box and various X’s adorn the stage in yellow and purple, and I’m excited to see what they’re used for. The play begins with aloof socialite Hermoine (Sarah Barham) and her dutiful butler (Blaise Barham) staring out into the audience for what feels like a few minutes, before Hermione starts describing the French doors they’re peering out of. We find out that this is all taking place in Hermoine’s drawing room, these French doors (and what’s behind them) become a recurring theme throughout. 

The play goes on to follow the pair as Hermione laughs, laments, and languishes over whether or not to marry Freddy, become a lesbian in Berlin, or pursue her feelings for Roberts that become increasingly obvious throughout the play. The word wonderful is used throughout, naturally, to nod to this idea of focusing on the wonderful things in life, despite the turmoil of the 1920’s. It's a cocktail of absurdism, existentialism, and metacomedy. The dynamic between the two performers was a joy to watch, their energy and accents stayed consistent throughout and there were some lovely moments of connection despite their love-hate relationship. 

The play itself is hard to follow at times, despite having a lot of dialogue I found myself trying to piece together the narrative in between the rapid-fire jokes and stories. The writing and direction is very fast paced. While this added to the sharp British humour, I thought it would have been worth slowing some moments down to ensure that the jokes weren’t cut short, and tender interactions between Roberts and Hermione could really resonate with us. The use of repetition in the blocking is a nice touch, but I'm unsure about why some of the conventions are used and how they feed into the world of the play. There were some great choices in the lighting design (Meko Ng), I particularly enjoyed a moment towards the end that reminded me of a noir film (if you’ve seen it, you’ll know), it would have been wonderful to have seen more of that throughout. 

With a bit more development, I think Wonderful could be a thoughtful but darkly witty satire that highlights the absurdity of the rampant classism of the 1920’s, and even a small nod to the absurdity of the current 20’s we’re living through. I left thinking about the parallels between 1920’s and the 2020’s, about how history tends to repeat itself, and whether or not a woman was wandering around Wellington contemplating something similar 100 years ago.

I hope SBZ Productions has had a wonderful time in Wellington, and wish them the very best for the rest of their tour! 

​Wonderful
is on at Te Auaha in the Tapere Nui theatre space until February 19th.


Comments

    Local Honest Reviews

    At Art Murmurs, our aim is to provide honest and constructive art reviews to the Wellington community.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    All Age Appropriate
    Art
    BATS
    Beauty Standards
    Black Comedy
    Body Positive
    Circa
    Circus
    Comedy
    Comedy Festival 2018
    Comedy Festival 2019
    Comedy Gala 2022
    Community Theatre
    Dance
    Devised
    Documentary
    Drag
    Drama
    Emerging Artist
    Exhibition
    Experimental
    Female Artists
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Festival
    For Kids
    Fringe
    Fun
    Gallery
    Gryphon Theatre
    Hannah Playhouse
    Heart + Music
    History
    Improv
    Interactive
    International
    Interview
    Ivy
    Lighting
    Local
    Mental Health
    Monologue
    Music
    Musical
    New Writing
    New Zealand
    NZ Comedy
    NZ Fringe
    NZIF
    On Tour
    Performance Poetry
    Photography
    Photospace Gallery
    Physical Theatre
    Political
    Politics
    Premiere
    Pyramid Club
    Queer
    Race
    Roxy LIVE
    Science
    Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre
    Sexual Violence
    Shakespeare
    Site Specific
    Site-specific
    Sketch
    Solo Show
    Song
    Spoken Word
    Stagecraft
    Storytelling
    Tahi Festival
    Te Auaha
    Theatre
    Thought Provoking
    Thought-provoking
    Thriller
    Toi Poneke Gallery
    Verbatim
    Victoria University
    Violence
    Virtual Theatre
    Weekly
    Wellington
    Wellington Footlights
    Wellington Repertory