Eight years in the making, premiering last night, Sam Brooks’ new black comedy A Rich Man confronts us with an unusually complex menage a quatre confronting, and evading, some difficult choices about the future and their past.
William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar sometimes seems like it has a cast of thousands. Last time we saw it in Auckland it had at least twenty. Last night, at the Basement Theatre with two actors and one effective sound and lighting manager, it had a cast of two. It was remarkable.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been done so many times in so many ways it has almost become a cliché. Almost. Almost. We’ve seen Baz Lurhmann do it as a brawl on Venice Beach, and Leonard Bernstein take it to a Westside Story. I’ve seen many different interpretations myself—but I’ve never seen it done as a […]
The Ballad of Briar Grant is a slightly surreal mystery with a story about personal change. It’s an ambitious piece of writing with some vignettes of brilliance, delivered confidently by director Lia Kelly and a theatre team who know what they’re about. And it does have a real ballad.
Saint Joan puts us into the mind of a young girl who led a revolution, to be betrayed by those her will and resolve had elevated. As the curtain closes on Flyleaf Theatre’s magnificently sparse re-creation of Bernard Shaw’s masterwork, an audience member behind us cried out, “Holy fuck!” I knew how she felt. We felt […]
Could you do with a laugh? When you look at the state of the world today – Ukraine, tariffs, inflation, Gaza, homelessness, unemployment, the ‘C’ word – it’s almost certain you could use some light relief. The Play That Goes Wrong is guaranteed to break the gloom just as it has done for the past 10 years […]
Two unassuming shipping containers sit end to end in Aotea Square. Painted white there are some rust stains here and there and a few dings at the corners. A single word is painted on each: Flight and Séance. Welcome to Darkfield, two immersive audio experiences that unfold almost entirely in the dark.
An Evening Without Kate Bush is very much an evening with Sarah-Louise Young. The multi award winning performer is on stage and in perpetual motion for the full 90 minutes of this entertaining and involving cabaret.
OLEANNA at the Pumphouse Theatre throws us straight into a cauldron of miscommunication and abuse of power, the two actors delivering David Mamet’s hothouse of a play with nerve and aplomb.
In the foyer, black clothes prevail. Cloaks and helmets with horns even. These are serious fans. I ask two what genre Wardruna are. They were stuck for a moment. Norse-noir says one. Scandi-pagan says the other.