 reviewed by Nik Smythe 14 Sep 2008 |
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Layered whanau comedy-drama According to their ‘Massive Way’ programme note, Massive Company has big aspirations. With cast of seven very strong and capable actors in a play scripted by one of the leading young Maori playwrights, Albert Belz, featuring adaptations from one of the classic short story collections of celebrated Maori author Witi Ihimaera, they’re not doing too badly. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 16 Sep 2008 |
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Like a river love carves its own path It is really an honour and privilege to witness the development of such a timeless love story as it explodes forth from a child's soul and the imagination of a woman still moved by it a hundred (and one) years after the fact. Stories like Grace – and Ian Hughes’ Ship Songs – serve as a challenge and hopefully inspiration for more of us to look into our own family history for legends and parables to shape our identity and share with our neighbours. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 26 Oct 2008 |
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SELF REFERENTIAL? It’s a curious thing that might cause a headache with over-thinking, that this play is allegedly exposing the cutthroat amorality of the entertainment industry, itself a product of that same industry... How many of the problems faced by Diane and her ongoing feisty negotiations with her feared production colleague ‘He, meaning him’ were faced by Beane and company in getting The Little Dog Laughed to the Broadway stage? [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 15 Nov 2008 |
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Dynamically soul crushing inevitability [Revised 15/11, 1:30pm] Karlos Drinkwater is solidly square in the protagonist role of Josef K, a successful banker who wakes up one morning to discover he is under arrest. No-one can tell him what he’s been arrested for, and he isn’t detained as such. Rather he is able to go about his normal daily business, at least to begin with... [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 29 Nov 2008 |
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Tight and tense Stephen Fitzgibbon and Benedict Wall play Vince and Jon, old friends since school. They are meeting this night at Vince’s motel room in the Michigan town that is premiering Jon’s new film. When Jon arrives they immediately begin verbally shadow boxing, playfully at first. It’s made apparent that they had a girlfriend in common, Amy (Hannah Marshall) ... [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 5 Dec 2008 |
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You better watch out Extrapolating what we know from such famous rhymes and carols The Night Before Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the perennial though more recent Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jeffe Goode’s hilarious script takes these world famous loveable characters to darker places than we are used to seeing them in. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 16 Feb 2009 |
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Story secondary to antics ATC’s opening gambit for their 09 season is a rollicking slapstick spectacle. John Buchan’s classic bestselling thriller (Buchan called them ‘shockers’) was written in 1915, and set a year earlier on the eve of world war one. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 17 Mar 2009 |
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Literally shifts the boundaries of convention I’ve never had any personal disdain for mime, but I’ve long understood it to be the most classically despised of the performing arts. I was reminded when I went to text the title of this play to a friend, and my predictive phone didn’t know the word ‘mime’. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 2 Apr 2009 |
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Must see classic - magic is the word ... It’s the same play, to the delight and satisfaction of an audience who rose during the curtain call in one of the most spontaneous and genuine standing ovations I’ve ever witnessed. The only discernable changes are a few updates Fraser’s trademark contemporary references, which serve to draw laughter of recognition from the audience. [more] |
 reviewed by Nik Smythe 22 May 2009 |
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Skilled pastiche of bluster and fury Three plucky young actors don suits a la Reservoir Dogs and vernaculars a la the Immortal Bard, to regale a wanting assemblage of spectators with a twisted tale of intrigue and scandal. Directed by Greg Cooper, the Court Jesters of Christchurch – Daniel Bain, Brendon Bennetts and Javier Jarquin – skilfully weave a convoluted pastiche of bluster, fury and ingenious improvised comedy. [more] |
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