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KILLER JOE at The Basement, Lower Greys Ave
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 14 Sep 2009
Cheap-thrills show runs along at well-paced clip, y’all
If you're good at suspending disbelief, and find threats and guns entertaining, you'll probably quite enjoy Killer Joe. When a Texan trailer park family engages a contract killer to kill their ex-wife/ mother for the insurance money, you just know they're asking for trouble. [more]

RUBEN GUTHRIE at Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 21 Sep 2009
Smart, entertaining production generates committed performances
This is the One About the Alcoholic – but it’s less predictable or painfully emotional and far more entertaining than such a description promises. [more]

THE BUBBLES AND MUSTARD SHOW at The Wintergarden - Civic Theatre
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 7 Oct 2009
Imaginary radio show fun for the whole family
Spaceships rumbled, lions roared, fish smacked their lips - and that was just the audience. Onstage were cream pies, water pistols and 101 squeaking, groaning, clicking, splashing, whirring and popping props, each one a surprise hiding in brightly colour boxes. [more]

Photo: Amelia Handscombe
OLIVER! at SKYCITY Theatre
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 2 Nov 2009
Oliver! You just about couldn’t ask for more
The Auckland Theatre Company have obviously lavished on the musical Oliver! the sort of time, money and effort that Oliver the hungry orphan can only dream of. The musicians; the revolving set; the abundance of actors continually changing their elaborate costumes – all add up to an impressive spectacle. [more]

FLINTLOCK MUSKET at Lower NZI, Level 1, Aotea Centre
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 19 Nov 2009
Fired-up tale of Maori and Pakeha cultures in tragic collision
Flintlock Musket opens with a lamentation and closes with a haka; in between is an unrelentingly tense but beautiful tragedy. Admirably, Kirk Torrance's second play, a Shakespearean allegory of Maori staunchness facing the Pakeha machine, ventures into territory virtually uncharted in theatre: early 19th century Aotearoa. [more]

THE SEXY RECESSION CABARET at TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 15 Dec 2009
All sass, no crass in this delightful and dynamic recession-buster
Where are your troubles now? Gone - I told you so! So says the MC in the musical Cabaret to his patrons - and the masterminds behind the Sexy Recession Cabaret could say the same to theirs. [more]

2009 AUCKLAND THEATRE WRAP at Various venues
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 12 Dec 2009
Blessed with rich variety and verve
Dammit Auckland theatre, I wanted to be a bitchy critic! But this year's offerings were, in general, so complex, funny and nerve-touching I could hardly scrape together a soupcon of snide. [more]

THE LOVER at The Basement, Lower Greys Ave
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 8 Feb 2010
Rediscovering Pinter’s wily psychological traps
Leaving for work, a buttoned-up English banker asks his housewife: "Is your lover coming today?" Harold Pinter teasingly sets the scene for his caustic 1963 send-up of middle-class sexual mores with this matter-of-fact question. The wife's polite answer is: "Yes". [more]

ELIMINATION ROUNDS at The Basement, Lower Greys Ave
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 8 Apr 2010
Political animals
Theatre and contemporary politics don’t usually mix in Auckland. But this warm and committed Wellington production demonstrates with gusto why they should be seen together more often in polite society. [more]

RENT at Civic Theatre
reviewed by Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald) 24 Apr 2010
Sheer joy in shadow of death
It was when the drag queen in the Santa coat started banging her drumsticks on the scaffolding, singing about sending a barking annoyance to "doggie hell" that Rent came to life. Sure, he was helped by his platform shoes, but Cameron Clayton plays with vitality, warmth and charisma, so that you care about his character, Angel, and her adoring swain Collins (an equally sympathetic Tama Waipara). [more]
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