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NZ International Arts Festival PAGE 8 at Downstage Theatre reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: Theatre Reviews) 10 Mar 2006 |
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From storytelling to spectacle ... the particular autobiographical story David Page has to tell – at the behest of, and skilfully abetted by, his dancer/choreographer/director brother Stephen Page – is equally fascinating for its uniqueness and its universal dimensions. And there is no doubting David’s skills as a storyteller, actor, singer and drag queen cabaret performer. [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); Lynn Freeman (Capital Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival BATTALION at Hosanna Fellowship Hall, Cannon's Creek reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 8 Mar 2006 |
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Full-on to a fault Sent back from their dysfunctional home life in the city to their whanau in the ‘one cow town’ of Tamariri – where Sue Lewis the social worker keeps her eye on them – Georgia and Rimene find themselves having to help their koro Paora clean up his house in preparation for a special visitor from Greece. [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); |
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NZ International Arts Festival AARERO STONE at Soundings - Te Papa reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: Theatre Reviews) 5 Mar 2006 |
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Where is the key? The promotional information has intrigued me, although every time I’ve seen something written or heard someone talk about Aarero Stone, it has seemed like a different beast. I therefore decide to approach it with no preconceptions or expectations. [more] See also reviews by: Deirdre Tarrant (Capital Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival SUPER VISION at The Events Centre reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe:Theatre reviews) 3 Mar 2006 |
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Intelligence without magic Who am I? What am I? Where am I? Why? ... Information technology. Where would we be without it? Who would we be …? What …? Why would we be without it? [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); |
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NZ International Arts Festival TRISTAN & YSEULT at Opera House reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: Theatre Reviews) 4 Mar 2006 |
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Truly heartfelt tragi-comedic thrill On arrival we’re each handed a white balloon and, not instructed otherwise, we inflate them. Soon the Opera House auditorium is festive with white spheres. Balloonarama! But a dozen humourless ‘anoraks’ patrol the auditorium, people the stage or comprise the elevated band – Martin and the Misfits – that is playing and singing maudlin versions of 1950s love ballads. They have a serious purpose. [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); |
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NZ International Arts Festival BRIGHT ABYSS at Westpac St James reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 3 Mar 2006 |
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Random but very accessible Traditional circus is all about spectacle, technique and defying death. The New Circus movement seeks to use circus skills to explore something more. The human condition, perhaps. [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); Deirdre Tarrant (Capital Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival ERARITJARITJAKA at Westpac St James reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 1 Mar 2006 |
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Audience abuzz German director Heiner Gobbels’ Eraritjaritjaka is based on texts by Nobel Prize winner for Literature Elias Canetti. Bulgaria-born, Vienna-raised, Paris then London-domiciled, Canetti purloined the title from Arunta, an Australian Aboriginal dialect. It means, ‘Full of desire for something lost.’ Its brief Opera House season soon over (just 4 performances in the first 3 days), Eraritjaritjaka remains in the memory as prime Festival fare. [more] See also reviews by: Lynn Freeman (Capital Times); Ewen Coleman (The Dominion Post); Matthew Wagner (Sunday Star Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival THE HISTORY BOYS at Westpac St James reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 28 Feb 2006 |
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More is more Alan Bennett’s surprise-hit play cannot help but engage anyone who has had an education, or attended school at least. Institutional teachers must feel even more connected. But its real focus is on how the imperatives of popular television have affected the way we learn history. And, as with good teaching, Bennett is not so much concerned with telling us what to think as with getting us to think things through for ourselves, not frivolously or for short-term glory but rigorously and as a contribution to future generations. I think [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); Lynn Freeman (Capital Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival DR BULLER'S BIRDS at Circa One reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 27 Feb 2006 |
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Museum theatre The play proceeds to lay out information about Buller’s work, his Darwinian – ‘survival of the fittest’ – rationale and the wider ramifications of European colonisation, using Roberts’ lights, Matthew Lambourne’s soundscape and projections designed by Andrew Brettell to extraordinary theatrical effect. A nightmare sequence in which Buller is encased first by birds then in multiple bell-jars is fabulous. The Maori perspective emerges through Te Keepa Rangihiwinui (Rawiri Paratene), also known as Major Kemp, who straddles both worlds. A high-born rangatira, he gave heroic service to the colonial forces during the land wars – not for land but for utu. [more] See also reviews by: Laurie Atkinson (The Dominion Post); Lynn Freeman (Capital Times); |
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NZ International Arts Festival LES ARTS SAUTS IN OLA KOLA at Waitangi Park reviewed by John Smythe (John Smythe: theatre reviews) 26 Feb 2006 |
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Heavenly spectacle A haze hangs in the air, illuminated above our heads with horizontal light. Once supine in our deck chairs, it’s as if we’re completing the lower curve of the globe itself. And we’re suitably located ‘down-under’. When, in silence, bodies fall slowly into the light, caught gently by a membrane which springs them back into darkness above, its as if they are trying to enter our part of the world. [more] |
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