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AUNTIE & ME at SKYCITY Theatre
reviewed by Nik Smythe 8 Aug 2010
Character-driven comedy of mortality with a twist
My biggest problem is with the venue. The duo is swallowed up to some degree in the Skycity auditorium and the amplified speech is distracting and disengaging. [more]

AUNTIE & ME at James Hay Theatre
reviewed by Lindsay Clark 29 Aug 2010
Probable perceptions remain unrevealed
Setting aside the inauspicious beginning, it is difficult to read anything but commercial motives in the decision to perform this intimate study of human need in a venue where at least half the audience would have been unable to see the critical facial expressions of the two actors, although thanks to their microphones we pick up every breath. [more]

AUNTIE & ME at TSB Showplace
reviewed by Ngaire Riley 5 Aug 2010
Confronting mortality with Panych
Of course I ‘know’ the very famous Dame Kate Harcourt and David McPhail ONZM, but I’d never heard of Morris Panych. Until last night, when I went to see Auntie and Me in New Plymouth’s TSB Showplace. It turns out Panych is Canadian and is partial to exploring last, lingering moments of life. [more]

AUNTIE & ME at Baycourt Theatre
reviewed by Deb Meldrum 12 Aug 2010
More humour to be extracted?
This play is by the Canadian playwright Morris Panych and was first performed in America and Canada in 2002 with the name Vigil. The British, when they put it on in the West End, changed the name to Auntie & Me. I must admit I prefer the name Vigil as it doesn’t have the connotations of being a giggle a minute British seaside comedy ... [more]

AUNTIE MCDUFF’S MAGICAL TRUNK at Court One
reviewed by Lindsay Clark 14 Jul 2008
Making up new stories with a bevy of wacky characters
Nowhere is the audience more wholehearted and bursting with belief than in the five minutes before a promised theatre adventure takes over the stage. No polite murmurings here, no discreet sharing of programmes or settling of coats. Excited anticipation is already high when a vast trunk is wheeled on to the appropriately fictionalised set of Arsenic and Old Lace, currently playing in the evenings at Court One. [more]

AUNTY MCDUFF’S MAGICAL TRUNK at Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge
reviewed by Nik Smythe 7 Jul 2010
Much mirth in versatile diversion
It couldn’t be more appropriate for a midwinter school holiday family production to be on the topic of making your own fun on a wet, rainy day. Three big kids, at least old enough to play without adult supervision, are kicking around their Aunty’s attic when her giant trunk spits out a quest written on a piece of paper, to find Aunty McDuff’s pet dog Dougal. [more]

AUNTY MCDUFF’S MAGICAL TRUNK at Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge
reviewed by Emma Whittaker (New Zealand Herald) 6 Jul 2010
Children caught up in magical hi-jinks
A monster who needed lessons on how to scare was the favourite for some, while others were excited about helping a girl speak to a prince. [more]

AURELIA'S ORATORIO at Isaac Theatre Royal
reviewed by Lindsay Clark 8 Aug 2007
Glorious whimsy created with seeming insouciance
It is difficult to write dispassionately about a piece of theatre art which has restored, temporarily at least, the belief that nothing is impossible. In the ‘Oratorio’ everyday reality is completely and compellingly suspended as every inch of performance space acquires new possibilities and new dangers. They have nothing to do with the established rules and expectations we live by and everything to do with defiance of those rules. [more]

AURELIA'S ORATORIO at Westpac St James
reviewed by Thomas LaHood 26 Jul 2007
Treat after treat
The theatre of illusion is close to my heart, ever since as a child I was taken to see Compagnie Phillipe Genty at the International Festival of the Arts ... This wonderful show is definitely from the same stable ... [more]

AURELIA'S ORATORIO at Westpac St James
reviewed by Lindsay Davis (The Dominion Post) 26 Jul 2007
Alternate worlds explored through circus-hued eyes
Aurelia’s Oratorio is the most sublime piece of circus theatre that Wellington audiences will get the opportunity to see this year. Its fantastical world of illusion will transport you into the further most recesses of your mind. [more]
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