From February 2010, The Lumičre Reader will publish from its all-new website. This existing website will remain online in an archival capacity until we relocate its content.
The OrderlyHerald Theatre | Reviewed by Imogen Neale
I HAVE AN aversion to most things medieval. I think it was Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath that did it for me, that and the fact it took me two whole days to decipher one, rather lackluster, paragraph. Thus, when I waked into the foyer of the Herald Theatre and found myself surrounded by all things medieval and old-English like, including men in tights, I felt, immediately, that I was in for a sixty minute reminder of why I never took that branch of English literature study any further. Unfortunately, however, as much as I may dislike the entire Medieval ‘lets play dress up and pretend to fight’ reenactment routine, it is a very strong feature, if not entire reason for being, for The Orderly.
TheatreMar 11-Mar 18 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam
IT'S SO EASY to go into something and expect it to be great. As a result, you think it is great afterwards. As a reviewer I'm not averse to pre-judging things – I sure as hell did that for Robert Lepage. It was brilliant – it was theatre at its highest that I didn't even care about some missteps.
DanceMar 15-Mar 18 | Reviewed by Catherine Bisley
Aterballetto, performing choreography by Mauro Bigonzetti, couples the grace and suspension of balletic style with the grounded idioms of contemporary dance.
The performance begins with lights held in the dancer’s hands being concealed and revealed to illuminate fragments of the body: while the aesthetic possibilities of this excited me, it was clumsily executed. My heart started to sink – the last opening to a festival show I had seen was the hollow pyrotechnical rhetoric of The Holy Sinner.
TheatreMar 7 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
FROM THE moment a karanga welcomes audience members into the theatre, Battalion is a enchanting and emotional experience. It is a play that implores us to acknowledge the past and the atrocities our tupuna have endured, while successfully linking history with present issues and people. Battalion serves as a reminder of the power and healing theatre can evoke.
TheatreMar 10-Mar 13 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug
The Holy Sinner returned to the stage last night, sixteen years after first winning critical acclaim in Auckland. Based on Thomas Mann’s novel, the play was heralded as an innovative landmark in the history of New Zealand theatre when the distinguished Mike Mizrahi and Marie Adams first realised it.
DanceMar 8-Mar 12 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug
WITH A flick of her wrists and a roll of her shoulders, Eva begins her flamenco. Her short, opening solo catches the imagination of the audience and wins rapturous applause. It is the start of a memorable performance and the highlight of the Festival so far.
TheatreMar 8-Mar 12 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
Page 8 has a rare, ethereal quality that marks it as a truly unique piece of theatre. Like much theatre it haunts and provokes us emotionally. At times however it transcends emotion and thought, to stir guttural and indefinable feelings.
TheatreMar 3-Mar 7 | Reviewed by Catherine Bisley
ON FRIDAY night, as the elements lashed the outside of the Opera House, Kneehigh Theatre Company warmed up the sheltering crowd with their vigorous performance of Tristan & Yseult.
DanceMar 4-Mar 8 | Reviewed by Kiran Chug
TWO VERY different solo performances from Carol Brown and Charles Koroneho take shape before audiences of Aarero Stone. Brown’s contemporary choreography is set against a carefully designed performance space and riveting sound score, which both form an intrinsic part of the show.
TheatreMar 1-Mar 5 | Reviewed by Ewan Kingston
INTRODUCING multimedia material into a piece of live theatre is risky. One of the strengths of the stage is that it is fundamentally independent of technology. So will the addition of projected images and sounds distract from or confuse, rather than enhance the overall effect? In the case of Super Vision, luckily, the answer is "no". In fact, to characterise this piece as theatre with audio-visual material as an added extra would be misleading. The piece is produced through the partnership of tech-heads dbox and thespians The Builders Association and is a true fusion of digital technology and traditional stagecraft.
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