BATS Theatre
March 22-31 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

A MAD GIRL, possibly with Asperger's Disorder, possibly just normal and we’re all mad, looks after her dying elderly neighbour while he fondles her breasts. An over easy single mum; desperate for some love and raunch with stereotyping, tries to seduce the mad girl’s brother. The mad girl’s brother calls her a slag while texting women he calls ‘losers’. (Oh and the mad girl’s brother is psychic.) What do exploding cows have to do with all this?

AK07, SKYCITY Theatre
March 21-25 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

Amata, the new all-female production by Black Grace, is a transfixing piece of dance choreography. Unable to avert my gaze, it evoked everything from a set of dolls with strings felt but unseen; a female beast whose multicoloured body writhed, heaved and sighed on stage; or something akin to a pack of wolverines howling at the moon. It was a veritable whirlwind of colour, movement, rhythm, and music.

Circa Theatre
March 17-April 21 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Two Brothers had been described in its promotional material as a “powerful”, “provocative” and “thrilling” drama that had generated controversy during its Australian performances. As somebody with more than a casual interest (and involvement) in refugee and immigration issues and relatively unexposed to contemporary mainstream Australian plays, I was looking forward to seeing this play. Unfortunately it failed to live up to its promise on several grounds, and I left feeling disappointed and more than a little annoyed.

AK07, Silo Theatre
March 20-April 7 | Reviewed by Estevez Bond

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is the second of productions not altogether unsuccessfully attempted by Auckland's ‘The Ensemble Project’. Unlike the first at AK07, Based on Auckland, ‘Tis Pity She's A Whore is a classic piece of writing involving forbidden love and empire which director Michael Hurst has chosen to excavate.

BATS Theatre
March 20-31 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

BILLY BLACK reckons Wellington at night is sexy. He also reckons that girls of fourteen are old enough to have sex with (and says so with one of the most distasteful lines likely to be spoken in Wellington theatres this year); and that car accidents make good anecdotes. Jerk? Yes. Likeable? Well, yes, strangely enough. Black, and indeed all the characters of Smoking Goat’s latest production, Sunset Café, are multi-dimensional enough to be warmly believable. Despite a few shaky production issues, the play successfully entertains.

AK07, Hopetoun Alpha
March 15-April 20 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

Hatch is a production by the Auckland Theatre Company, written by Geoff Chapple and directed by Colin McColl. It is a one man show, the only character being Victorian entrepreneur Joseph Hatch who established a penguin steaming works on Macquarie Island, a remote environment approximately 1500 kilometres from Tasmania’s south-eastern coast.

AK07, Maidment Theatre
March 16-April 1 | Reviewed by Magnolia Wilson

SOMETIMES the simpler things are in theatre, the more depth and scope a work allows itself in the mind of the audience. With simple productions, we are left somewhat more open and free to roam the galleries of our own past, without the pressure of feeling we must interpret ‘high art’. And so with its universal theme of the mother-son relationship, A Lethal Set’s latest production Mother/Whaea Tama/Son creates an immediate and familiar rapport with the audience. If its central theme is not something we can directly identify with, then it is something we know very well, as no doubt we have witnessed the workings of such relationships in people very close to us.

Gryphon Theatre
March 21-31 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON’s play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, is a marvellously witty adaptation of the eighteenth century novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It is also widely known as Dangerous Liaisons, following a hugely successful 1988 film version. Stagecraft’s presentation of this show manages to put all previous incarnations out of mind. Under the direction of Meredith Dooley, the play crackles and sparks with method and malice.

AK07, Aotea Centre/Corban Estate
March 14-18/11-16 | Reviewed by Ellen Loui

BRIGHT, light and full of playful enthusiasm, the Ballet Preljocaj offering of Les 4 Saisons is full to tipping with sweet vignettes and salubrious group work. From the rafters an often moving mobile hung with childlike interpretations of meteorological themes – including clouds, lightning and weather balloons – bobs slightly as it cycles over head. This feeling of childlike freshness is echoed in the piece itself, manifesting in the colourful lighting states, lithe humour and tactile imagery. Such images as the lime green velvet suited ninjas, a sponge man, and the large hedgehog like creatures, warmed the audience to the choreographic and performance style most easily described as athletic and quirky. This was delivered fantastically by the dancers, with some real standouts amoungst the cast whose performance quality and skill I was drawn to over and again.

Capital E
March 12-17 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

“UNDIES! UNDIES!” cried scores of elated children as they crowded into Capital E’s Mackenzie theatre this week. These and other acclamations from the mouths of the mostly under 7 crowd opened Java Dance Company’s latest offering for children: The Animal Undie Ball.

BATS Theatre
March 13-16 | Reviewed by Diane Spodarek

Bent Not Broken is a solo performance, based on Lauren Roche’s autobiographical novel of same name. Lauren’s story is about growing up in New Zealand – and for a short time Australia – under extraordinary circumstances: an extreme environment of abuse by alcohol and drug addicted people. These included her own mother, father, friends of the family, relatives, strangers and later boyfriends, husbands and johns. The consequences of this environment are all too common. Some children survive, some do not.

AK07, Aotea Centre
March 9-11 | Reviewed by Ellen Loui

Dark Tourists oscillates in a not quite space, cold and isolated performers shift and transform amongst and as functions of a fluid set, human becoming animal becoming environment becoming human... Textured throughout with cycles and transient patterning, this use of space and craft achieve a cohesion through an inter-penetrative treatment of the mediums used. The work situates itself as 'dance theatre' driven by directive collaborators choreographer Malia Johnston and theatre director Emma Willis. Their selected cast is powerful and varied with outstanding performance by Paul Young, Sean Macdonald and Peter Daube.

Fringe Festival 2007, Queens Wharf
March 1-10 | Reviewed by Justin Gregory

IT’S FAIR to say that you put up with a lot to watch outdoor performances in Wellington. The fact that such large numbers of Wellingtonians do venture out is damn near a miracle. But an even fairer thing to say is that you have to put up with even more to be an outdoor performer in this inclement city. Unpredictable gusts of wind, flying grit, equipment being disturbed and even parts of the set that tried to live up to the theme of the show and fly away – all these things occurred on the opening night of Fuse Productions Gravity and Other Myths, and what was truly miraculous was that they didn’t matter at all, and in no way distracted from what was an exciting night of circus arts.

Fringe Festival 2007, Wgtn Per. Arts Centre
March 2-4 | Reviewed by Diane Spodarek

Skeleton Woman is billed as a performance collaboration. The show is a solo performance by Helen Moran based on an Inuit myth as recounted by Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ in her book, Women Who Run with the Wolves.

The performance begins with Helen Moran, center stage, arms outstretched. On the stage floor is a life size skeleton made of worn wood, a drum and a long polished wood rod. The lights slowly fade up and she says one word: “Listen.” And we do. We listen and we watch a story unfold. The story is about the transformation of a girl to a wise woman. This girl displeased her father. As a result, he throws her over a cliff to be consumed by the sea, all traces of existence gone.

Fringe Festival 2007, Circa Theatre
March 4 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

THE THEATRE Artists Charitable Trust (TACT) sponsored this one-off rehearsed reading of Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s new play Female of the Species. Circa 2 theatre was about three quarters full with an audience consisting mostly of theatre writers, actors and directors. Susan Wilson and six local actors had spent a day and a half rehearsing the play, with some input from Murray-Smith. Production elements were kept to a minimum in order to concentrate attention on the text of the play, whilst still allowing the audience to see it in the context of a performance. This was an introduction to Murray-Smith’s work for me, and I came away with an appreciation of her as an intelligent and witty writer.

Fringe Festival 2007, BATS Theatre
February 27-March 3 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

THIS PLAY for me will be the highlight of the Fringe this year. It was not objectively/technically the “best” play that I saw, but it has stayed with me the most in the following days. I have taken a while to write this review simply because I just cannot make my mind up about this play. In fact, I am still struggling to. My responses to it have been extremely complex and I would say that they’re still unfolding. This may be due in part to the nature of the subject matter presented – it is shocking and a natural defence has been a slow unravelling of thoughts and feelings. This work seems to have generated a vast amount of debate as to its merits. I’ll do my best to capture the point of where I am up to at the moment...