From February 2010, The Lumière Reader will publish from its all-new website. This existing website will remain online in an archival capacity until we relocate its content.
Circa TheatreOct 13-Nov 10 | Reviewed by Helen Sims
Home Land begins with an actual, physical fall when ailing patriarch Ken loses his grip on his walking frame and it ends with a far more metaphorical ‘fall’ – the coming to awareness of his granddaughter Sophie of the inevitable effects of ageing and mortality. This is incredibly weighty subject matter, but it is dealt with in such a sensitive way that the play does not seem heavy handed. Quite the opposite, it is moving because of its incredible realism, under which lies rich symbolism and metaphor. The story is at once tragic and commonplace, charged with tension and yet entirely natural.
BATS TheatreOct 23-Nov 3 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
IT’S NOT just an entertaining change when someone produces a piece of theatre that is experimental and challenging – it’s a long held sigh of relief. Settling, the first of the two STAB 2007 commissioned works, pushes the boundaries of realistic device to create an eerie, surreal experience, a mix between a humorous radio play and a David Lynch style surrealist epic for stage.
Te Whaea TheatreOctober 19-27 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
WITH ITS large cast and abundant female roles, Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece Arcadia is an apt choice for the graduating class of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. This almost gratuitous intellectual work explores wide and ranging ideas, from the inherent value of the search for knowledge, the gradual dissipation of energy in the universe and the celebrity of academia, to the failings of the enlightenment project and the nature of ‘Truth’. Threads of physics, mathematics, literature and architecture offer pathways into detailed and revealing conversations, while a healthy narrative of romance, humour and mystery maintains theatrical momentum.
By Rae VarcoeVUP, $25 | Reviewed by Simon Sweetman
RAE VARCOE works as a blood diseases physician at Auckland City Hospital. This book of poetry (80 pages), likely triggered by the completion of the MA course at Victoria University in 1997, collects a handful of poems that have appeared previously (in the likes of Sport, New Zealand Books and, fittingly, Annals Of Internal Medicine) as well as many appearing in print for the first time.
Herald TheatreOctober 18-27 | Reviewed by Renee Liang
WHAT DO you get when you cross Greek-tragi-comedy set in South Auckland, a twisted modern-day ghost story and a romance between a supermarket delivery boy and an agoraphobic has-been actress? PlayRight 07: The Season, of course.
Downstage TheatreOct 13-Nov 10 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
THE SOMEWHAT misleading publicity for this show does nothing to reveal its depth, humour and honesty. Don’t be fooled – this is not a show about two laughing men who are old enough to know better (thought that certainly comes into it). Rather, I’m Not Rappaport is an oft hard-hitting examination of the conflict, cruelty and loss of independence old age brings, interlaced with wit and stirring monologues. Topically relevant and theatrically striking, this Tony Award winner is well worth a view.
Soundings Theatre, Te PapaSeptember 28-29 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon
CYNTHIA FORTITUDE’s first farewell is certainly deserving of a sequel. This mix of operatic comedy, semi-dignified slapstick and love narrative, ceremoniously accompanied by a chamber orchestra, appeals to astute viewers with knowledge of classical music and general fans of (inoffensive) comedy alike.
TAPAC, Tempo° Dance FestivalOctober 8 | Reviewed by Renee Liang
THIS multidisciplinary work, featuring collaboration between dancers, graphic artists, videographers, lighting designers and dance researchers, provided a challenging platform for nascent dancers from AUT University’s Bachelor of Dance program, about to graduate its first crop. The nearly sold-out performance generated vigorous discussion and debate at the after-performance Q+A, where lecturers and students answered questions about their working processes.
Maidment TheatreOctober 10-20 | Reviewed by Renee Liang
IN THIS hilariously twisted adaptation by Patrick Graham, a band of motley tramps capture two modern-day girlies gossiping on the edge of what appears to be a Mad Max-esque rubbish tip, and inexplicably force them to perform in their staging of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, the lines of which (incidentally) the girls know off by heart.
Maidment TheatreSept 20-Oct 6 | Reviewed by Imogen Neale
WHERE DO you come from?
Bear with me; I promise this has nothing to do with how one holds a conversation with an eight-year-old about the facts of life.
Herald TheatreSept 26-Oct 11 | Reviewed by Renee Liang
SARA JULI is a twenty-something performance artist based in New York. After “squirm-inducing discussions” with her husband on the usual domestic tripwire of money, she decides to settle the matter by creating a show in which she gives away her actual life savings to members of the audience, with the option of an “honesty box” return at the end of the show.
BATS TheatreOctober 3-7 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst
ONE HOUR and forty minutes of four men (and one woman) in suits ranged across the stage talking politics and economics could be deadly dull. Adapted by Dean Parker from Nicky Hager’s book, The Hollow Men is far from it, and contains moments of humour as it depicts how the National party led by Don Brash managed to lose an election; coming so close to victory, only to throw it all away.
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