The Basement, as part of STAMP at THE EDGE™
June 15-20 | Reviewed by Renee Liang

OFFERING a fresh if slightly macabre take on the Great Kiwi Road Trip, Carol & Nev is a 60 minute ride through both public and private landscapes. Nev is a disillusioned office worker who is driving down country to his daughter Sam’s wedding. Everything is going to schedule until… his wife Carol, who died 25 years ago, pops up in the passenger seat.

Circa Theatre
May 29-June 27 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

All the World’s a Stage is billed as a “round-the-bard trip in 90 minutes with Ray Henwood”. According to the programme, Henwood conceived of the one man show as “a way to introduce the playwright to those who felt he was not for them, and also to offer to those who knew the work a chance to revisit some of the highlights.” He was also inspired by John Gielgud’s Ages of Man. Henwood presents an engaging ‘greatest hits’ of Shakespearean speeches. It is a highly accessible work that will satisfy most, although those with a greater depth of knowledge of the Bard’s work will perhaps hunger for some of the richer, darker fare that they know lurks within the folio pages.

BATS Theatre
May 27-June 6 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Charm Is Not Enough marks the fourth devised offering from Babyshads and is consistent with their quirky, multi-faceted style. They explore their overtly political topics though monologue, dance and song. This time around multimedia technology also plays a big part in the show, and the costumes and set have been upgraded from their previous efforts. The result is an entertaining and varied show and represents a significant progression for the devising technique of the company, although I do still think the ‘Shads have way to go before they fully synthesise their politics with their art.

The Basement
June 8-13 | Reviewed by Rosabel Tan

CHINESE New Year is about new beginnings. It’s about forgetting old grudges, and beginning the year with hope for the future. It’s this hope that frames the action in Renee Liang’s Lantern. Intertwining the stories of two generations, it opens with Henry (Andy Wong) pleading with his wife Rose (Li-Ming Hu) to come back home to him. She tells him she can’t, and the rest of play is devoted to explaining why. Their children Jen and Ken have problems of their own, ranging from their experiences of prejudice on a day-to-day basis to the more ubiquitous problems of finding love and deciding what to do with their lives.

Silo Theatre, at the Herald Theatre
May 29-June 27 | Reviewed by Renee Liang (contains spoilers)

“WHEN YOU scratch the surface, is there just another surface beneath?” asks the tagline for The Scene. At first glance, the latest in a line of high-octane North American dramas brought to the Auckland stage by Silo is indeed glittery but shallow. It’s full of witty but inconsequential word play, attention-grabbing behaviour and satiric observations, all too familiar from imported TV. But like all good sitcoms, we are hooked despite ourselves. And right at the end, there’s the payoff.

Circa Theatre
May 9-June 6 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

FROM THE MOMENT you walk into Circa’s main auditorium for the Willem Wassenar directed English language version of Lorca’s play Blood Wedding you know you are in for something different. First to strike you is how the stage is stripped back – even the black curtains on the back walls are tied back, as if the designer (Andrew Foster) is laying the theatre bare. The cast sit on assorted chairs or mill about in a loose semi circle – the sense that they are waiting for the performance to begin just as much as we are is heightened by the circle dramatically drawn in sand before the play itself commences. Outside the ring the actors wait and watch casually, but once they step into the ring you are assaulted with passionate and raw performance. Part theatre, part flamenco, part violent passion of the bull ring, Wassenar, the designers and the actors in this production offer an incredibly dramatic, non-naturalistic, and incredibly Spanish show, despite the English translation.