Theatreview Weekly: 03/11/11

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Deep Sea Explorer, On The Upside-Down Of The World, 2 Dimensional Life Of Her and Drowning In Veronica Lake.

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - GLORIOUS: Cleverly constructed, well-performed, frequently amusing escapism

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Tate-Manning and Bunkall create an engaging contrast between the unapologetically self-indulgent, unrelentingly presumptuous poor-little-rich-girl and the handsome but cynical, pseudo-leftist struggling writer too sensitive to express himself except through fiction.

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St James Theatre, Wellington - THE MERIDIAN SEASON OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTY: Spirited ballet performance

- reviewed by Jennifer Shennan

The spirited new production of this major classic has opened to capacity audiences, a popular open day, healthy bookings for the coming week, and a sold-out schools performance.

Gary Harris' heroic architectural sets and attractive costumes are inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and the set changes to music are intriguing.

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16th Avenue Theatre, 174 16th Ave, Tauranga - SILENT NIGHT: Senior Years Tinged With Sadness And Joy

- reviewed by Michele McPherson

To entertain a captive audience alone is no mean feat but Yvette Parsons does it brilliantly. Playing widowed pensioner Irene McMunn in the play Silent Night, she uses humour to reflect the challenges and realities of life alone in your senior years.

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Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga - NGAI TAHU 32 BY ATAMIRA DANCE COMPANY: Ngai Tahu 32 - a cohesive overall aesthetic

- reviewed by Karen Barbour

The careful combination of contemporary dance, haka, voiceover, images, props and song convey this personal story of choreographer Lou Potiki Bryant's family history.

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16th Avenue Theatre, 174 16th Ave, Tauranga - THE ADVENTURES OF ALVIN SPUTNIK: DEEP SEA EXPLORER: Funny, quirky and moving

- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

Alvin Sputnik is a fantastic show that deserves full houses. Myself – and my 8 year old daughters – were entranced by this 45-minute piece from start to finish. It’s a wee cracker of a show that’s ingeniously creative, wonderfully specific, and will appeal to both sides of the brain in a way that not many shows do.

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Pacific Crystal Palace, Tauranga - THE SAD LAMENT OF PECOS BILL, ON THE EVE OF KILLING HIS WIFE: Beautifully realised musical evocation of grief

- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

The best stories are told around campfires. And the bigger the fire, the better the story. Pecos Bill has one large fire, but is not so much a story as a lament in the true sense of the word. That is, a long audible expression of grief; a mourning.

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Civic Theatre, Auckland - A FESTIVAL OF RUSSIAN BALLET: An eclectic array of works

- reviewed by Rosemary Martin

The third ‘act’ presented ‘highlights’ from Giselle, Carmen, The Dying Swan, Le Corsaire, Gopak, Ne Me Quittes Pas, and the Can Can Surprise. Both Giselle (Act II pas de deux) and Le Corsaire (Act I pas de deux) were indeed highlights, with both couples presenting polished technique and refined artistic interpretations of these intricate pas de deux. Ne Me Quittes Pas, a solo choreographed by Elena Bogdanovich for a female dancer again illuminated the company’s strengths in performing more modern works.

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St James Theatre, Wellington - THE MERIDIAN SEASON OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTY: Glorious in splendor, a classic tale reworked

- reviewed by Greer Robertson

In this beautiful theatre, from the first vibrant musical chord; the lights are on, characters are out, musicians are definitely at the ready, and there are things to be seen, things to be heard, there’s a story to tell.

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BATS, Wellington - RISE - JAVA DANCE COMPANY: Flour, treacle water -- a finely negotiated balance

- reviewed by Lyne Pringle

Covered in flour and dough trembling with exhaustion these performers launch out into new and unknown vistas artistically. This is exciting and bodes well for future explorations by Java – no turning back seize this new direction.

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Te Whaea, Wellington - LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST: Energy, fun and some inconsistency

- reviewed by Helen Sims

Jonathan Hendry’s Director’s Note observes that the plays would have been originally performed with more of a sense of ‘liveness’ than they are now, with short rehearsal periods and on-stage improvisation.

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Te Whaea, Wellington - LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST: Shakespeare comedy sets a colourful scene

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

Love’s Labour’s Lost is the young Shakespeare showing off his abundant poetic gifts. The comedy, full of “taffeta phrases, silken terms precise, three-pil’d hyperboles,” is concerned with four young men of the court of Navarre deciding to forswear “the huge army of the world’s desires”, which means they will see no women, fast one day in seven, and sleep for only three hours a night as they attend to their studies. Then four beautiful young women arrive.

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Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga - ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD: Life is stranger, more unexpected – and more wonderful – than fiction

- reviewed by Vanessa Byrnes

Laurel Devenie gives a stellar performance as Lady Ann Martin, a thoroughly principled, very modern, post-colonial Colonial, in this moving account of settling in NZ of the 1840s. This is a captivating and evocative theatre work that will travel well throughout NZ and beyond.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - A THOUSAND HILLS: Sensitive play transcends horror of death in Rwanda

- reviewed by Janet McAllister

The thought of a play about the Rwandan genocide may make you uneasy, but don’t let it put you off this excellent, sensitive, unusual production. It involves machetes at brief moments, but the play maintains a poetic, symbolic theatricality throughout.

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Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga - RITA AND DOUGLAS: Literate and lyrical

- reviewed by Penny Jackson

Art and music come together in Dave Armstrong’s theatrical production Rita & Douglas. Rita Angus and Douglas Lilburn were two of New Zealand’s most creative and innovative artists. They met in the early 1940s and had a brief physical relationship.

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16th Avenue Theatre, 174 16th Ave, Tauranga - C’MON BLACK!: A stereotype in three dimensions

- reviewed by Deb Meldrum

The stereotypical New Zealand cow cockie steps onto the stage interacts with his audience and we are off on a trip to the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. As an audience we were totally involved from the beginning: the irritations of sharing a hotel room, the bus trips to scenic tourist traps and of course the games!

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Baycourt Exhibition Space, Tauranga - 2 DIMENSIONAL LIFE OF HER: Creepy, disjointed, and clever

- reviewed by Vivienne Quinn

The audience is led into a dark space filled with erratic black and white images, and the smell of paper. There is a sense of excitement – the set is untidy and rough around the edges. We aren't sure what to expect.

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Baycourt Exhibition Space, Tauranga - 2 DIMENSIONAL LIFE OF HER: Fun, involving, challenging

- reviewed by Deb Meldrum

WOW! I have just been overwhelmed by a show/installation of such visual richness that I am not sure I will ever get to the bottom of it; that is if I know any more what is up or down, over or under, flat or 3D.

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16th Avenue Theatre, 174 16th Ave, Tauranga - DROWNING IN VERONICA LAKE: A moving tour-de-force

- reviewed by Deb Meldrum

Alex Ellis gives a virtuoso performance as Veronica Lake and a range of other characters, especially her manipulative mother who pushes her through an unpleasant, loveless childhood. Alex’s performance is even more incredible when you realise she is unable to move from her position, centre stage.

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See more recent reviews at theatreview.org.nz, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

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