Theatreview Weekly: 10/11/11

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Hits Of 83, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The River, and Tartuffe.

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

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Regent Theatre, Dunedin - A FESTIVAL OF RUSSIAN BALLET: Flashes of well-disciplined dance

- reviewed by Kasey Dewar

The second act is my favourite of the three. ‘‘Bolero’’ has music from Maurice Ravel and choreography by Nikolay Androsov. This is Ravel’s most famous composition, inspired by his visit to a large industrial plant full of machines clunking and grinding away. The dancers wear black and gold costumes with collars reminiscent of Egyptian Pharaohs. The repetitive dance steps become more frantic as the music builds towards a crescendo, conveying the movement of the machines and the story described in the programme. This piece is polished – the dancers' timing is very good and it is an exciting performance to watch.

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Centrepoint, Palmerston North - HITS OF 83: Clever concept needs more work

- reviewed by Richard Mays

Attending a high school reunion is one of those essential Kiwi rites of passage - even if you only do it once. And once is usually quite enough. Palmerston North’s Gristle Wilson (Gristle?) High School founded in 1961 is celebrating its 50th Jubilee.

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Centrepoint, Palmerston North - HITS OF 83: Ingenious production of thin plotlines

- reviewed by John Ross

If you just love song-and-dance shows, you’ll love this one. So long as the songs, the singing and the routines are good enough, it’ll be a box of fluffies.

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Circa Two, Wellington - DROWNING IN VERONICA LAKE: Enthralling tale of the rise and fall of a screen siren

- reviewed by Ewen Coleman

The tempestuous lives of female film stars have been the subject of many books, films, and documentaries. To therefore create a play about a Hollywood diva that is fresh and interesting is a challenge yet Phil Ormsby has done just that with his play Drowning In Veronica Lake currently playing at Circa 2.

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Te Whaea, Wellington - LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST: A delight of dichotomies

- reviewed by John Smythe

Following the final night of this Jonathon Hendry-directed Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School graduation production, it is the inherent dichotomies that resonate richly, for me.

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Massey University - Hokowhitu Campus, Centennial Drive, Palmerston North - THE RIVER: Epic quality to elaborate, multi-faceted river saga

- reviewed by Richard Mays

In the news recently for all the wrong reasons, the Manawatu River takes centre stage in this new play by Massey University’s Dr Angie Farrow. Inspired by prominent Massey freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy, The River is an intense, at times poetic, multi-layered experience that entwines human drama, fact, legend, history, dreams, spirits, astrophysics and the alternate quasi-spiritual philosophies of Masaru Emoto (The True Power of Water).

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Q, 305 Queen St, Auckland - TARTUFFE: Raunchy reworking makes clever splash

- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

Director Shane Bosher definitely makes some waves as he plunges into the pristine space of Q Theatre with a raunchy adaptation of Moliere's 17th century satire against religious hypocrisy.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - CARNIVAL HOUND: Contemporary dance/theatre at its best

- reviewed by Greer Robertson

Possession, adulation, annihilation, it's all there as choreographer/ performer Maria Dabrowska displays a rendition of "her mothers' childhood stories of those who have had their lives irrevocably changed by war."

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Q, 305 Queen St, Auckland - TARTUFFE: A veritable frottage of the senses

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Director Shane Bosher takes full advantage of his tremendously talented players. Together they create a rich cross-section of exaggerated modern archetypes that are rooted enough in the real world to avoid becoming a mere cartoon pastiche.

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Circa Two, Wellington - DROWNING IN VERONICA LAKE: Intriguing and darkly comic

- reviewed by Helen Sims

Circa is hosting the return season of Flaxworks Theatre’s solo work, Drowning in Veronica Lake, which premiered in this year’s Fringe Festival. It’s a fascinating portrait of a woman whose image is famous, but who has otherwise been forgotten. It’s also a cautionary reminder that the further you climb, the farther you have to fall.

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BATS, Wellington - RISE - JAVA DANCE COMPANY: Connecting all the senses

- reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant

Forced gasping from hanging bodies and a stream of flour floating, falling, cascading from the ceiling involve us as five dancers start their journey and response to making bread. Quotes from authors and religious sources set the space for the ritual that is humanity providing for life.

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

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