Theatreview Weekly: 01/09/11

A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, The Only Child, Glorious, and Random Acts Of God.

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

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St James Theatre, Wellington - CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA AND PAGLIACCI: Much to delight eye and ear

- reviewed by John Button

For most people, including regular opera fans, the Cav & Pag double bill is more talked about than experienced. Of course, everybody knows snippets from both – the Intermezzo from Cav and Vesti la giubba (Put on the motley) from Pag, but very few have experienced a top professional production.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - THE ONLY CHILD: Aussie riff on Ibsen throws all in the tub

- reviewed by Janet McAllister

This Silo Theatre production is a spectacle – loads of nudity, swearing, well-paced arguments, satisfyingly angry monologues, messy prop-throwing, and water spillage (beware the front row). There's never a dull moment in this contemporary Australian riff on Henrik Ibsen's little known Little Eyolf ...

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Globe Theatre, Dunedin - WAITING FOR GODOT: Enthusiasm for staging of Beckett

- reviewed by Barbara Frame

This is the Globe's fourth production of Waiting for Godot and, not having seen any of the others I'm unable to compare. But I can tell you that this latest production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece, directed by Richard Huber, is superb.

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BATS, Wellington - GLORIOUS: Play it again

- reviewed by Lynn Freeman

Richard Huber must have watched a powerful lot of movies from Hollywood’s Golden Years, to write this loving tribute to Hepburn, Grant and the other stars of the time.

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Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland - THE ONLY CHILD: Cathartic journey through grief

- reviewed by Nik Smythe

Assisted by their dutifully compassionate neighbour, the estranged pair struggles to cope with the immediate tragedy and to make sense of the guilt and resentment that got their relationship to this point. As they proceed, I can’t recall ever having simultaneously laughed and cried so hard before.

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TelstraClear Club, Christchurch - RANDOM ACTS OF GOD: Accomplished performers raise questions about power

- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

A cabaret with strong elements of burlesque and plenty of irony, the show presents 20 songs performed live by a most talented band and singers, interpreted by those musicians but also by a brilliant team of dancers.

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Vector Arena, Parnell, Auckland - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL – SALTIMBANCO: Unparalleled production values

- reviewed by Kate Ward-Smythe

Between us, my date and I had seen many Cirque du Soleil shows, both here and abroad. We both agree that Saltimbanco,with its joyful gibberish language and enchanting world of mime and movement, is the most accessible, uplifting and happiest of them all.

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Vector Arena, Parnell, Auckland - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL – SALTIMBANCO: Super circus … where the incredible is normal

- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

At the heart of the circus is a hymn to human potential. While most of us are likely to feel we are pushing our limits by negotiating the steps to the upper levels of the Vector Arena, it is inspiring to see how the disciplined cultivation of strength, agility and concentration enables acrobats to radically extend the boundaries of human mobility and laugh in the face of danger.

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The Civic – THE EDGE®, Auckland - SOAP THE SHOW: Bathtub antics make a world class splash

- reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton

The image of the bathroom as a sanctuary for relaxed contemplation is comprehensively shattered by the explosive vitality of a show that calls to mind the eureka moment when Archimedes leapt out of his bathtub and ran naked through the streets.

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Fletcher Building Dome, Hagley Park, Christchurch - MACHOMER: A performance athlete whose like you will not often see

- reviewed by Elizabeth O’Connor

Rick Miller is a consummate, agile, brilliant and vocally astounding performer. The story goes (and some or all of this may be apocryphal) that he was playing Second Murderer in a season of Macbeth, and was bored out of his tree. Being in fact a talented and flexible actor, he devised a version of “The Simpsons do Macbeth” ...

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Globe Theatre, Dunedin - WAITING FOR GODOT: Debating meanings, interpretations and staging conventions

- reviewed by Jonathan W. Marshall

Unhappy with the many different productions of his famously uneventful play, Waiting for Godot, author Samuel Beckett directed and then had filmed his own version of the work in 1987. This did not stop new interpretations being ventured.

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Downstage Theatre, Wellington - ON THE UPSIDE-DOWN OF THE WORLD: Provocative at a very personal level

- reviewed by John Smythe

Sustained applause greeted the Wellington premiere ... After 95-odd minutes of not quite knowing where to place ourselves in relation to a quaintly Victorian yet deeply committed woman’s observations and actions, we are left stimulated and powerfully engaged with its potently relevant themes.

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BATS, Wellington - CHALK: A comical and never cruel take on age

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

The action of Chalk is confined to a large square marked out in chalk on the black Bats stage. Within the square are two chairs and a few props including a ukulele which one wouldn’t expect to find in a rest home called Shady Meadows.

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BATS, Wellington - 6 LITTLE PLAYS 4 CHRISTCHURCH: Mixed bag for Christchurch

- reviewed by Lynn Freeman

These six short plays offer a remarkably mixed bag to the audience. Five months, the programme tells us, of wrangling and clearly hard work has gone into the fund raising show for the people of Christchurch.

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Mayfair Theatre, Dunedin - CANADIAN CLUB COMEDY ROADSHOW: A winning combination

- reviewed by Kate Morris

The balance of comedic personalities on the bill allowed the audience to experience a variety of different approaches to stand-up which was a refreshing surprise as many similarly promoted shows have a tendency to end up as the poor child to TV3 favourite 7 Days.

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

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