New Zealand Archives | The Theatre Times

Riddled With Vivid Snapshots of The Human Condition: “Waiting for Godot” in New Zealand

Posted by John Smythe | 22nd May 2019 | Ireland, New Zealand, Review

Vladimir and Estragon, who nickname each other Didi and Gogo, languish nowhere in particular and...

A Triumph Of Performative Experimentation: BATS Theatre, Wellington Celebrates 30 Years

Posted by David O'Donnell | 9th May 2019 | New Zealand, News

As New Zealand has lost two of its longest-running professional theatres in the last seven years,...

Tribute to Author Celebrates the Life of The Imagination: “I Am Not Margaret Mahy”

Posted by David O'Donnell | 30th Apr 2019 | New Zealand, Review

I am not Margaret Mahy by Jane Waddell, based on Notes of a Bag Lady by Margaret Mahy, BATS...

New Play Examines Shakespeare’s Gender Politics: Sarah Delahunty’s “This Long Winter”

Posted by David O'Donnell | 29th Apr 2019 | New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Gender

Despite being dead for 400 years and having lived and worked on the far side of Planet Earth,...

One Story, Two Languages: Sign And Spoken Language Share The Theatre Stage

Posted by Andreea S. Calude, Laura Haughey, and Kellye Bensley | 15th Jul 2018 | Essay, New Zealand, Theatre and Disability

Would you go and see a bilingual or multilingual show if you only spoke one of the languages...

Through A New Zealander’s Eyes: The Subjunctive World, Notes From Venice Beach

Posted by Hilary Halba | 21st Jun 2018 | Acting, Essay, New Zealand, United States of America

After a thirteen-hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand, I am in Jim Morrison country–or so I...

Welcome To The Murder House

Posted by John Smythe | 8th Jun 2018 | New Zealand, Review, United States of America

In Welcome to the Murder House, Alfred’s story is told, in the popular vaudeville style of the day, by a group of prison inmates. For them, Southwick is a hero, given their shared belief that execution by electrocution will be more humane than hanging. And, as with the development of all high quality theatre, it takes a lot of trial and error to get it right.

“Still Life With Chickens:” New Samoan Play Confronts Loneliness Through Comedy

Posted by David O'Donnell | 20th May 2018 | New Zealand, Puppetry, Review, Theatre and Age, Transcultural Collaborations

Samoan playwright David Fa’auliuli Mamea’s Still Life With Chickens won the 2017 Adam Award for...

Dreams And Reality: Fortune Theatre, Dunedin, New Zealand Closes

Posted by Hilary Halba | 19th May 2018 | Management, New Zealand, News

The mid-morning phone call I receive from a colleague brings bad news. The Fortune Theatre–the...

A Genre-Bending Pasifika Collaboration -“The Naked Samoans Do Magic”

Posted by David O'Donnell | 29th Apr 2018 | Festivals, New Zealand, Review, Transcultural Collaborations

The Naked Samoans Do Magic Commissioned by the Auckland Arts Festival and co-produced with The...

“Dark Dunedin: Heaven Looks On” Excavating Layers Of The Real And The Imagined

Posted by Hilary Halba | 14th Apr 2018 | Festivals, Immersive Theatre, New Zealand, Review, Transmedia

An audience assembles on the grassy margins of Prospect Park in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, New Zealand, on a...

The Politics of Child Abuse in Searing Māori Theatre: “Bless the Child” by Hone Kouka

Posted by David O'Donnell | 5th Apr 2018 | New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Politics

Bless the Child by Hone Kouka. Co-produced by the New Zealand Festival, Auckland Arts Festival and...

Dunedin’s Arcade Theatre Company And “Fold:” An Absurdist Production For A Post-Truth Era

Posted by Hilary Halba | 15th Mar 2018 | New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Politics

The newest theatre company to emerge from Dunedin, New Zealand’s funky, eclectic arts scene is...

Celebrating Oceanic Voyaging In Spectacular Site-Specific Theatre: “Kupe” And The “Waka Odyssey”

Posted by David O'Donnell | 2nd Mar 2018 | Festivals, New Zealand, Review

Wellington, a portside city famed for its turbulent seas and hurricane-force winds, turned on a...

A Mountain of One’s Own: “Taking the High Ground” by Jan Bolwell

Posted by David O'Donnell | 29th Dec 2017 | LGBTQ Theatre, New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Gender

Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to climb Mount Everest in May 1953,...

Female Desire In Experimental Postdramatic Theatre: “Body Double” Directed By Eleanor Bishop, BATS Theatre, Wellington

Posted by David O'Donnell | 23rd Dec 2017 | Directing, New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Gender

Merriam-Webster has recently named “feminism” as the 2017 “word of the year” and feminist issues...

A Pacific Production Of “The Mountaintop” By Katori Hall

Posted by David O'Donnell | 7th Dec 2017 | New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Politics, United States of America

For the past two years, Samoan playwright Victor Rodger has been tireless in bringing plays by...

“A Doll’s House” at Circa One

Posted by John Smythe | 12th Nov 2017 | New Zealand, Review, Theatre and Gender

POTENTLY RELEVANT Warning: I’m about to give the (well-known) ending away because the play can’t...

Mei-Lin Te Puea Hansen’s “The Mooncake and the Kumara” Explores the Māori-Chinese Cultural Experience

Posted by John Smythe | 1st Aug 2017 | New Zealand

It captures a time when Māori were increasingly dispossessed of their lands and Chinese immigrants were subjected to appalling discrimination – not least (and I didn’t know this before) by the government.