ANNABEL WILSON drops into the Arts Centre’s refurbished Old Gym for Free Theatre’s Ubu night. Housed in the heart of old Christchurch, the Free Theatre is the vanguard of post-quake cool. The first arts organisation to return to the restored Arts Centre, the company have taken over The Gym where they produce experimental theatre (having just finished their successful season […]

Now into her fourth year of sending it deep at the South Island’s answer to a New Year festival, EMMA SIMPSON spills her secrets to a successful R&A.  Here are some of her lessons learnt (quite often the hard way) from Rhythm and Alps.  1) Do your admin. I know it’s Captain Obvious but you are one of around 7000 […]

Wellington musical wunderkind Cory Champion is pointing the compass south for New Year’s Eve, to play with Pacific Heights at Rhythm and Alps. ANNABEL WILSON gets the skinny on what keeps bringing him back to R&A, his obsession with cymbals and a few of his other favourite things… You’re becoming a mainstay of the Rhythm and Alps event. What brings […]

Rhythm & Alps revellers will be treated to an incredible experience of sound, light, optical illusion and art, thanks to world-leading stage technology. The highly-anticipated New Year’s party and music festival, held  on December 29-31 at Robrosa Station near Wanaka, has already achieved an outstanding international reputation for producing innovative stages. This year’s event will see the bar raised even […]

ANNABEL WILSON caught Juliette Burton’s show ‘Look At Me’ at Bats theatre as part of the NZ International Comedy Festival and shares five reasONs why you should too. 1. Because of her honesty. Multi-award winning performer Juliette Burton has been “fat, thin and everything in between”. A journalist at heart, Burton lays bare her history with anorexia, over-eating and bulimia […]

This week, the latest installment of New Zealand’s premier political satire Public Service Announcements (PSA) takes flight at Bats theatre. It’s an infamous work that is known to sell out due to its outrageous dialogue, plot-twists and hilarious caricatures.  ANNABEL WILSON catches up with the show’s writer, James Nokise to get the lowdown on this long-standing lambasting of the nation’s […]

It’s been a winning week for the staff at YAMI Sounz Summit, with all Junior and Youth places sold out, and a grant received from Otago Community Trust. Otago Community Trust has donated $4740.00 to assist with funding the workshops and evening public performances. “We’re beyond stoked”, says Assistant Director Martine Harding. “This can really help lift the event, along […]

Red Bastard is a dangerous seductive comedy monster. America’s number one bouffon spreads through the audience like a big red virus, challenging everyone to play along. Red Bastard is halfway through his kick-ass series of shows in the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, and warns spectators to be prepared for anything to happen when you go to see him. The brainchild of […]

ANNABEL WILSON reviews the new show from EnsembleImpact – extracts from five Arthur Meek  (Bruce Mason award for Playwriting) plays stitched together under the ensemble-focused direction of Leo Gene Peters(Best Director 2009, Chapman Tripp Awards). When I recall visiting ‘theatre in education’ troupes that came to my high school, I cringe a bit. Often these fully-funded touring shows were heavy-handed in their […]

Alice Brine does stand-up comedy. Her latest show Brinestorm has been filling theatres since the start of its New Zealand Comedy Festival season.  ANNABEL WILSON offers some thoughts on why Brine has been slaying the stand-up scene with her sell-out sets. Here are five reasons to see her show, pronto! 1. Because of her  daring, deadpan, machine-gun delivery. From the start, Brine explains that we’re stuck […]