New Zealand Theatre Newsroom

A great show for the school holidays- with great values, humour, colour and with the added bonus of a real Toto  dog on stage- what more could you want?

Watching the future of theatre here in Wellington, I see we will be well served in the future.

What did our critic think of NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 from Witch Music Theatre?

The Golden Ass is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in it's entirety. In this production, it is given some modern flavour whilst still maintaining the settings and heart of the story.

Every Brilliant Thing is a one man show about depression and suicide. It is told through the voice of a child growing up through to adulthood finding a mechanism to cope with his mothers repeated attempts to take her life. 

What did our critic think of SEUSSICAL at Manukau Performing Arts?

What did our critic think of MATILDA THE MUSICAL by Act Three Productions?

A very good production that is most definitely worth seeing if you are lucky enough to have a ticket. Recommended.

What did our critic think of TWO GUITARS at Circa Theatre?

Murdered to Death is a play written by Peter Gordon back in 1993. It was originally set in the drawing room of a country manor house in the 1930’s, and begins the first in a trilogy of plays starring Inspector Pratt. They are spoofs of the Agatha Christie whodunnit genre. See what our critic thought of the show!

The play is written by French playwright Florian Zeller and is a companion piece to his well known play The Father. While The Father deals with the the decline of the mind of an Alzheimers suffer, The Mother takes on the clinical depression of a woman adrift in middle age. 

A Fat Girl’s Cry is billed as a show about the importance of Plus Size Representation and Inclusion in the Musical Theatre Industry by taking a journey through Music, Singing, and Dance. 

What did our critic think of GRAND HORIZONS at HOWICK LITTLE THEATRE? 50 years – it’s a milestone in any marriage! Thousands of meals eaten together, years of dealing with everything marriage, cohabitation and parenthood can throw at you … Superbly directed with expertise by Penel Keegan with her eye for precision in detail, timing and well-crafted staging, Excellent from the entire cast with all the characters  played with physical and psychological truth, motivational credibility, well-shaped dialogue, and vivid facial expression.

The star-studded My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert, filmed last December, will be screened in more than 100 cinemas across Australia and New Zealand from 21st March 2024.

Superb production that held the audiences attention from start to finish - Arthur Miller is a legendary playwright, having penned classics such as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.

Exploring identity, family, and desire, AIGA is a show that ebbs, flows, dips forward into the wicked and tilts back toward the heavenly as we traverse through the experience of Lusi's beautiful and complex life story. Using music, movement and dramedy AIGA chronologically captures Lusi’s life from youth into adulthood, from 1960's Samoa, to the warrior that we bear witness to today.

In the race to become chief, this gripping family saga explores the way of fa’a sāmoa in a modern world. The Auckland premiere of the darkly comic O le Pepelo, le Gaoi, ma le Pala’ai | The Liar, the Thief, and the Coward by Natano Keni and Sarita So plays at the ASB Waterfront Theatre 5 – 23 March as part of the 2024 Auckland Arts Festival.

What did our critic think of HYPERSPACE at ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland?

What did our critic think of LADS ON THE ISLAND at Circa Theatre?

A touring show from a new New Zealand theatre company.

Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer present The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, an endurance-based dance work to the seamless techno album Nocturbulous Behaviour by Suburban Knight.

What did our critic think of MEASURE FOR MEASURE at Shoreside Theatre, Pumphouse Theatre? What makes any Shakespeare production superb is the director’s ability to recognise the themes within Shakespeare’s text - his extraordinary ability to bring his characters to life by a turn of phrase, a pun, the looks they share, by a breath they take, by the pause they make, the jokes they make.

What did our critic think of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at Shoreside Theatre, Pumphouse Theatre? It’s the second night of the Shoreside’s 28th Summer Shakespeare in the Park  – and indeed,  it’s an ideally warm midsummer evening with clear skies and stars – and an enthusiastic audience awaits -  filled with anticipation.

Auckland Theatre Company and Te Pou Theatre are absolutely pumped to present the world premiere of Hyperspace by Albert Belz. Winner of the 2023 Adam NZ Play Award, Hyperspace is a sequel to Albert Belz’s much-loved Astroman, presented in 2019 and directed by Tainui Tukiwaho. So kitsch it’s cool – a ’90s homage to all the dance movies ever made.

Move, move, shake, shake, now drop – Strictly Brown is a new clique on the block and they're here to bring the heat! Pring It On is a parody of the popular American cheerleading film, Bring It On (2000). Set against the backdrop of Polyfest, the story shines lights on the behind the scenes dramas of preparing for the world’s largest Secondary School’s Pacific Dance Festival.