Kiwiblog

When a play gets the half time interval, and you are annoyed that there is a break, its a good sign that the play has managed to grip your attention and you want to see how it ends.

Circa’s production of Tribes was excellent. A great mix of tension, humour, light and sound.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The set is a typical living room, with a large screen behind it. The screen is an essential part of the show, where the sign language is translated, and very amusingly sometimes the private thoughts of the cast also.

The play by Nina Raine, originated in London, and has won three major international awards.

The cast is primarily a family of five, all creative. Father Christopher is an academic critic who critiques everything from his children’s boyfriends and girlfriends to the deaf community and Northerners. His long suffering wife Beth is writing a a book that was originally about a marriage breakdown but hilariously also includes a murder mystery now.

The kids are all in their 20s. Daniel and Ruth have both moved back home, and ignore their father’s entreaties to “fuck off” and get real jobs. She is an wannabee opera singer and he is writing a thesis on language. Daniel has some psych issues (his father blames on pot) and hears accusatory voices all the time. He used to have a stutter, and it returns when his brother Billy moves out.

To a degree the show is about Billy. He was born deaf. His siblings are very protective of him. His father has been determined not to let his disability define him and he has learnt to lip read par excellence, rather than use sign language.

The family is charming and engaging in their mild dysfunctionality, and then things get interesting when Billy meets Sylvia. She can do fluent sign language as her parents are deaf. She was not born deaf, but is losing her hearing and becoming deaf.

Now don’t think this is some sort of woe are the deaf, how miserable their lives are play.  It is a play about tribes – the family tribe and the deaf community.

Father Christopher is very sceptical of Sylvia and asks her at one point about the “deaf community”. She replies that it is very hierarchical with people judging you on whether or not you were born deaf, or became deaf, if you can sign or lip or both, etc etc. She also  comments “Plus of course, we’ve all slept with each other” which rarks the family up as Billy has never had a girlfriend.

Jeffery Thomas is excellent as Christoper, Billy’s father. He provokes and frustrates, and provides much humour. Nathan Mesiter also was very good as Billy’ brother. He is both smart and suave and stammering and lacking self-confidence.

The play is 140 minutes long, with a break. As I said at the beginning I found it got me interested from the first scene, and never let go. There are so many tensions that you want to find out where it all leads. There are no saints in this play, just a mosaic of flawed but loving family.

A lot of humour keeps you engaged also. The thoughts on the screen. The asking Sylvia to sign a translation of “Fucking her was like making love to a concrete mixer” was memorable.

When a local theatre takes on an award winning international play, the worry is that they will not do justice to the original. But the production team and cast have shown this is not the case – it was a great play, and well worth seeing.

Mike and Virginia opened at Circa on Saturday night, and it was 100 minutes of almost non stop laughs.

It is billed as a romantic comedy about romantic comedies. The lead characters of Mike and Virginia are both lecturers in film studies and the audience at times are their class. Virginia is the ice queen who tells you how romantic comedies always have an incompatible couple (due to personality, background etc) who implausibly overcome all barriers to show love conquers all, even though it doesn’t.

Mike is the popular wise cracking Kiwi bloke, who is a published author as well as a lecturer. Of course Virginia hates him, and vice-versa and of course they form the focus of their own romantic comedy.

There is some audience interaction, which was also comic. Mike has a thesis that all films have a monster. He goes through various films such as Shawshank Redemption and asks who the monster is. He then gets to Love Actually and asks the audience who is the monster in that film. The woman behind me yells out “the writer” and we’re all in hysterics.

There were five actors making up the cast, and while in some plays there are one or two stand outs, I thought in this play all five nailed their characters.

Gentiana Lupi (you may have seen her in Eagle vs Shark) was the icy Virginia. Her character started slightly one-dimensional but as the play progressed you saw her sense of humour and playfulness.

Will Hall (Kip from Shortland Street) was perfect for laid back wise cracking Kiwi bloke Mike.

Jennifer Martin was hilarious as the young and beautiful but rather clueless student poet who falls madly in love with, well I won’t give the plot away. But you’ll love her performance.

Stephen Papps and Perry Piercey play the respective best friends of Mike and Virginia – their characters are Harry and Sally!

Papps’ Harry shares his nuggets of wisdom in a very droll fashion and generates aughs a plenty. He just fits the role of down to earth tradesman so well.

Piercey’s Sally is an actor, and gets possibly the best lines of the play. I won’t give too many plot details away but one part of it is how they are meant to be just friends with benefits but Virginia freaks out when Mike holds her hand at one point. She heads home alone complaining to Sally that Mike is getting too intimate. Sally responds with “You’ve had his dick in your mouth with no problems, and you’re complaining that he held your hand!” – classic.

The music and sound effects were done incredibly well, adding to many a dramatic moment with comic effect.

Mike and Virginia was hilariously good fun. Is on until 20 April, and well worth seeing.

I’ve lived in Thorndon for around 20 years, and in the area of Thorndon that is within 100 metres of so of the Katherine Mansfield birthplace. Despite that I only visited her birthplace for the first time a few weeks ago.

I never studied Mansfield at school, and don’t actually know her story and her works as well as many New Zealanders. So the Circa show Talking of Katherine Mansfield seemed a good opportunity to get to know her better.

The 80 minute show is by Catherine Downes, who is a Mansfield expert. She’s been playing her for over 30 years. The play is a mixture of Catherine talking about Mansfield’s life and reading out some of her writings.

I found it a bit slow to engage initially, but perked up with the recital of Leves Amores and the references to The Thistle Hotel in Thorndon. And from there we learnt of her outraged father who was happy to have her go back to London after she published such scandalous (for the times) prose.

You learn about her relationships and influence on so many other leading literary figures such as D H Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and of course John Middleton Murry. Murry is not the most sympathetic of figures as you heard about how he would write to Mansfield complaining how hard her dying was on him!

This isn’t a play for everyone, but if you are a fan of Mansfield or just wanting to know about her, it’s a pleasant introduction to her work. Downes has a real passion for Mansfield’s work and she doesn’t just act off a script but engaged the audience in her recital of Mansfield’s life and works. I suspect every night the show is slightly different.

The lighting in the show is worth a mention. The final scene where Katherine dies is done beautifully and to powerful effect as her face fades from view.

Kings of the Gym had its premiere at Circa last night. It was fabulous fun, with some stand out acting.

The play is set at decile 2 Hautapu High School, and pokes lots of fun at education bureaucracy, political correctness, Destiny Church and even Novopay gets the odd mention! The set was very authentic, with even the fluorescent tube lights in the office reminding you of your own school days.

Ginette McDonald plays Viv Cleaver, the school principal. The principal, referred to as Cleavage by the PE HOD Laurie, is a politically correct bureaucrat who is obsessed with improving the NCEA grades and making sure her friends in the education bureaucracy think highly of her. It is a tribute to McDonald’s skills that she doesn’t just make Cleaver a caricature – but actually turns a pretty unsympathetic character sympathetic.

McDonald has some comic gold lines, and is just superb.

Paul McLaughlin portrays his character perfectly.  Laurie drives Cleaver mad. He mocks the curriculum and files it in the bin. He states how the PE curriculum mentions well-being 73 times, and winning just once – to stress it is not important. His idea of a class is to play soccer. He’ll often delegate the ref to someone else so he can watch TV and bet on the TAB.

But Laurie is a likeable rogue, and his kids all love him. In fact one of them has become the 2nd teacher in the department, and has seemingly thrown away any ambition and his degree, to be a mini-Laurie. That is Pat, played by Richard Dey. The chemistry between Dey and McLaughlin helps make the play so excellent. The looks they give each other, the hassling, and especially Laurie’s expression when he finds out the girl Pat likes is already engaged. Many comic moments.

You never see the kids on the stage, but they are used to humanise the characters. Cleaver and Annie are horrified that the Vietnamese student is called “Chopsticks” by Laurie, despite he fact that is the name he prefers. He is so good at soccer he is told he must play left footed. Laurie also tells the kids they must have at least three girls on each team, otherwise the boys will win. Hilarious, harsh judgement calls.

But Dougal is the student you hear most about. If he scores a goal, it is worth five points as Dougal has Downs. At first you think such statements are so insensitive, but you later hear how he helps Laurie after school stack up the gym equipment (even though Laurie can do it quicker by himself) and realise behind the gruff, Laurie is hugely protective of Dougal.

Acushla-Tara Sutton plays Annie, the student teacher. At first she is just an over eager high achiever who insists on goals for every class. She is also a top sportswoman, and on the verge of making the Silver Ferns. But the real tensions comes when it emerges she is a born again Christian, and a member of Destiny Church (they don’t call it Destiny in the play – but it obviously is). The real tensions come when in biology class she refers to there being two schools of thought on where humans came from. She also sets up a church youth group, and has some of the students make purity pledges.

The play isn’t mocking of Christians, or the church. In fact she plays tribute to how they helped her, and the real message of the play is about tolerance.

There are some great one liners such as how pregnancy and STDs are the only two areas where the school over-achieves, and a line by the principal about how if one particular female student abstains for even a week, that will reduce the chlamydia rate. Many laughs through the whole play. The first half was a bit more tense at times, while the second half which had the big plot twist and the eventual happy ending had more of those laugh out loud moments – not the dignified giggles – but the forced laughter as it was so hilarious.

Kings of the Gym was a terrifically funny play which made for a great night’s entertainment. Dave Armstrong has produced a very New Zealand comedy that has near universal appeal.

I suspect while almost all of us know the basic themes of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, few of us have actually read the novella. What we know is the change in Ebenezer Scrooge after being visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

It has been made into no less than 28 films, at least 36 different stage productions and the story is deeply embedded into English and American culture.

The production I saw at Circa last night was different to many, as it was a one man show, with Ray Henwood narrating the book and playing all characters. Henwood not only looks the part, but sounds it also.

Most will know Henwood from his role in the fabulous Gliding On series. Henwood is also one of the founders of Circa.

There is no ad libbing in this play. Every word of dialogue is from the original novella. For someone who has never read the book, I found it deeply satisfying. Henwood has a gravitas that was made for the production and was supported by a simple yet effective script, some wonderful period costumes and sympathetic lighting.

The play is not just a reading. Henwood gyrates between narrating the story at the lectern, and acting the roles across the stage.

If you’re never read the full story of A Christmas Carol, this is a great chance to have it performed in front of you over a couple of hours. It is on until 22 December.

Saw Cinderella on Sunday afternoon at Circa. I’ve been to Circa’s annual pantomime for a few years, but this was the first time on a Sunday afternoon so the ratio of kids to adults was around 1:1. In previous years it has been an evening session with only a couple of dozen kids. This meant the audience noise level was extremely high – but in a good way.

The Rutherfords steal the show with their comic abilities. Lyndee-Jane narrates as the fairy godmother (and occasional queen) while Gavin plays Bertha, one of Cindererella’s evil step sisters. But not so much evil, as just desperate and needy

Lyndee-Jane was superb at making both adults and kids laugh, and had many great one-liners. It’s nice to see they revise the play a bit almost daily, because they even got the All Blacks loss that morning into the dialogue. I also loved her “i-wand” which would sometimes need charging to work!

As usual, a fair number of political jokes, and King John, was King John Key and Mayor Celia and her bike got a few mentions also. The fun thing with pantos is they have jokes for the adults, and fun for the kids.

Panto regular John Wraight plays the elderly eccentric father, and also doubles as the King. Jon Pheloung plays Grace, the other step-sister.

A crowd favourite were the odd couple of Dagma (Emma Kinane) and Swedish Schwen (Paul Jenden). They performed all sorts of odd jobs, and had their own love story. Their costumes, like all of them, were wonderfully well done (by Jenden himself).

Every show needs a villain and Sean Allan performed the role admirably. He was booed by the kids everytime he appeared. Also his costume of tight tight leather pants can’t pass without comment. P Girl commented (not sure if it was admiration or revulsion!) that they left nothing to the imagination! They could almost need to be classified by the Censor’s Office!

Richard Dey played Price James and was suitably dashing.

Cinderella was played by Chelsea Bognuda. She has an incredibly polished singing voice, and her vocal pieces were some of the highlights of the show.

It was a great fun show for adults and kids. The kids get to yell and cheer and boo and even go on stage for a bit. The adults get left alone in the main, but one or two unlucky patrons do get targeted for extra fun.

Circa has a very stable panto team now. Roger Hall writes them, Susan Wilson directs them, Michael Nicholas Williams does the music, and many actors return each year. A very successful winning formula.

The play lasted two hours, with a 15 minute interval. It runs until 23 December and is a good Christmas treat for the family.

John Smythe at Theatreview also reviews it.

Ahi Karunaharan writes and stars in his one man play, The Mourning After.

The play is the story of Shekar, a Sri Lankan born in New Zealand. His father has just died, and he wants to travel back to Sri Lanka to spread his ashes. He also has the mystery of a photo of a beautiful woman, who is not his mother.

Karunaharan plays a multitude of characters, and uses his acting skills artfully to argue backwards and forwards with himself. Changes in posture and accent inform you as to who he now is. Karunaharan has a presence and charisma which dominates the small stage.

It took me a while to work out the plot, but it is worth persevering for. After battling his relatives in New Zealand, Shekar arrives in Sri Lanka. His family house is the only one left standing after the Boxing Day tsunami.

It is a house of mystery. Uncle Somu, the adult in the house, relives his days of glory as an extra in an Indiana Jones film. The young Raju provides comic relief and does a wonderful crow call. Malicious Aunty Saroja is the village gossip and then there is the women shut in the room.

The set is minimal, but effective, and director Miria George uses sound and light well in telling the story of Shekar.

I have to be honest and say that this sort of play isn’t one that grabs me. It was artistically done very well, and Ahi Karunaharan is a superb and charismatic actor. The plot revelation was just a bit too obvious I found, and I never found myself fully engaged on the emotional level.

That isn’t to say we didn’t enjoy the play. It was entertaining and many of the characters were entertaining and appealing. A one actor show is a challenging task, and Karunaharan rose to it.

There are also reviews on the play at Theatreview.

The Truth Game was a fun drama based in a newspaper newsroom. The playwright and author, Simon Cunliffe is a former deputy editor of the ODT and this shows in the perspicacity of the play, which is on at Circa until 10 November.

The play starts with a corporate businesswoman lecturing a room full of newspaper people on how media need to deliver what consumers want etc. She us using all the annoying jargon (such as synergies) you can think of, and it is a credit to Janine Burchett that she made Belinda such a detestable figure. You almost wanted to throw things at her, and cheered when an audience member (later revealed to be lead actor Frank Stone) calls out bullshit, and then storms out calling her a wanker.

Photo by Stephen A’Court

The curtains then part to reveal a massive set. A newsroom office stretches out, looking just as you imagine a newsroom would look. And they do an impressive split screen with an editor’s office upstairs. Alan Lovell plays Frank Stone. He’s the 30 year veteran who is at war with his corporate bosses, and is the Acting Editor, and likely permanent Editor.

The adroit Jessica Robinson plays news editor Sam Hunter, and  somewhat estranged romantic interest of Frank. The star of the show for me was Brian Sergent who played the loveable old duffer Ralph (pronounced Rafe). Ralph is the walking thesarus sub-editor, editorial writer and 40 year veteran. Paul McLaughlin plays General Manager Paul, who tries to act as a buffer between Frank and the owners. He has told Frank that to become editor he has to sack Ralph, to keep costs down.

Finally there was the young Acushla-Tara Sutton who literally rollerbladed onto the set as the young cub reporter. She gets off to a bad start with Frank, as she talks about Facebook and the like. As she reveals her mother worked on the paper over 20 years ago, you wonder about whether she may have a connection to either Ralph or Frank. Ski Bunny Girl and I both guessed, but got it wrong.

At the heart of the show, was the much debated proposition about whether media should be about hard hitting important news that matters, or providing what customers wants. Frank represented one extreme, and Belinda the other. Cunliffe and director Danny Mulheron have done a good job at dramatically portraying the dilemma. Personally I think they are both right. Media should focus on important quality news, but they also can’t ignore what their readers want. No use being purist and having no readers.  Sam’s character probably best represented the pragmatic middle option.

The best scene for me was when a major development happens in the Middle East, and you suddenly see a newsroom at its best. Focused and multi-tasking to tell history as it happens. Four extras from Whitireia’s Stage and Screen complement the main six characters as they rush to make their deadline. There is nothing quite like a newspaper office near deadline.

We both enjoyed the play. It had plenty of laughs and the central focus on the role of the media is a topical one. Rafe and Belinda were especially good characters that you loved and detested in equal amounts. The part that didn’t work so well for me was the relationships. The Frank and Sam relationship was almost a distraction, and the mystery around Jo’s mother was also not a critical part of the plot. I think the script would have been better to really focus on the main tension of the battle for what news should be, and the work relationships. More could have been done there.

As I said, overall an enjoyable play which will appeal especially to those interested in the media.

Helen Sims at Theatreview has also reviewed the play.

I saw Manawa at Circa last Wednesday. It was an unusual experience as I enjoyed the acting and the script but basically rejected the fundamental premise of the play!

The play is about two inmates. One is Jimmy King,  the country’s youngest murderer, and the other is Mau Vaiaga who is awaiting trial for eating a Kakapo!

The Jimmy King character is based on Bailey Junior Kurariki. Kurariki was convicted for manslaughter of Michael Chow, when he was 12 years old.

Jamie McCaskill wrote the play, and played the Jimmy King character. He was entertaining, intriguing, a non stop likeable talker. You felt significant empathy with him.

And this is whey I struggled with the play. I had a very hard time linking the Jimmy King character to Bailey Kurariki. I can’t imagine in real life Kurariki is anything like Jimmy King. I recall the story about Kurariki giving a “long and often incoherent response”, and nothing like the smooth talking Jimmy King.

Kurariki also seems with little remorse, having recently said he is “just an innocent black man“.

So a play which is about showing the “softer side of Jimmy” was always going to struggle to work for me.

That isn’t to say there wasn’t some very good aspects to the play, which I’ll get to. If the play had been more generic, and not so obviously modeled on Kurariki, I think I would have enjoyed it far more. There is a risk in typing it to an individual. I sent much of the time thinking “When are you going to mention the poor pizza delivery guy”. Now of course the character was only modeled on him – not meant to be exactly him, but I just couldn’t get past that.

So what did work for me? Well the three actors were superb. Jamie McCaskill as Jimmy King was almost too successful at bringing him to life and showing his softer side. His ability to talk non stop to his fellow cellmate without even a grunt in response was very well done.

Natano Keni played Mau Vaiaga, the Kakapo eater. He was basically set up, but got reviled up and down NZ for eating the Kakapo. Even convicted killer Jimmy was calling him the most hated man in NZ – which was a insightful piece on how Kiwis react with more horror sometimes to crimes against animals, than each other.

Kali Kopae played lawyer Waimanea Huia. I’ve enjoyed her singing ability as a BeatGirl, and she equally impresses as an actor. Her character was more interested in the publicity from the clients, than the clients themselves.

I won’t give away the plot too much, but there is an interesting twist at the end. As I said the acting and script were good, and I certainly had many a wry chuckle during the play.

But at the end of the day, I’m just not someone open to seeing the softer side of Bailey Kurariki. That may be more about me than the play of course!

John Smythe at Thatreview also reviews it. He comments:

Did I mention it is hugely funny? The laughs come primarily from shock, at the truth of the characterisations and what they do and say. Each character, no matter how incidental, speaks with a clear and distinctive voice. And (apart from the concerns mentioned above) no matter what they do and how outrageous it is, we understand why.

It was hugely funny. I did enjoy the play. I just didn’t agree with its premise.

Clybourne Park at Circa was a superb night’s entertainment. There were so many things I loved about it, it is hard to know where to start.

Let’s start with the play itself. It’s got two acts (total time 2 hrs 20 minutes with an interval) set 50 years apart – 1959 and 2009. Both acts are set in the same neighbourhood and are about the tensions that arise when a couple buys a house in a Clybourne Park , a neighbourhood exclusively of a different race. In 1959 it is a black couple buying a house in an all-white neighbourhood and in 2009, Clybourne Park  has become all-black, but with gentrification a white couple is moving in.

The play, based loosely on actual historical events, has won four major awards. They are:

• The Laurence Olivier Award by the Society of London Theatre
• The Pulitzer Prize for Drama
• The Theatre World Award
• The Tony Award for Best Play

So with a play of that pedigree, it turns on how well Circa would implement it. Well they have been on a real roll lately, and this was no exception.

The first act focuses on Russ and Bev. They are packing up to move house. Their black maid Francine is there also. Russ is  a mixture of depressed and angry since his son killed himself after serving in Korea. The allegations that he killed civilians were too much for him.

Nikki MacDonnell stands out as Bev. She captures that 1950s domestic wife perfectly. Rather like Bree from Desperate Housewives she is so concerned about appropriate behaviour, and being a the good wife. She absolutely nails the role.

Gavin Rutherford also shows his versatile skills as the brooding Russ. You can see him on the point of exploding several times, and when it finally comes you almost want to applaud.

Paul Waggott and Andrew Foster play the local priest Jim and local Rotarian Karl. Karl’s wife Betsy is played by Danielle Mason. The character is deaf (and pregnant) and Mason is so convincing in the role that P Girl and I debated at the interval if she was deaf in real life. A different character in the second half made it clear she was not. But the fact she was so convincing we thought she might be, speaks volumes to her ability.

The 7th character is the first act is the well meaning husband of Francine, Albert. He just wants to help. Jade Daniels plays Albert, and his 2nd act character is similar. Both smiling nice guys – but we see in Act II that he has another side.

The drama is around when Karl tells Russ and Bev that the land agent has sold their place to a black couple, and try to pressure them to renege on the sale. You almost wince as phrases along the lines of folk being equal but different are used. And it gets really uncomfortable when the black maid is asked by the others if she agrees that black people are happier in their own neighbourhoods.

Russ though responds badly to the pressure, and it gets explosive when Karl threatens to tell the buyers about he suicide in the house – thinking that will scare them off.

The first act was very dramatic, but also had lots of laughs.

In the second act they all play different characters, but with some links to the original characters.  Both Nikki MacDonnell and Gavin Rutherford do quite increedible transformations. MacDonnell goes from being a matronly housewive in her 40s, to a trendy yuppy lawyer in her late 20s. You almost wouldn’t think it is the same actor. Likewise Rutherford becomes a grimy more youthful labourer who unearths a trunk which links the two acts together.

I won’t give away too much of the second act, but it was at times side splittingly hilarious. It starts with no tension at all, but eventually it is all laid bare as first the prospective purchaser is challenged to repeat a (not very funny) joke about blacks. Nancy Brunning’s character then responds with a joke which starts with “How is a white woman like a tampon”. The answer had me almost off my chair convulsed with laughter.  The joke fitted one of the characters perfectly.

One of the actors told me after the show that on their “test” night on Friday, the audience was predominantly elderly (as tickets are cheaper) and the response to the joke was more shocked. They were pleased to see the audience on Saturday night responding far more better to the joke. After the initial shock, almost everyone was laughing.

I have to praise the set also. It was one of the largest I have seen at Circa. The nice thing about Circa One it has so much room, and they used it to make the house very lifelike and real. During the interval some smart changes saw it transform into the modern version.

It really was a great show. A clever plot deals with sensitive issues of race in a very politically incorrect way. The drama and tension is punctuated with heaps of laughs. Clybourne Park has been my favourite show so far this year. Absolutely recommended as great theatre, so long as you are not easily offended.

John Smythe at Theatreview has reviewed the play also. His conclusion was:

Clybourne Park is a brilliant play deliciously done.

If you only go to one play this year, this should be it.

The world premiere of West End Girls at Circa on Saturday night, was a superb production. There’s so much to love about the show, it is hard to know where to start.

The play is based on the book by Barbara Tate, who worked in the late 1940s as an innocent 21 year old in a pub, and then ended up as the maid to one of the regulars – a Soho prostitute called Mae.  The play sounded so good that I had so many people wanting to attend with me, to require two extra tickets, as Glee Girl, DC Girl and Stats Girl all wanted to attend. By coincidence all three had their hair done earlier that day, and were a matching set of a redhead, a blonde and a brunette. They all raved about the show also.

Barbara Tate went on to become one of the leading artists in the UK. It was only in her 80s that she published her memoirs of her time working for Mae. Tate had a harsh childhood abandoned by her mother, almost killed by her father as a child, and brought up by a harsh unloving grandmother. Until she meets Mae, she has never really known love or even friendship, and an unlikely friendship begins.

Photo by Stephen A’Court.

Jessica Robinson plays Mae and, as expected, delivers her normal great performance. The part was made for her.

However for me Victoria Abbott as Barbara was the stand out performance. She managed to capture perfectly this shy naive girl, who got caught up in a world she knew nothing about. Abbott played a very different character in Chekov equally well, and this confirms my view that she is one of the future stars of NZ theatre.

The other five actors play multiple roles – 60 in total I believe. Gavin Rutherford’s main role is as Tony, Mae’s lover and boss. Rutherford also busks the West End Girls song (by Pet Shop Boys) on a ukulele, very skillfully.

The whole music and sound effects for the play was brilliant. As Mae got through 150 customers in 36 hours, the supporting cast used various devices to make the sounds on pants going up and down, and condoms being pulled off, and it was a frantic musical cacophony that was comically wonderful.

The play is based on Tate’s memoirs, and was adopted for the stage by Ken Duncum and directed by David O’Donnell. Overall they did a great job of telling the story over two hours.

The first half is on the wonderful blossoming friendship between the 21 year old the naive virgin and the “queen of Soho” prostitute. In the second half, things get more dramatic as tensions arise as Mae goes downhill.

I think this play got everything right – it was a delight to watch and great fun. Wellington is its world premiere – I am confident it will end up being produced in many more cities. Definitely one worth seeing before it closes on 1 September.

John Smythe at Theatreview has reviewed it also, equally positively.

I saw the Beat Girls for the first time in 2010. They were great. So how do you beat the Beat Girls? Simple – you add in Jason (Jay) Chasland.

Chasland was a rock and roll star.  At first glance you might think he is an unlikely star being not very tall and slightly chubby. But my God he was a great performer. He sang and crooned the songs marvelously, and had a real charisma and presence about him. His Ray Charles parody was side sidesplittingly funny. Chasland alone would be worth going to see.

The Beat Girls themselves (Andrea Sanders, Carolyn McLaughlin and Kali Kopae) performed just as well as last time. They have a great combination of singing ability, and facial expressions. You enjoy the music, and laugh out loud at their antics.

The performance is effectively a recital of the life of Phil Spector – from his early genius success through to his conviction for murder. In between numbers, they tell you about his various groups and songs. He may have been a demented misogynistic bastard, but he was a hell of a talented one.

The set was highly effective in its simplicity – dozens and dozens of white paper-lantern lampshades hanging from the ceiling, and three small circular stages they performed from. The costumes fitted the set well, and captured the 60s.

The audience participation in the show was high. Many were laughing every few seconds, and a lot of songs had the audience clapping along. Those seated on the front row were often targeted by the performers, with one woman being pulled onto stage and   well let’s just say it was lots of fun.

They perform a total of 21 songs. There were a few hic-cups, as you often get on opening night, but they were skilled at recovering from them. Kali hit her teeth with the microphone at one stage, and managed to turn it into a gag.

It was a 90 minute performance with a short interval. We stayed around for an hour or so after the show, with the cast mingling with the audience. It was a great night’s entertainment and I just can’t imagine anyone not enjoying the performance, unless they have been genetically modified in some way.

A review by Virginia Kennard at Theatreview is here.

I enjoyed the performance of Sunset Road at Circa on Saturday night.

The play is set in Rotorua, about a Cook Island family who moved there 20 years ago. Dad (Rob Ringiao Lloyd) is the foreman at the local mill, and Mum (Tina Cook) works in a local hotel. Cook especially gave an excellent performance as the caring worried wife trying to help her husband and children through what eventuates.

The other two cast members are the twins Luka (Nathan Mudge) and Lucia (Aroha White). Luke has almost ridiculous Grease type hair, and rides a motorcycle to complement it. Some of his best scenes are on the motorcycle. Mudge also performed well, because I found myself wanting to whack his character for being such a whining selfish prat at times. When you actually start to react emotionally to the character, the actor knows they are doing their job well. Luka also has the nickname Captain Cook Islands, and produly has their flag on the back of his jacket.

White’s Lucia is the balance to her temptous brother. She is the beautiful calming influence. In fact she is competing the next day in Miss Geyserland, and hopes to finally win the crown that could propel her forward.  Her and Luka plan to travel away together, rather than go to Law School – which their father has been saving money towards for many years.

The interactions between the twins is very tactile. I actually started to worry if there would be an unwholesome revelation about their actual relationship. There are some startling revelations, but not of the kind I was thinking. These come out in an explosive scene that tears the family apart.

The play, written and directed by Miria George, is a journey back to 1970s New Zealand. You have the Police, the dawn raids, the Highway 61 gang, the culturally influential beauty contests of the era and a more God faring population. A simple set means we focus on the characters and their interactions.

It was overall an enjoyable play, but not one that gripped me to the same degree as some others. It took a while to set the scene at the beginning.  Also I can’t give too much away, but found the ending a bit anti-climatic. But this doesn’t detract from an enjoyable 100 minute performance where you get engaged with the characters, and wanting to know how it all resolves.

John Smythe at Theatreview has also reviewed the play calling it an “insightful, delightful and powerful drama”.

The last Arthur Miller play I saw was at school – the famous Death of a Salesman.

All My Sons was actually written two years prior, in 1947. It is the play that established Miller as a world class playwright. After having seen so many modern plays, it was refreshing to go to an old classic which is purely about the acting, the set and the script.

Photo by Stephen A’Court

The play is about terrible family secrets. There are ten characters, four of whom are major and six minor. At the heart of the play is Joe and Kate Keller. Joe’s company manufactured some faulty cylinder heads during WWII, which led to the death of 21 pilots. Joe was exonerated, while his business partner and former neighbour Steve Deever was found culpable and remains in prison.

Steve’s daughter, Ann, was engaged to Larry Keller who went MIA over three years ago. She plans to marry his brother Chris Keller.

The tension really starts when Ann’s brother George turns up, now believing his father is innocent and wanting to confront the Kellers about whether he was a fall guy for Joe.

Jeffrey Thomas dominates the play with his portrayal of Joe Keller. Even though you are suspicious of him, you just can not help but like him. He gets you on his side, and you want him just to be happy. Thomas portrays well the moral complexity of his character.

The other star was Emma Kinane playing Kate Thomas. She gets it pitch perfect in teh scene where an angry George is wanting to destroy her family, and she just mothers all the anger out of him by telling him how he looks too skinny, how he needs to eat more, suggesting nice local girls he could go out with. It is a magic performance as you realise that no one could stay angry at such a lovely caring woman. But Kate also has her secrets – and she refuses to believe her son Larry is dead.

Jessica Williams and Richard Dey play the hopeful couple Ann and Chris. They have to put up with a both Kate and George not wanting them to marry. Kate also faces a titanic struggle between loyalty to her family, and to Chris and his family.

The play runs for two and half hours – considerably longer than my normal attention span. But not only did I not notice the time, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the play as events unfolded. You could have heard a pin drop, the audience were so captivated.

The stage is also worth of mention. A wonderful replica of the backside of a 1940s house, and the back lawn. The artificial grass actually went all the way to the first row of seats, which made you feel very close to the action.  The costumes were also spot on, especially the frocks for the ladies.

I went along with Stats Girl, the Ginger Ninja and Chef Girl and all four of us raved about the play. You understand why it has been a success for over 60 years, and the Circa performance of it was first class. I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who likes an old fashioned drama. It will keep you captivated, and deliver a worthy inevitable yet shocking ending.

There is also a review at Theatrereview, which gets into some of the themes running through the play.

Chekov in Hell opens in Circa Two with Anton Chekov in a hospital bed, clearly dying in 1904. A short time later, it is 2012 and a (great) niece of Chekov is informed that her uncle has woken up from a 100 year coma.

Victoria Abbott, as the niece Nicola, gave what I thought was a stunning performance. Her ability to do different accents was phenomenal, and she got the mannerisms spot on. She also has one of the most expressive faces I’ve seen, and could have you in stitches just by the way she pinched her eyes and lips together as the politically correct police officer was reassuring her that they are here to make her feel valued, as they update on the hunt for her uncle.

I did not expect the play to be laugh out loud funny, as it was. I thought it would be more quiet chuckle funny, but there were numerous scenes that had the audience loudly laughing. An example was the poor doctor trying to apologise for letting Chekov escape the hospital, while stressing it was not an official apology as that could open the hospital up to liability, but a non-official personal expression of regrets.

The play was written by Dan Reballato, an English playwright.  It shows how Chekov experiences  reality TV, feng shui, pole dancing, a Russian gangster, smartphones,  sex trafficking, celebrity chefs, British policing and very amusingly Twitter.  The characters are all English (or Russian) but they need no translation for a New Zealand audience.

Director Eleanor Bishop did an excellent job bringing the script to life. It was a very energetic production as characters do not just fade on and off stage, but almost pivot their way off, taking furniture with them. It is at times a very intense experience with the music and lights combining so that you almost share Chekov’s disorientation.

The cast of five all play around 11 characters each (except for the Chekov actor), which must be a huge challenge. This was I think Abbott’s first production at Circa (she only graduated in 2011), but equally worthy of mention was fellow “newbie” Simon Leary who acted with frenetic energy. Both of them are real talents, with a huge future I predict.

Nick Dunbar and Heather O’Connell also played multiple characters with ease, while Jason Whyte was convincing playing Chekov himself – and very much looked the part.

There were a couple of scenes which dragged on a bit for me, and could have been made tighter. But overall I found it a delightful satirical narrative about 21st century London.  Highly recommended.

UPDATE: For those interested, a much more in depth review by John Smythe at Theatreview.

Theatresports is on every Sunday evening at Circa until the 1st of July. It features two teams of Improvisers, who compete against each other to amuse and entertain the audience.

A clapometer gives each team a score out of 10. Audience members provide key details for each round or skit, and the teams get to work.

The first round was very good, with the challenge being to do a rap rhyming with an audience supplied word. They can’t use the same word twice, and it can not be a swear word. Of course the first word suggested was “duck”. I was going to suggest “hunt”. They did really well rhyming on the spot. One team member has to provide the sentence, but leave the last word blank for the rest of the team to fill in, so it is about how obvious the missing word is.

The other rounds varied from mildly funny to incredibly funny. The cricket commentary on a streaker was sublime, as was the ballet about an eight year old’s high jump victory. A couple of the skits didn’t engage that well, and the audience input seemed peripheral. But the vast majority of the skits were hugely enjoyable, and a audience had a great time. It was a nice fun Sunday night’s entertainment.

Also very good was the scene with the puppet who was not allowed to become a Cardinal, and the slide show of Egyptian pickles. The Improvisers body language and contortions can be just as funny as the dialogue.

Stalker Girl reviews History Never Repeats at Circa:

Last night David actually agreed to meet up with me, which is a damn sight easier than my usual game of figuring out his exact location from blog posts and social media snooping.

Dave had invited me to attend The Improvisers performance of their new show “History Never Repeats” at Circa, a family friendly improvised comedy show with a loose focus on the what-could-have-beens of an alternate world history.

In the typical improv comedy fashion audience members were invited to set the scene for portions of the performance, not only proving that, indeed, they were making it up as they went along, but providing for plenty of opportunity for the audience to really feel invested in the show.

Dave’s (slightly) larger than life personality saw him easily slip a few of his “oddly specific” interests  in to the mix, resulting in scenes depicting the late Roman republic. I proffered “Crying Robots”, a theme which I felt the improvisers handled well, giving it all the gravitas and aplomb deserved of a futuristic depiction of sad automatons.

The show did tend to re-visit some of the well worn tropes of Improv Comedy, featuring high-brow themes such as ‘how bad my accent is’ and ‘outdated cultural stereotypes’.

I have to say It was an excellent night.

It was indeed a very enjoyable performance by The Improvisers. The theme of doing different stages in history worked well, as it allowed much mocking of different countries and eras. On our night the eras chosen were Roman (which when they asked what part, I did get specific to general amusement), 801 AD (did Vikings), around 1500s in Japan and late 1800s in Ireland, the present day in Liverpool plus the Flying and Crying Robots of the future.

I always wonder if they used some general routines that they fit into each era, but reading other reviews, it seems it is totally original each night. As well as setting the eras, the audience also sets some other aspects for each era. For the present dat setting, it was “group sex” which was amusing (and done in a cleanish way).

I don’t know the names of the different performers, and annoyingly they are not online either. But the one with the moustache who looks a bit like Lord Petyr Baelish in Game of Thrones was especially good. They all have different strengths, which blend in well together.

In the first half of the show they improvise the various scenes starting from oldest going through to the future. Then during the brief interval, they quickly discuss how to not just finish each scene, but actually link them all together so what happened in the past, affects the future. Then you see each scene from the present back to the past. A simple concept that worked well.

The show is on until Saturday, and is a fun night’s entertainment. Well worth going to.

The third and final play for this weekend was Floral Notes, also at Circa.

Floral Notes was a charming and poignant production. It was a smile silently rather than a laugh out large affair. Probably a play that appeals more to the older theatre-goer, who will relate to the characters and plot. Having said that, I still found it an enjoyable experience.

It is a two woman show, with Geraldine Brophy and Jane Keller playing two former pen pals who resume their correspondence after a forty year break. Brophy plays the widowed Kiwi, whose love of gardening gives the play its name. Her character Rosemary badly misses her dead husband.

Keller play Iris, a wonderfully blunt and sarcastic New Yorker who is twice divorced and in fact still living with her 2nd ex husband and his gay lover! She also has some pain to cope with, but more hidden.

The play is part-musical, with the ever talented Michael Nicholas Williams on the piano. Keller is a professional singer and always a delight to listen to. Brophy’s singing was fine, but up against the strength of Keller, was slightly jarring for me. It’s not that it was in any way bad, but if you have someone great and someone just good singing together, it doesn’t always work. I recall once being at a party where Jim Bolger and Dame Malvina Major sang together on the karaoke - it was umm memorable

I liked the plot, as we discovered why the girls had stopped writing to each other so long ago, and how they started up again. Both Keller and Brophy are larger than life characters who dominate the stage easily. The set kept them physically separate, so you got the sense of their communications.

Like with many plays, it was a mixture of joy and sadness. You smile often at their letters and e-mails, but also share their sadness as events emerge. It was a gentle ending to my weekend of plays.

The play runs until Saturday 28 April.

This weekend has almost become play overload central. I’ve got plays Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Originally I only had A Shortcut to Happiness at Circa on Saturday night, but  then Downstage had the premiere for Live at Six (reviewed here) on the Friday night. Went with DC Girl, and we both thought it was terrific.

Then I suddenly realised I was at Coromandel for Easter and unable to make the premiere of Floral Notes, so shifted that to today. With three plays in one weekend, I was hoping they would all be very good, and so far I’m pleased to say it is two out of two.

The first thing you notice in entering Circa One is the stage set up as a typical NZ hall. It looks the part absolutely with the chairs, and the little sliding doors into the kitchen with the zip. The other half of the stage is a lounge in the home of Ned. The two sets are back to back on a rotating floor, which makes the set changes very easy.

A Shortcut to Happiness is a Roger Hall play. Now I’m not saying that this guarantees it will be a good play, but let’s just say I’ve yet to discover a Roger Hall play I didn’t enjoy. It is not by coincidence he is arguably New Zealand’s most successful playwrights. The play started with a tribute to Grant Tilly who died this week. Tilly was one of the founders of Circa, and had worked with Hall and others since the 1970s.

The two principal characters are Natasha and Ned, played by Elena Stejko and Peter Hayden. Natasha is a Russian immigrant who makes money cleaning and teaching dancing while trying to improve her English so she can become a music teacher. Ned is a widowed retired accountant who turns up to her classes.

Hall provides plenty of laughs as Natasha attempts and often gets wrong common Kiwi phrases, such as “from the bottom of my heart” being “from my bottom to my heart”.  Stejko is from the Ukraine, so playing a Russian immigrant is natural for her. From my experience of Eastern European women, she captures the characteristics wonderfully, including I have to say their beauty. When she changes from her dancing clothes into her cleaning clothes, the transformation is amazing. Even Glee Girl, who went with me, commented that she had the most incredible legs.

But the play is not just about Ned and Natasha. The rest of the dance lessons group provide great laughs. Jane Waddell portrays Coral the middle aged man-eater who also has designs on Ned. You also have the golf buddies Janet and Laura, and the young Sebastian who charms all the ladies, causes much tensions also.

But by far the funniest couple had to be Bev and Ray, played by Carmel McGlone and Tim Gordon. Bev is an uptight organic food eating University of the Third Age student, and Ray her hen pecked husband. McGlone is simply a comic genius – not with what she says, but her facial expressions and body language. Her performance alone is worth seeing the play for.

The play (including interval) is two and a half hours long, which is normally past my comfort zone. I generally prefer 90 – 110 minute plays. But it is a sign of how enjoyable the play was, that I never got restless. The plot advanced at a steady pace, and you were eager to see how it all works out.

It was Glee Girl’s first play in Wellington, and she also thought it was a great performance. I can’t think of too many people who wouldn’t enjoy it. It runs at Circa until 26 May.

UPDATE: I forgot the funniest line of the play. During an argument, Natasha challenges Ned saying “Don’t you hope I will sleep with you”, and his response was “Well yes, but only in the sense that I also hope I will win Lotto”. It was hilarious.

Peninsula grabbed my interest from the opening scene, and never lost it. The production at Circa was brilliant, and excelled in every way.

Peninsula is the story of 10 year old Michael, growing up in Duvauchelle in Banks Peninsula in 1963. The play captures both the magic of childhood, but also the feel of growing up in rural New Zealand in the 1960s. There were many parts of the play which I could relate to, and brought back memories of childhood.

There are five actors. The opening scene has them as four kids and their new teacher. Michael (Paul McLaughlin) and Ngaire (Laura Hill) are brother and sister, and capture the sibling dynamic so well.  Alex (Phil Vaughan) is Michael’s best friend and Lynette is the class know it all (Michele Amas). Their new teacher is Mr MacIntosh (Jason Whyte) who manages to get the kids, especially Michael, interested in science.

However each actor plays two roles, and the way they seamlessly go from one character to another is part of what makes the play so great. The director has done a magnificent job with making the transitions work.

Vaughan and Amas also play the parents of Michael and Ngaire, and McLaughin and Hill play the parents of Alex. Whyte’s second role is that of Pug the dog, and he really is comic genius in that role.

The set is simple but effective. Four school chairs, and two telephones on poles. Unheard but important is the post office operator who listens in to some of the calls and gossips about them. A screen is used a couple of times to show a pinhole camera in operation (again, brings back memories) and sound effects are deployed occassionally to good impact.

The major plot is about Michael wanting to investigate and map everywhere he goes, and how Mr MacIntosh has fuelled his love for science. The Christchurch science affair awaits.

I won’t give the plot away, but sadly it is not all plain sailing. Without being preachy, the play manages to touch on issues of bullying, of infidelity, of domestic violence and also of historic small town attitudes and prejudice. It doesn’t do this in a preachy way at all, but as part of a well told tale.  The play is lots of laughs, but there are also moments of real sadness, and even a bit of uncomfortableness.

All five actors did a great job bringing their dual characters to life. Michelle Amas was a very convincing know it all kid, but equally good as the satay at home mother who gossips and worries over her kid.   Laura Hill was superb as the bratty sister, and captured the mannerisms as if she really was a school kid. Hill also showed emotional depth with her adult character, as you could almost see the restrained sadness in her eyes.

Phil Vaughan’s child and adult characters were somewhat similar - both very cheeky and relaxed. Paul McLaughlin had the difficult role of Michael, portraying the nice wanting to learn kid who then changes as events transpire. And as previously mentioned Jason Whyte was comically funny as Pug and also excellent as the quiet, dignified teacher.

One of the best plays I’ve been to. It was a very New Zealand play, and all aspects of it clicked so well together to make it a brilliant experience.

Went along to Circa during the week to see Meeting Karpovsky with Apple Girl. The blurb for the show is:

Sylvia used to travel the world and its famous ballet theatres. Now she spends time alone in her wisteria covered attic filled with her daughter’s unwanted possessions and photographs of her favourite ballet dancer, Alexander Karpovsky – she has seen him dance 127 times. One day the silent Karpovsky mysteriously appears and begins to teach the stumbling Sylvia to dance…and to live.

Sir Jon Trimmer plays Karpovsky and he effortlessly dominates the stage. The fact he does it, despite only one word of dialogue, is a tribute to his acting and dancing.

Helen Moulder also excels as Sylvia. It takes a special skill to be able to pretend you can’t dance, when you can. Both Moulder and Trimmer give performances impossible to criticise.

The set is an essential part of the play. Proudly displayed in her attic are paintings of her silent companions – Petrouchka, Widow Simone, Albrecht & Giselle and Herr Drosselmeyer - all of them being the great Karpovsky. Also are boxes and boxes of her daughter’s unwanted belongings.

Sylvia is stuck between reality and fantasy, and you can sense there is some reason she has ended up that way. Karpovsky leads her down a path of self-realisation, to a point where she can accept the real world.

While the acting and dancing, set and lighting were all excellent, overall the play though didn’t quite resonate with me. While enjoyable to watch, I didn’t feel any emotional grip, and the “secret” of the finale was all too obvious. I just didn’t quite find there to be enough of a plot to dig into. However the play won many awards and plaudits the first time around, so others have had a much better experience with it – I suspect my lack of knowledge of ballet disadvantaged me.

There’s two great reasons to go to Circa at the moment. In Circa One they are staging The Motor Camp for a repeat season. But if you have already seen that, then you can see Esencia del Flamenco in Circa Two.

I attended last night along with Stalker Girl and the performance put on by the Desde Sevilla Flamenco Dance Company, is captivating and engaging.

The first half is very serious – the Cry of Spain, about the Spanish Civil War. Five stern faced dancers do a wonderfully timed routine, supported by singer Christina Gomez and guitarist Paul Bosauder, both from Barcelona. Also in support are a couple of percussionists.

If you like great dance and music, you’ll love Esencia del Flamenco. There is a great contrast between the serious dancing of the first half and then the Fiesta Flamenca in the second half where the smiles light up the theatre as they dance and sing up a storm.

We had a very engaged audience, and you could see some of the audience almost wanted to jump onto the stage and join in.

We both thought it was a great performance, and I’m really glad I went along. I am never sure if I am going to enjoy a performance if it isn’t my traditional comedic or dramatic play, but Circa has been great at helping me discover a much wider range of performance to enjoy.

Highly recommended if you enjoy song and dance. Also would be a very good event to take a date to!

Went to Aladdin, a pantomime by Roger Hall, at Circa on Sunday afternoon with Auckland Girl.

It is very very hard not to enjoy a good pantomime and very hard not to enjoy a Roger Hall play so when you get the two of them combined, the outcome is no surprise -it was a rollicking good time.

Once again the star of the show is Gavin Rutherford, who seems to specialise in dressing up as sex starved middle aged woman, and yes that is a compliment. He excelled as Widow Twankey who runs a laundrey with Hanky and Panky. her son is Aladdin.

Aladdin wants to marry Princess Jasmine, but the evil Abanazar also covets her, and it is a crime for anyone to view her unless they marry her, and to marry her you need to be very wealthy.

Nick Dunbar makes a marvelous villain as Abanazar and also doubles as the Sultan. His sidekick is the demon Kebab.

Photo by Stephan A’Court

Jessica Robinson fits the role of the beautiful Princess Jasmine, and has a wonderfully strong singing voice.

A surprise highlight though was the genie, played by Lyndee-Jane Rutherford. She is basically a Jewish genie, and it is comic genius. The accent is wonderful.

As usual, Michael Nicholas-Williams provides excellent music, and the fourth wall to him is broken a couple of times to good comic effect.

The play was non-stop laughs, and great audience interaction. Sit in the front row at your peril. And no matter where you sit, you’ll be helping chant “Oh yes it is”. And the kiddies get to go up on stage for one of the routines. It’s all great fun for people of any age.

Two minor issues. The total time at 2 hours 10 may be a bit challenging for very young kids. Personally I was fine with it, as there was plenty of laughs and action, but with the interval allow two and a half hours. The second issue was that at first it reminded me a bit too much of last year’s panty – Robin Hood. I guess this was natural with many of the cast the same, and the same director. To be fair, the similarities were just in the initial stages, and as it developed it formed its own special feel.

Definitely highly recommended as a fun show, for old and young.

I saw He Reo Aroha on Wednesday night at Circa. It’s a Kiwi love story. I’m not a big love story kind of person so wasn’t sure if it would be my thing. And for the first 20 minutes or so my doubts remained. But as the play went on, I got more and more caught up with the characters and more and more wanted to see how it would end – who would die, who would live, and would it be happy ever after.

The two actors were Kali Kopae and Jamie McCaskill. Kopae is an amazing singer, whom I had seen before as one of the Beatgirls. I had also seen McCaskill previously as the titled role in Robin Hood.

Not only were they both great singers and actors, but they had real chemistry together. Kopae played Kaia a young Maori girl who left behind her childhood sweetheart to hit the big time in New York as a singer. However her career doesn’t fill the ache in her heart.

McCaskill plays Pascoe. Like Kaia he can sing, but his duty is to help his father on the fishing boats. Eventually he gains his own boat as he throws himself into his fishing career, to fill the void left by Kaia.

Eventually Kaia returns to New Zealand to try and rekindle the relationship. But it isn’t that easy of course. There’s rough seas (literally and figuratively) ahead and tragedy.

What I liked about the play is it isn’t just a love story, but very much a New Zealand love story. The accents, the mannerisms, the shyness, the job in the packing factory, the fishing all ground the story firmly as a Maori and New Zealand one.

The show lasts for 75 minutes and runs until next Friday (30th). Both myself and Contractor Girl thought it was excellent and enjoyed the experience.

Just got back from watching Four Flat Whites in Italy at Circa.

I was expecting it to be highly enjoyable for two reasons. The first is that it is a Roger Hall play. The second is that it first was staged a few years ago, and lots of my friends saw it and raved about it.

It didn’t disappoint. Roger Hall has a gift for not just writing funny comedies, but comedies that reflect Kiwi life and mannerisms. You see so much of yourself reflected in the characters on stage. In fact the friend who attended with me, was unerringly similar on holidays to Alison the Librarian.

There were six characters. Adrian and Alison were one couple, played by Stuart Devenie and Darien Takle. They are a couple of retired librarians and the trip to Italy is their once in a lifetime adventure. By adventure, they mean art galleries and cathedrals.

Their best friends are unable to make it, so they go with their new neighbours – Harry and Judy, played by Tim Gordon and Vivien Bell. They are far more into late mornings and doing as little as possible on holiday.

The play is similar to The Motor Camp, with most of the humour coming from two mismatched couples – one uptight and one free spirited. There is also a degree of dark secrets and sexual tension to keep things interesting.

The dark secret is revealed fairly early on. I won’t reveal it here, but will note that four of the plays I have seen in the last two years at Circa have all had much the same dark secret. It would be nice to have a greater variety of dark secrets in play.

Stuart Devenie also acts as a narrator for the play, often narrating what has happened to the audience, on top of his dialogue. He was the start of the show for me, with his numerous asides and his wonderful array of facial expressions.

Also worth of mention are Simon Vincent and Heather O’Carroll who play a variety of Italian roles from a photo touting Roman legionary at the Coliseum to a Count and Contessa who own a villa the families stay at. A very funny joke in the script about how it is only Australians and New Zealanders who make jokes about spelling Count with an O.

The play is quite long at 140 minutes, but has an interval. However it is never boring. The laughs are pretty much non stop, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable play. Kudos should also go to the set designer, especially for the pop up car.