The occasion was a farewell dinner with Auckland Girl who is returning to Auckland.

I was interested to see whether MariLuca could keep up the excellent food and service that was a trademark of Maria Pia’s.

For the wine, we went with a bottle of Gavi  D.o.c.g. Duca di Aleramo 2010 Piemonte. At $42 a bottle it was very reasonable priced and a very good match to the pasta. So good, we had a second bottle. Very helpful that the wine list suggested foods it would match.

My entree was the Grigliata Impanata di Pesce, which was grilled prawn, squid, scallops and mussels in herbed bread crumbs. It was very tasty, and I had no complaints. 7.5/10. Auckland Girl had cockles, which were also delicious.

My main was the Pappardelle  con Anatra, which was with braised duck sauce. It was quite simply magnificent. The pasta was home crafted, and the duck was exquisite. A 9/10 easily.  Auckland Girl chose the gnocchi, which was also lovely.

My dessert (which I normally skip, but was a special occasion) was the gelato. Hard to get a bad gelato, and this one certainly wasn’t. AG went for the tiramisu, and from the sound of her groans of satisfaction, it was also very good. 8/10 for the desserts.

After dessert we had a port and a cognac. The service during the night was excellent and classy. The waitress (from Argentina) knew all the essentials such as how to properly pour wine, and was very friendly, but professional. The owner topped off the night by offering us a couple of lemoncellos on the house. I give the service a 9/10 also.

The overall bill was around $200, which for four excellent courses and two bottles of wine is very reasonable. A definite recommendation to those who want a classy night out, without paying the earth.

During the dinner, AG and I had fun playing Sherlock Holmes and trying to work out the backgrounds of all the other diners based on observation only. Our conclusions were:

1. A table of two older men, and an older woman. Conclusion was a businesswoman out with her husband a a business colleague.
2. A table of a young man dressed casually, a blond young woman in business dress and older woman. After considering they were a couple we decided they were brother and sister as they had no body language between them. Also he was dressed too casually for a date, and she had relatively little makeup on. The older woman was their mother, whom we suspect was from out of town, and this was her treat for them. Out detective skills were proven correct when at the end we heard her refer to them as her offspring.
3. A man and woman in their 40s. Had one course only. Conclusion was a local Thorndon couple and this is their regular.
4. Two men and two women, with one of each in their 40s and 50s. The men we decided worked together, and were out with their respective wives.
5. A young asian woman and a slightly older ginga. She gave him a card. Our conclusion is she is a law student and he is probably her tutor and boyfriend.
6. A man and woman in their late 30s. She was wearing an orange dress. Based on the dress we decided they were from Lower Hutt. They took 30 minutes to decide what to order, so were obviously not locals. Obviously a special dinner out, so I think it was an anniversary dinner treat for them.

We also discussed what people would probably guess we are, if they were doing the guesswork on us, we had done on them. We figured their guess on us would be a couple who had met over the Internet and were on their first date

Anyway, back to the restaurant, definitely has kept up the good standards of its predecessor, and a restaurant worth returning to.

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!

The Fork & Brewer is on Bond Street. The location used to be home to Syn & Hell Pizza, the Ruby Lounge and the Loaded Hog before that. I also recall it being the Bond Street Inn. You go up the stairs to be greeted with …

At present these are decorative, but in the near future they will in fact start to brew their own labels in-house.

On the good Wellington days, you can sit outside on the balcony and look down on all the worker ants scurrying up and down Victoria and Bond Streets.

I love their bar. The interior is quite large, and the bar forms a barrel almost the entire 360 degrees. The decor is cool with all the gadgets displayed on the wall, but what is most excellent is the 43 different beers they have on tap – almost all New Zealand independent and craft beers.

This is a bar made for beer lovers, owned by beer lovers. You can see their full range of beers here.

The food is great – much better than normal pub or bar fare. Not just my view, but also the Dine Out reviewers. I can only rave about the chicken wings – they are delicious, and you get a huge number too.

In keeping with their love of beer, they have matched beers to each menu item, as you can see above. You can see their menu here.

And as the final temptation to turn the Fork & Brewer into my mobile office, they have a power hot-point at every booth, so you can plug your laptop in.

All up, a highly recommended venue for drink and food. I plan to go there often.

If Jimmy Carter had Alzheimer’s, would they be making films of him as an old confused man, babbling about the SALT treaty. No chance at all.

Don’t get me wrong, once someone is dead, any portrayal of their life should be warts and all, and include their twilight years when their mental facilities were not what they once were. But my views were that such a film should not be made when the subject is still alive. And I still believe the film was premature.

But something wonderful happened with this film, despite the suspect motives of those behind it. Meryl Streep brought Margaret Thatcher to life, in a way I would not have thought possible. She made her strong, she made her powerful, she made her sad, she made her obstinate, she made her defiant, she made her out of touch, she made her lonely and most of all she made her human – not just a caricature.

If Streep does not win an Oscar for her performance, then there is something seriously wrong. It was a stunning performance by her. She looked and sounded absolutely convincing. Alexandra Roach as the younger Margaret also performed wonderfully.

The film is an emotional one. Yes, I got wet eyes at times. It was a very sad story, but also a very uplifting one at times. It is effectively a series of flashbacks of the present day Lady Thatcher thinking through her life from working in her father’s grocery store, to getting involved in politics, standing for Parliament, becoming Leader and then Prime Minister plus the highs and lows of her time in office with her eventual resignation 11 and a half years on.

The present day Lady Thatcher is obviously suffering from Alzheimer’s. In the main, they capture this remarkably accurately and with sensitivity. A good example is how she slips out of the house to buy some milk as she needs some for breakfast, and this sparks a major panic amongst her staff and Police. From her point of view of course she is capable of going to the dairy. But from their point of view they are worried that if she has a forgetful spell when out, she’ll get confused and may wonder anywhere.

They accurately showed that she was still somewhat active – signing books, the odd public outing – but also obviously frail. The big plot element was that her dead husband Denis always appeared to her as a ghost, and she was often seen talking to him to the dismay of her minders.

They over-played the ghost of Denis angle, but it was still quite endearing. They captured his charm very well, and there is no doubt she terribly misses him. Anyone who has lost a partner of 50+ years would understand.

On the political side, they got it absolutely right. People forget what a massive achievement it was for her to become leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. This was a time when few few women were in politics, and she battled to be accepted every step of the way. You just wanted to punch some of those patronising old men.

They showed her at her best when talking about doing what is right, not what is popular. Absolutely inspiring. And the scene where she verbally lashes the US Secretary of State for suggesting they negotiate (she called it surrender) to the Argentinians was superb – especially how then suddenly she goes all lovely and asks if she should play mother and pour the tea. The Americans are all pale white at this stage.

The film though is definitely not a sycophantic account. They show the hatred, and the protests. They show her unwillingness to bend on the poll tax and they show the humiliating way she treated some of her cabinet colleagues such as Lord Howe – which led to her downfall. They subtly made Heseltine out to be a type of rodent, which was excellent.

Finally the ending was spot on. In her hallucinations she has finally let Denis move on and he is seen walking down the corridor away from her with his bags packed. She cries out for him not to leave her alone, and he replies that he isn’t – that she has always been alone.

And that gets to the crux of Thatcher – she fought battles all her life – and generally she did fight alone. It was a lonely life, and in her end years an even lonelier existence. You feel both sorry for her and (if not a hater of her) inspired by her.

As I said, I was prejudiced against the film before I saw it. But as I saw reviews come out from the likes of Boris Johnson describing how well it captured Thatcher, I started to look forward more to the film. And Boris was right – it did capture her so well, warts and all. I still don’t like the timing of the film, but Meryl Streep especially made the film a magnificent portrayal of her life.

Incidentally I saw the film at the Shoreline Cinema in Waikanae. It’s a lovely little cinema with two rooms. Room 1 which we were in seats 40, but on two seater couches which were very cool. They also have room for wine or food in the spaces between each couch.

The plot does deviate quite a bit from the book or books, but that didn’t matter to me. When it comes to Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter I object to plot changes in film versions – but with Tintin it didn’t matter as it is really about the wonderful characters.

Tintin is the name of the lead, but as with the books not the real star. That is a toss up between Caption Haddock and Snowy.

They made good use of 3D, and had some great action sequences. The chase sequence with the bird (and the papers) was very well done. My favourite though was the swordfight with the cranes.

Snowy adds the same comic tough as in the books. His sandwich tug or war with the rat is good fun, but most of all I love how he intimidates the much larger guard dog into becoming his plaything.

If you are a Tintin fan, go see the movie.

Tintin and Asterix were the two series of books I grew up on the most. We had every book, and could read them often. Every kid should have them.

I just hope that one day someone can make just as good an Asterix movie. The ones to date have been pretty crap.

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.

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.

The play was hilarious. It would be near impossible not to enjoy it. It’s rated R16, and certainly not one to take the kids to.

Let’s start with the three “Cheer Blacks”. Lucy (left) played by Claire van Beek is the first Cheer Black you meet. From the beginning she doesn’t seem quite right, and why does she have an ankle bracelet? You learn that when she develops a crush, boy does she develop a crush. In fact one could label her love as being of the psychotic variety.

van Beek is marvellous playing Lucy. She has perfected the art of the naughty satisfied grin as she is doing something inappropriate. She really brings her character to life.

Lucy is recruited by Jessica (not Jess) to join the Cheer Blacks. Jessica is 40 going on 28. She refuses to accept her age, despite having a teenage daughter. Her life ambition is to bed All Black hero Tane, and her route to achieve this is to have the Cheer Blacks attend the Rugby World Cup in Dubai in 2015. Amy Waller plays Jessica (and is also the playwright) and will let nothing stand in her way.

The third member of the trio is Dakota played by Julia Hyde. Dakota is the relatively normal, or even sane, one. Her burden in life is being Jessica’s daughter.

I read in the notes for the show that the original intention was to have it portray cheerleaders as noble beings, but in the end they found it too hard so went for funny, bitchy and dark. I’m glad they did, because the combination works.

My favourite line of dialogue was

He was hurting you

No he wasn’t

He was hurting you with his penis!

As we all the acting, the Cheer Blacks also well, cheer. They perform a number of funny, energetic routines to great applause from the audience.

This play is more than just a series of laughs though. Yes the dialogue is hilarious, but the acting, the choreography, the subtle and not so subtle hints all combine brilliantly.

Death by Cheerleader is on until Saturday 24 September only. If you have a spare hour between now and then, go along – it’s a load of laughs, and very decently priced (even if you don’t get review tickets).

Now if you don’t know who George Nepia is you’re probably not one of those watching the Rugby World Cup. Nepia played for NZ is both rugby union and league. He is most remembered for playing all 32 games on the 1924 of the UK, and the All Blacks winning all 32 games, leading to their nickname of “The Invincibles”.

They beat Ireland 6-0, Wales 19-0, England 17-11 and France 30-6. Nepia was aged only 19, and his auto-biography on which the play is based revealed his doubts on the boat over whether he could live up to such legends as the Brownlie brothers.

He did. Some called him the first global superstar of rugby. Some say he remains the best fullback in history. The South African Rugby Union made him a Vice-President for life in in Wales just before his death, he got a a standing ovation from 30,000 Welsh in Swansea.

The play was written by Hone Kouka and Jarod Rawiri played Nepia. He was an inspired choice, both with a certain physical resemblance, but also with his ability to capture the emotions of Nepia.

Rawiri plays both the older Nepia (in fact technically the dead Nepia) and the younger Nepia. He takes you through not just the rugby tour but the story of his life.

Director Jason Te Kare turned the script into a moving play. The story flowed nicely, and the play was almost too short at just 75 minutes.

This won’t be a play for everyone. It’s not a comedy or a thriller. If you have never heard of George Nepia, then it might not be something that works for you. But if you have heard of the invincible George Nepia, and want to see a good portrayal of the man behind the rugby player, then you’ve got six days left to do so.

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.

This was the supreme award winner. Photos from Stuff.

The winner of the illumination section.

This lobster outfit was one of my favourites.

Until you have been to a WOW show, you don’t realise how much more than just a fashion show it is. The dancing, the singing, the sets all contribute to a great night just as much as the outfits and models do. It is a real show, in the full sense of the word.

The events centre gets very hot, and it is a long show, so the best investment you can make is a bottle of water to hydrate yourself during the show.

The first things that strikes you is the set. There are around 40 tall ladders on stage. And somehow they are not leaning against anything, making you wonder what keeps them up. Eventually you work out they are bolted to each other, so they are like a big frame. My mind did start recalling college physics and wondering how much weight would be needed on which ladder to make the whole thing collapse!

While the ladders were not an integral part of the play, for me they worked. It allowed Laurel Devenie’s character of Mary Ann Martin to emphasise her pleasure or distress as she went up or down the ladders.

So who is Mary Ann Martin, and why is there a play about her? She came to New Zealand at the age of 25 in 1842, following her husband William Martin who came out in 1841 to be the first Chief Justice of New Zealand. In fact at the time, the only Justice of New Zealand.

The play has a strongly political theme, as did Martin’s actual life. When she first came to New Zealand she saw Maori as savages to be converted to Christianity and became well regarded by many Maori due to the hospital she set up. But over time the friendly relations with Maori frayed and eventually severed, with the focal point in the play being the son of a Maori chief she fostered as her own.

The land wars of the 1860s severed the Martins not just from Maoridom, but also from most of their European friends, as they though the actions of the then Government was unjust and provocative.

Now some may read this and think the play is just a politically correct rewriting of history which portrays Maori as all good, and settlers as all bad. It doesn’t. The play is based on the actual history of that period, and primarily the book “Our Maoris” written by Mary Ann Martin. It is worth reflecting that the actions of the Government in the 1860s was judged harshly not just by today’s standards, but at the time by the first Chief Justice and his wife.  If you want a short summary of the Taranaki war, Wikipedia has one.

But despite the political overtone, this was not a play about Maori v Pakeha. It was a play about one woman, and her journey. A sole actor play is always a challenge, but I have to say Laurel Devenie not just rose to the challenge, but mastered it. Her performance was so outstanding that she got a rare standing ovation from most of the audience. That’s the first play I’ve attended in some years where that has happened.

The back story to the play is interesting:

She called her book Our Maoris, which today seems a patronising and anachronistic title.

But as director Colin McColl points out, language is fluid and when Lady Martin used the term it was with affection and respect.

Now she has made the journey from book to stage courtesy of playwright/actor Arthur Meek who found a copy of Our Maoris at a second-hand bookstall a couple of summers back.

Meek says its provocative title coupled with its cover picture of “the most depressed looking kuia ever” meant he had to buy it. He expected it would be a dry and possibly depressing read, but instead he found an uplifting story which revealed one of the great pioneers of our colonial history.

Arthur Meek succeeded in turning the book into a play which is equally uplifting.

We got there a bit early and nabbed one of the nice big leather couches to have a drink or two on. We then realised one could also view the show from them, so stayed happily ensconced for the evening.

The show lasted for around two hours, and it was a great fun evening.

Filler is born in New Zealand, but has spent much of her life and career in New York, and more recently in Canada. She does a mixture of stand up comedy, story telling and also is a very fine singer and guitar player.

Filler is Jewish, and her parents and grandparents fled the Nazis (as my family did) in 1938. She does Jewish humour as only Jews can do – wonderfully self-deprecating. The laughter was non stop at times.

She also had some great stories to tell – the ones about Leonard Cohen and Leonard Bernstein were especially memorable.

My favourite part of the show was when she went played many of the theme songs of the 1950s and 1960s TV shows. Most of the audience recognised them within a few beats, and many joined in singing the lyrics. It was a great night for audience participation.

She is playing again on Saturday and Sunday night at the Fringe Bar. A very pleasant and enjoyable evening out, if you can make it. It is easy to see how she became such an international success.

Eight is a play of six monologues, at Circa. Six you ask, not eight? Why? Well because you can vote before your show on which six of the eight monologues you want to see.

On Sunday I got to see Millie, Danny, Bobby, Astrid, Miles and Jude – and hence not Mona and Andre.

The four actors – Chelsea Bognuda, Jonathan Kenyon, Jessica Robinson and Paul Waggott play two characters each. Also several of them appear as props in other scenes.

I enjoyed the show. My favourite monologue was Astrid arrives home early in the morning with torn stockings etc looking like she has had a good night out. She has – too good a night in that she scored – and struggles with whether to tell her boyfriend asleep in the bed what happened.

Also very powerful was Miles – the Merrill Lynch trader who got caught up in the 7/7 bombings in London, and used them as a way to escape his normal life for a couple of years.

The characters are all English, or in one case an American in England. But they are all characters Kiwis can relate to – either from our own experiences, or from good TV dramas.

The actors did a very good job of making their characters real. You could relate to them, and always the sign of a good monologue is that often I was disappointed they finished so quickly (around 13 minutes each).

At times though I did struggle a bit with how they all fitted together. They were individually all very good, but it was only when I read the writer’s note that I saw they were all meant to be about “growing up in a world in which the central value system is based on an ethic of commercial, aesthetic and excess” which leads to a generation who are apathetic and have lost belief in themselves and the world around them.

When I posted recently on the All Blacks test I was at, a reader called me a Steve Tew rugby fan. By that he meant someone who enjoys the game, but is not overly skilled in interpreting what is happening. I thought it a fair critique, and to some degree that applies to me with plays also.

I greatly enjoy going to the theatre and love good humour, or terrifying suspense, or experiencing emotional roller coasters. But I fear all too often I miss some of the “meta data” or hidden messages which expert theatre goers can observe and analyse.

So I guess my reviews are what one might call the “Average Joe” perspective. From that perspective I definitely enjoyed “Eight”, and seeing a talented bunch of actors pull off their monologues. However I didn’t really pick up on the common theme running through them, but that may well be more my failing, than anyone else’s.

After watching the When the Rain Stops Falling at Circa on Saturday night, I searched for more info on it, and was not at all surprised to find that Time Magazine declared it the best new play of the year in 2010.

The playwright, Australian Andrew Bovell, produced a first class award winning script. The director and cast matched the script with a superb performance. The play is like a jigsaw as seemingly disconnected aspects suddenly connect up together. The most shocking connection hits you like a bolt of thunder – I only worked it out a few minutes before it was made explicit.

The programme on your seat helpfully includes a family tree, and a list of the five settings of the play. I recommend you get there a bit early so you have time to read and re-read these. It really helps you follow the play.

The four time settings of the play are 1960s, 1988, 2013 and 2039. It jumps from one period to another in a way which is puzzling at first, but dramatically works wonderfully well, as pieces of the jigsaw start to fall into place.

Another feature of the play, is that two of the characters have a younger and older version. You wonder at first what turned such a happy young woman into a sad despairing alcoholic, but again over time, the answer is revealed. And you get some especially poignant scenes as the older version of the character silently observes the younger version receiving some bad news.

(photo by Stephen A’Court)

Sophie Hambleton played a young Australian girl, Gabrielle York, perfectly. The accent, the attitude were all there, and especially the stoic reserve as she copes with tragedy after tragedy.

Jason Whyte was also superb in his dual roles as Henry Law and Henry’s grandson Gabriel York. Whyte managed to make Henry Law a somewhat compassionate character, whom you feel sorry for – and that is no mean feat when the story fully unfolds.

While the play does have a lot of sadness, and some shocking events, there is an ending which puts aside all the sadness, and reminds us of the importance of family – no matter how flawed they may be

This play was one of the most compelling, memorable and moving plays I have seen. It was simply exceptional.

• In the “limbo” scene they don’t mention that the reason Harry sort of survived is because part of him was living in Voldemort, as well as part of Voldemort being in him. No explanation given for how Harry survived.
• Having Harry spring to life in front of everyone was naff, leading to an silly chase scene between him and Voldemort like some B grade action flick – especially the wrestling each other off the tower.
• The whole point of Harry going invisible and staying presumed dead is so that his friends fighting on is even more heroic – they would rather die fighting than surrender to tyranny.
• The Molly Weasley v Bellatrix Lestrange scene failed to capture it as well as the book. Lestrange is second only to Voldermort in power on the evil side. In the book they describe her fighting three female wizards at once, to get across how formidable she is. That makes it all the more powerful when Molly Weasley charges in seeing Ginny at risk, and kills her after being taunted over her son’s death.
• Likewise in the book Harry shows himself only when Voldemort is about to kill Molly for killing Bellatrix. And in the book almost all other fighting stops to watch the final battle between the two main characters. In the film due to their silly brawl they are fighting outside, with almost no witnesses or sense of majesty.

The annoying thing about all the deviations is they were not necessary. J K Rowling write the final scenes perfectly for a movie. They did not need any change or editing. The changes they did, were not about making it shorter – we’re talking a few minutes only. It was just that they failed to get that emotional climax that Rowling did in the book.

So if you have seen the other movies, go see this one. But it was not a worthy ending to the most popular books and films in history. I guess it shows the difference between a genius producer/director like Peter Jackson who can take a hugely complicated plot, and still produce a stunning film, and other producers and directors who make a technically proficient film, but not a glorious film.

The concept of the show is fascinating. There are two characters only. One, a hypnotist is played by Tim Spite. He was also the driver of a car which killed the daughter of the other actor.

The other character is played by a different person each night. For the next week, the guest actors are:

• Tue 19 July – Miranda Harcourt
• Wed 20 July – Paul McLaughlin
• Thu 21 July – Martyn Wood
• Fri 22 July – Jason Whyte
• Sat 23 July – Heather O’Carroll
• Sun 24 July – Phil Grieve

Now here is why they use a different actor each night. The actor does not know the script in advance. All they know is the broad concept.

This is not a improvised show. The guest actor does not have to make their script up. They just get it delivered a few words at a time. Sometimes Spite, as the hyponotist, will tell them what to say. Sometimes they’ll be handed a piece of paper with the next few lines on it.

On Wednesday the guest actor was Jessica Robinson. It was great observing her, as she had to act out scenes with just seconds to think. While she gets given the words, you have to come up with the facial expressions and body language to match. It must be one of the more challenging things you can do as an actor, and Robinson did it very well. Spite, as always, was masterful.

The show only runs for 70 minutes, and the time seems to run by, which is always the sign of a good show. You spend half the time just enjoying the challenge of the guest actor repeating their lines, and half the time soaking up the emotions as the two characters confront each other.

I enjoyed it greatly, and almost want to go back for a second night, to see how a different guest actor would go. I’d especially love to see Miranda Harcourt play the part.

I mentioned the function and the book on The Panel prior to the function and was amused that it seems half the people at the reception heard me mention it. Shows how strong Radio NZ is in Wellington.

Readers may recall I visited Iran in 2009, hence my invite to the launch. Like Jill, I found it a wonderful country, nothing like what one might expect. The people are wonderfully friendly and hospitable, and the sights are magnificent. If it is shame that so few New Zealanders travel to Iran (under 100 a year probably).

I’m definitely going to return one day, and recommend those curious abaout it read Jill’s book.

Next time I visit, I plan to stay for at least two weeks. There is so much to see.

I actually have a current wireless printer – the Brother MFC-255CW. I do not have a desktop PC, so wanted a wireless printer so I don’t need to plus the laptop into a cable everytime I want to print. The Brother isn’t bad, but has been a bit frustrating as my firewall software often blocks printing to it. Also you can only print to it, when connected to the same wireless network.

So I said I would get the HP e-printer a try. A big box turned up a couple of days later and I unpacked it. The instruction manual was missing for it, but that actually proved sort of useful as it tested me on whether I could get it to work, without needing to RTFM.

Setup was pretty simple. A couple of the parts needed some firm encouragement to fit into each other, but overall nothing too difficult. Then after one has tested the physical printing, it was time for seeing how it prints wirelessly. To connect it up, you just detect your wireless router connection, and connect to it with the password. Again, pretty simple.

Then I discovered the key difference with my current wireless printer. The Brother requires you to then install the drivers and software on your laptop, so you can print to it. The HP e-printer actually has a unique e-mail address assigned to it – at an HP domain. So all you have to do is e-mail the photo or document to that e-mail address.

I e-mailed a letter from my laptop to its e-mail address. Started printing within seconds. Did the same with a photo from my iPad. Now this is a photo printer so it comes with a postcard sized printer tray, and 100 or so photo cards. It automatically printed the photos onto the photo card.

The one negative was that the colour settings seemed a bit out – the prints were red tinged. I’m sure it is solvable, but was noticeable.

Back to the iPad, it really does work well with them. Because once it has printed once to the e-printer, then the printer is listed on the iPad as a printer. So from then on, you can use the print rather than e-mail function.

The really good thing about it, is you don’t have to physically be at home to print to it. I tried printing a photo from the iPad from town – it was waiting for me when I got back. This means I can have a quick glance at a document on my Blackberry or iPad, and if I want a hard copy, instruct it to print to my home printer immediately. That’s a great feature, as it means you can print when you see it, not have to rely on finding the e-mail later on the laptop.

It occurs to me that if one was doing a big overseas trip, you could give this printer to your folks, and as you travel around you could e-mail a couple of photos a day to their printer, and they would see the sights you are seeing. Anyone who knows its e-mail address can print to it, which can be useful for flatmates etc.

The printer is relatively compact and my one is a nice shiny black. As someone with no desktop PC, I find it pretty brilliant. Printing used to be quite a hassle, and now it is literally as simple as e-mail, and can be done from anywhere.

The official HP page on the printer is here. I suspect in the future more and more printers will be like this one – printable from anywhere or anything.

I went along with Sports Girl, and was blown away by the photos. The gulf between photos that amateurs do, and these photos is just huge.

The collection of 21 photos are of graduates of Toi Whakaari, the NZ Drama School. They are of actors, actresses, directors, producers, technical crew etc – some very famous, some less so.

This is one of Stephen’s photos, of actress Brooke Williams, who people may recognise from Outraegous Fortune and The Almight Johnsons. It’s taken on the steps backstage at Downstage. This was my second favourite photo because it captures Williams’ almost doll-like beauty so well.

My favourite photo was actually of Ruth Pretty (yes she is a graduate of Toi Whakaari) in her living room. I didn’t blog that photo because to be honest you couldn’t do it justice with a screen resolution and size. The colour is so perfect in her photo, you really need to see it for yourself.

Stephen has done a wonderful tribute to the theatre and film world. He grew up amongst theatre people – his grandmother was an operatic-style singer and his sister is the well known actress and comedian, Michelle A’Court. He also photography for many of the plays put on in Wellington.

If you have a spare hour in Wellington, and you appreciate great photography, I absolutely recommend you pop in and see the exhibition on Abel Smith Street. The photos are great, and the potted backgrounds of each person profiled were also very interesting.

You can see some of the photos at Stephen’s website, but trust me its not the same as seeing the original prints.