Tag Archives: Theatre

Private Lives + other stories

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I like going to Silo plays a lot – I usually try to emotionally prepare myself for laughter and tears – but at Private Lives laughed and I laughed and I laughed some more. The script is by Noel Coward and combined with the modern set and costumes made me think of Jane Austen meets Gilmore Girls meets Sex in the City. By that I mean manners meets snappy dialogue meets scandalous behaviour. Gosh I enjoyed myself, and from my lofty seat in the gods I was able to see that there were plenty of others laughing inappropriately loudly too. Favourite things – Matt Whelan’s magnetic performance and Mia Blake’s dance moves. Wow. It’s on for the rest of the month – take people who like comedy, even if they don’t like theatre.

Other things I’m liking right now

  • Designer Garage Sale last weekend. Favourite things – a scout tottering after one of my friends in heel to see if he was represented at a modelling agency (he is) and my divine new Kathryn Wilson shoes (pictured).
  • Ballet – Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Cinderella was beautiful. Also, I’ve started doing Body Beautiful classes, a combination of yoga, pilates and ballet. It’s amazing and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to do the splits soon. This might be me being over-confident, but I’m two classes in so that’s got to count for something, right?
  • Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted – your favourite cartoon zoo animals join the circus. What’s not to like?
  • Clever new theatre – Joseph Harper is a young playwright/comedian/cyclist and he’s putting his two plays together this week for a ‘deluxe combo package’ at The Basement. I missed his last show and heard lots of good things, so will be good to catch up, plus it’s only a koha.
  • And back to shopping – two favourite new discoveries are Miss Smith’s Closet at Smith and Caughey Queen Street and Gorman on Nuffield Street in Newmarket. There’s a great sale on at Gorman and in spite of a rash of colourful clothing on offer, I managed to get a black frock for a fraction of it’s original price. I’m going to try to reintroduce colour into my wardrobe at some stage, promise.

Don’t miss Tribes

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I’ve been to quite a few of Silo’s plays in the last few years and know to expect memorable performances and some kind of emotional response to the works. The ones that that get to me (I can only assume it’s the same for others) are the family stories. Whether you can relate to the particular scenarios played out before you or not, there’s something about watching family interactions that seems to get to you. The Brothers Size and When The Rain Stops Falling were two of my favourites. They are the kind of plays that stick around in you mind long after the lights come up in the auditorium (I can’t say curtain falls, because usually there isn’t one.

Tribes is play that embeds itself in your brain. Not that it’s a slow-burner. It only took moments establish the fact that the script was going to be brilliant and that I really wanted to punch Michael Hurst’s infuriating Christopher in the face for being a complete $&@# (you can decide on the word once you’ve seen the play). I liked and loathed this family and wanted at least some of their dysfunctions to be sorted out – or at least acknowledged.

It is a story about family and communication. It’s hilarious, infuriating and sometimes confronting. The cast of six all gave stellar performances. We know to expect a lot from the experienced Michael Hurst and Catherine Wilkin, but the four younger members of the cast were more than up to the task. Leon Wadham is undoubtedly a find – his portrayal of the profoundly deaf Billy was brilliant, and Jodie Hillock was also completely believable as the ‘outsider’ Sylvia. I thought Fern Sutherland and Emmett Skilton were also extremely good. It’s clear that this cast has been selected with extreme care and they and Director Shane Bosher have worked extraordinarily hard together.

I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I am going to you to get to the Maidment Theatre to see Tribes. The audience on opening night were gripped by this play and I think you will be too. This is not just a play I appreciated – I liked it too!

Read more at The Big Idea

Hint: Take a tissue and someone who appreciates colourful language.

Review: Heroic Faun No One

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Gregory Cooper is one of those people you see at opening night or closing night parties. To be fair, as far as I know it’s only been one of each that I’ve met him at, but I didn’t realise immediately that he was a [hushed tones] featured extra in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Like many children of the 80’s, my TV viewing time was restricted… back in the day I was allowed a mere 30 minutes of TV a day. We also ate lots of seeds, but that’s another story. To fill the time, we used to do things like play games and read books. Some of the few books that came my way early on and are still favourites are C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series.

To be honest, I didn’t think much about Narnia when I thought about going to Heroic Faun No One. I’d heard it was a total hit at Auckland Fringe last year and that it included truly hilarious, improbable yet true stories about working on a film set.

Moving into the theatre at The Basement before the show we had to walk through fur coats. It was then that I realised that I was in for a Narnia treat. The one man play tells Greg’s story from audition and preparation to time on the set and filming. It gives an insight, that I’m told is painfully accurate, into what an actor goes through – whether it’s trying to get give an honest performance as Heroic Faun No One while wearing James McAvoy’s cast off Mr Tumnus wig or getting advice and mockery from other extras, including one with rather startling ambitions.

I don’t want to give the game away, but if you love comedy, acting or Narnia – this show is for you. My plus one for the night isn’t much of a theatre goer LOLed as did the rest of us. And really, it’s worth going just for the sidesplittingly funny green CGI tights.

My favourite line is from when Gregory is reminiscing about attending the New Zealand premiere at The Civic. The comic timing was perfect when he said “All the TV stations were there… TV One, TV3… Triangle.”

Aaah New Zealanders, we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously.

Heroic Faun No One, complete with costumes and movie footage, is on at The Basement for a week. Think of it as your mid-Winter cheer up.

Read the event information.