Posts Tagged Review
Archive
October 28, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 237 – Star Wars A New Hope In Concert w/ NZSO, Wellington, 2018
That’s right, it was the first Star Wars film aka Episode IV with the NZSO live in concert. You sat and watched the film on the big screen with a giant orchestra – our biggest and best-known covers band – playing the score live. There were moments. But I didn’t really like it. I was, […]Archive
October 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 235 – Hand To God, Wellington, 2017
Someone asked me the other day how I got into theatre reviewing and I couldn’t really answer it. Then I remembered it was as prosaic as a newspaper editor asking me to do it. They obviously knew I’d done a book review or two and some music and they asked me to do it. Writing […]Archive
September 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Pink Hammer: Theatre
The Pink Hammer Direction: Conrad Newport (written by Michele Amas) Circa Theatre; Circa One (September 7 – October 5) The Pink Hammer is simply not very good. It pains me to say it as I’ve spent the last two or three years talking up almost everything I’ve seen at Circa (indeed the standard is high). […]Archive
August 14, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Cringeworthy: Theatre
Cringeworthy Direction: Andrea Sanders (devised by Andrea Sanders) Circa Theatre; Circa Two (August 10 – September 7) Cringeworthy comes to us from Andrea Sanders – creator/leader of The Beat Girls. She’s created musical shows before (usually for The Beat Girls to act and sing in) here she stars alongside Tom Knowles, Carrie McLaughlin and Jeff Kingsford-Brown in a knowingly kitsch (but utterly clever and classy) tribute to the […]Archive
August 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 231 – Laneway, Auckland, 2019
I don’t get to Auckland for very many gigs – once or twice a year if I’m lucky – it takes a lot of planning (and saving) usually. But since I was in Auckland making my debut on Waiheke Island (and there to do some book research and other work) I realised I just happened to […]Archive
July 25, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 229 – Nick Cave, Wellington, 2019
I’ve now seen Nick Cave four times – in four different spaces with different line-ups. That’s as it should be – different shows, reflecting different times. But also the first show made me realise I liked him a lot more than I had realised. The second show was ho-hum really, even though it was not at all […]Archive
July 22, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 228 – Bob Dylan, Auckland, 2018
There was just an urge. An absolute urge. I had to see Bob Dylan again. I’d seen him three times – but not for years. In fact it was 20 years since my first time seeing him and at least a decade since my last… But I had never travelled to see him – and I just got the […]Archive
July 8, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Aliens: Theatre
The Aliens Direction: Cassandra Tse (written by Annie Baker) Te Whaea Basement Theatre (July 4 – 13) An Annie Baker play changed my life – and I’ve yet to see a production of it…you see, I was so blown away by hearing her interviewed, reading about her, seeing the works available that I took a chance on the script for The Flick. […]Archive
July 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Jon Ronson: The Last Days of August
Jon Ronson The Last Days of August Audible Originals Of the many forms Ronson has arguably mastered (columns and book-length essays, TV and radio documentaries) it seems his great strength, now, is in the narrative investigative podcast. Working with Audible to serve them up as seven-episode podcasts that double as, essentially, an audiobook (they can be devoured in a […]Archive
May 22, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: Brodsky Quartet (May 20, Wgtn)
Brodsky Quartet MFC Monday, May 20 Britain’s long-running Brodsky Quartet (formed in 1972 and still with two original members) are known for their regular touring (including at least four visits to New Zealand) and their crossover pop collaborations (Elvis Costello, Bjork, Paul McCartney) as well as their refined chamber work – including a fondness for the string-quartet […]Archive
May 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman