Observations from the ground.
Flat City Field Notes offers reviews and essays about theatre, arts and culture in and around Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Latest Posts
Review: Big Low Dream – an ambitious dance work that’s nightmare, fantasy, and everything in between
Breeze Robertson reviews Big Low Dream, presented by Footnote New Zealand Dance, at Papa Hou, Saturday 19 September. Nightmare or fantasy? Big Low Dream was both, or neither, or something in between. My notes from Footnote’s latest production read like a Surrealist’s dream diary; strong impressions, half-formed thoughts, vivid images, uncertain feelings and more questions…
Review: A Court of Horny Roses – My Comical Romantasy
Moata Tamaira reviews A Court of Horny Roses, presented by Rollicking Entertainment at the Lyttelton Arts Factory, Friday 18 September 2026. What do you get if you bring a theatre full of Romantasy fans (and the Romantasy-curious) together, act out a chaotic, abridged version of a wildly popular Sarah J. Maas novel, and give them…
Review: Rameau / Poulenc / Beethoven – wild displays of anguish and ecstacy, with a dollop of theatricality
Nick Harte reviews Rameau / Poulenc / Beethoven, presented by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Chad Kelly, at the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium, Christchurch Town Hall, Saturday 12 September 2026. I was elatedly taken aback when the concert opened (sans introduction) with “Entrée de Polymnie” from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s final opera Les Boréades, as it’s one…
Review: Teenage Dick – Gen Z zingers meet dirty politics as Richard III goes to high school
Erin Harrington reviews Teenage Dick, by Mike Lew, directed by Pelenakeke Brown, at the Court Theatre, Saturday 12 September 2026. Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s great villains: a “deformed, unfinish’d” noble “not shaped for sportive tricks” who decides that if he can’t be the face then he’ll be the heel, and damn anyone who…
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