Arts and culture in Ōtautahi Christchurch
Charlotte Thornton reviews Motion Sickness, presented by a2 Company, at Little Andromeda, Friday 20 March 2026. Aussie-New Zealand production house a2 Company can’t help but blow us away. When I reviewed their multi-award-winning Running Into the Sun for Bad Apple back in September, I said that show had “an apocalyptic vibe because the world has… Continue reading Review: Motion Sickness – the nightclub at the end of the world
Steph Walker reviews the first night of Electric Bodies, presented by Performance Art Week Aotearoa and TINYFEST, at the Cloiters Studio, Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre, Friday 13 March 2026. Performance Art is one of those forms that a lot of people haven’t actually seen, but probably have a view on. Like contemporary… Continue reading Review: Electric Bodies – eclectic performance works exploring body and sound
Erin Harrington reviews The Feast, directed by Fleur de Thier and Renee Ryan and created with the cast, at Lyttelton Arts Factory, Friday 6 February, 2026. The return season of Fleur de Thier and Renee Ryan’s stunning 75-minute performance work The Feast is set at a long black banquet table, which is backed by a… Continue reading Review: The Feast – sumptuous, emotional storytelling through dance, monologue and music
Ruth Agnew reviews Whakapapa, presented by Jolt Dance, as part of the World Buskers Festival, at Papa Hou, Sunday 25 January 2026. The show opens with a moment of stillness and silence. The stage is almost bare, just a row of seats painted the same dulled black as the stage and curtains at the back.… Continue reading Review: Whakapapa – powerful theatrical self-expression about identity, origins and whānau
Erin Harrington reviews Running Into the Sun, presented by a2 Company, written and directed by Ben Ashby, choreographed by Nadiyah Akbar, designed by Asha Barr, composed by Lennox Grootjans and Toby Leman, at the Cloisters Studio at The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, Tuesday 9 September 2025. The story of the terrific multidisplinary work… Continue reading Review: Running Into the Sun – a freewheeling call for hope in the face of crisis
Erin Harrington reviews Pepe, presented by Good Company Arts, at the Cloisters studio, as part of Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre's Matariki programming, Tuesday 10 June, 2025. Pepe is a 15-minute dance video work, although that sounds a little reductive for something that combines experimental digital media, filmed contemporary dance (kanikani) and taonga… Continue reading Review: Pepe – a dance video work in which moths flutter against the cosmos
Erin Harrington reviews Ngā Rorirori, by Hone Kouka, presented on tour by Tawata Productions, at the Aurora Centre, Friday 4 October. Hone Kouka’s new work Ngā Rorirori (or ‘the fools’) is a truly original piece of performance that combines dance and theatre to offer a comedic account of one family’s clash over whenua. Choregraphed by… Continue reading Review: Ngā Rorirori – a whirlwind mix of farce, dance, music – and ancestral land rights
Erin Harrington reviews Pōtaka Nautilus, presented by Good Company Arts, at The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, 27 June 2024. Good Company Arts, led by Arts Laureate Daniel Belton, creates fascinating multi-modal works that combine contemporary dance, taonga pūoro, sampled electronics and strings, digital video art and virtual reality technologies. Their work Ad Parnassum… Continue reading Review: Pōtaka Nautilus – a spiralling encounter with our place in the universe
Erin Harrington reviews Dance Nation, written by Clare Barron, directed by Alison Walls, at the Court Theatre, Saturday 23 September 2023. The Court Theatre’s fierce production of Clare Barron’s 2018 play Dance Nation invites superlatives. The show, as directed by Court Theatre AD Alison Walls, offers us a bonkers, vulgar, hilarious, vulnerable take on A… Continue reading Review: Dance Nation – a banger of a play about fierce and feral girlhood
Erin Harrington pokes around at the Off Centre festival, including performances of Requiem and Much Ado About Nothing, at The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, Friday 3 - Sunday 5 March. For other coverage see a review of A Baby Called Sovereignty here. When The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora was severely impacted… Continue reading Review: Off Centre – Requiem, Much Ado About Nothing, and being a city
Flat City Field Notes 