Arts and culture in Ōtautahi Christchurch
Jordon Jones reviews SwapRox, presented by PopRox Improv, at Little Andromeda, Thursday 20 August 2026. If you've ever thought that improv comedy just isn't chaotic enough these days, have I got a show for you! SwapRox is an acknowledgement that attention spans are shrinking, and has been specially designed to shake things up just as… Continue reading Review: SwapRox – chaotic improv with miscreant energy for those with short attention spans
Charlotte Thornton reviews Redemption, presented by Ginge and Minge at Little Andromeda, Thursday 20 August 2026. Behind every great idea are a dozen bad ones. Discarding these bad ideas, known as ‘killing your darlings,’ is a painful but important part of the artistic process. They get locked away in the Notes app alongside half-finished to-do… Continue reading Review: Redemption – bad ideas turned chaotic good
Erin Harrington reviews Friends to the End, created and performed by Wiremu Tuhiwai and Brendon Bennetts with Criss Grueber, at Little Andromeda, Friday 12 June 2026. The award-winning improvised theatre show Friends to the End feels like it needs a graphic novel rather than a written review. There’d be a lot of pow and thwop… Continue reading Review: Friends to the End – not even the apocalypse can bust up this delightful bromance
Jordon Jones reviews Death at Murder Manor, directed by Brendon Bennetts, at the Court Theatre, presented as part of the NZ International Comedy Festival, Thursday 7 May 2026. The audience falls into a hush as the lights dim. The entrance music—a series of songs one might find in Noël Coward's personal record collection—fades out. There… Continue reading Review: Death at Murder Manor – clever improvised theatre that’s dead funny
Roving FCFN reporter John Armstrong heads south and reflects on some highlights from the Dunedin Fringe Festival, which ran from 12 - 22 March 2026. Dunedin Fringe has sadly come to an end. Yesterday marked the end of an incredible eleven days of stand-up, theatre, sketch comedy and live music, with morethan ninety shows all… Continue reading Wrap up: Dunedin Fringe is a chaotic and ambitious festival with incredible DIY energy
Ruth Agnew reviews The Early Early Late Show, presented by the Court Jesters in the Wakefield Family Front Room at the Court Theatre, Tuesday 23 September 2025. The Early Early Late Show (EELS) is something of a school holiday fixture, with the first version performed in 2007 in the Court Theatre at the Christchurch Arts… Continue reading Review: The Early Early Late Show – a beloved, brilliantly executed school holiday fixture
Erin Harrington reviews Forna Cape, presented by the Court Jesters, at the Court Theatre, Thursday 18 September. The current Court Jesters’ improvised show was initially programmed as Zeitgeist, a placeholder that would allow the company to respond to whatever was floating to the top of the pop cultural soup. Forna Cape looks to our current… Continue reading Review: Forna Cape – chaotic beachside improv about hot people, pashing, and maybe true love?
Lisa Allan reviews PopRox Improv, at Little Andromeda, Saturday 14 June, 2025. It is Saturday night and the foyer at Little Andromeda is packed with punters who have come out in force to see the Wellington improv comedy troupe, PopRox, perform. It is not surprising to see a cohort from Christchurch’s own professional improv troupe,… Continue reading Review: PopRox Improv – a generous, playful and positive force
Erin Harrington reviews Grifted and Talented with Jim Fishwick, presented by Jetpack Theatre, at Little Andromeda, Friday 11 April 2025. Multi-hyphenate creative and improvisor Jim Fishwick knows how to get the best out of performers. Their new improv? performance? comedy? humiliation? show format Grifted and Talented (a title both great and triggering) is a clever… Continue reading Review: Grifted and Talented – a hilarious game show that pits talent against treachery
Erin Harrington reviews The Good, The Bad, and The Completely Made Up, directed by Brendon Bennetts, at Little Andromeda, 2 June 2023. In The Good, The Bad, and The Completely Made Up, Rhiannon McCall improvises a terrific hour-long comedy Western in which she out-shoots John Wayne, out-squints Clint Eastwood, and outwits the combined cast of… Continue reading Review: The Good, the Bad and the Completely Made-Up – a hilarious solo improvised Western
Flat City Field Notes 