Arts and culture in Ōtautahi Christchurch
Sophie Ricketts reviews False Idol, written and performed by Andy Manning, directed by Melanie Luckman, and produced by Ben Freeth, at Little Andromea, Friday 1 March 2024. The theatre was dark, and from the shadows emerged a cloaked figure who began to play powerchords on the centre-stage keyboard. Dramatic lighting and gospel-esque sounds signalled to… Continue reading Review: False Idol – all types of fabulous
Erin Harrington reviews Love; Mum, written and directed by Sela Faletolu-Fasi, with choreography from Lapana Soli, Friday 26 January 2024, at Little Andromeda. It feels a little hand-wavey to say that in the new play Love; Mum, five Pacific women share the joys, disappointments, and heartaches of motherhood. That’s because we live in a culture… Continue reading Review: Love; Mum – a love letter to mothers, sisters, friends
Erin Harrington reviews The Flight Before Christmas, this year's annual Little Andromeda Christmas show, written by Cally Castell and Rebekah Head, directed by Hillary Moulder, presented in conjunction with Tusk Puppets, on Tuesday 11 December 2023. Little Andromeda’s Christmas shows have become a mainstay of the holiday season. Previous productions have been knockabout scripted farces… Continue reading Review: The Flight Before Christmas – an anarchic musical that keeps the holidays weird
Erin Harrington reviews Long Ride Home, written and directed by Jack McGee for Squash Co. Arts Collective, at Little Andromeda, 16 November 2023. If you want to have a hard conversation with someone, everyone from internet strangers to expensive therapists will tell you it’s a good idea to do it in car where you’re stuck… Continue reading Review: Long Ride Home – an engaging, innovative two-hander that doesn’t quite make it home
Erin Harrington reviews CLAS103: Greek Mythology, performed by Vincent Andrew-Scammell, and co-directed by Lucy Dawber, at Little Andromeda, Thursday 7 September 2023. There’s a moment quite early on in the semi-improvised show CLAS103: Greek Mythology where actor Vincent Andrew-Scammell, wearing a ridiculous bed-sheet toga and giving a flirtatious take on Greek god Hermes, mimes handing… Continue reading Review: CLAS103 Greek Mythology – a madcap romp through antiquity
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
Naomi van den Broek reviews Colour Me Cecily at Little Andromeda, 20 April 2023. In the 1980s my mother, fresh from the breakup of the parental marriage, did what many women in her situation did. She looked for a career that could work around full-time parenting - particularly something that allowed her control over her… Continue reading Review: Colour Me Cecily – a promising show in need of more colour
Erin Harrington reviews Ray Shipley's standup hour 50 Shades of Ray at Little Andromeda, 15 April 2023. Hello, nice audience member, are you an anxious person? Probably. If so, Billy T-nominated comedian Ray Shipley’s latest comedy hour, 50 Shades of Ray, is a safe space. If not, keep it to yourself and let your introvert… Continue reading Review: 50 Shades of Ray – a comic safe space for the anxious
Erin Harrington reviews I Didn’t Invite You Here to Lecture Me, presented by Artsense Productions, at Little Andromeda, Friday 10 February 2023. The writer and producer of I Didn’t Invite You Here to Lecture Me, Amy Mansfield, clearly took some pretty good notes during her time as a university student – better than most. This… Continue reading Review: I Didn’t Invite You Here to Lecture Me – in defense of a collective experience
Erin Harrington reviews Cancel Santa, directed by Dan Bain and Greg Cooper, at Little Andromeda, Thursday 15 December 2022. Little Andromeda has spent the last few years building up audience buy-in for an annual Christmas production by presenting quality seasons of shows that have originated up north (Toys, Christ! What a Night, The Opening Night… Continue reading Review: Cancel Santa – bawdy holiday chaos
Flat City Field Notes 