Arts and culture in Ōtautahi Christchurch
Erin Harrington reviews Class Act, written and directed by Andrew Todd, at Little Andromeda, Wednesday 17 April 2024. Andrew Todd’s satisfying new black comedy Class Act might be better titled Corporate Comedy Confidential. 'Class Act', aka performers Ruby and Vincent and fresh-faced unpaid intern Caitlyn, are here to expose the inner workings of corporate comedy… Continue reading Review: Class Act – a bleak trip into the wilderness of corporate entertainment
Erin Harrington reviews Helios, created by Wright&Grainger, and 0resented in New Zealand by A Mulled Whine Productions, at Little Andromeda, Friday 12 April 2024. Helios is the latest in a series of award-winning multidisciplinary adaptations of Greek myths from UK-based production company Wright&Grainger. Performed solo by master storyteller Alexander Wright, but with help from the… Continue reading Review: Helios – masterful storytelling about following the light
Erin Harrington reviews Icky, written by Viki Moananu and directed by Lizzy Burton-Wood as Oh That Theatre Company!, staged at Little Andromeda, Friday 22 March 2024. For much of the big-hearted dramedy Icky, its titular character (Viki Moananu) circles literally and figurately around a freestanding, empty wooden door frame that dominates the centre of the… Continue reading Review: Icky – throwing shade, trauma-dumping, and the joys of tartare sauce
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
Flat City Field Notes 