Review: Emily Writes, Rants in the Dark Rants in the Dark is a play based on the book, based on the blog by Emily Writes, whose rant in the dark “went viral” overnight, and led to her creating a space on the internet where Mums who occasionally (or regularly) say fuck can find their life experiences reflected and validated.
Mrs Krishnan’s Party Director: Justin Lewis Company: Indian Ink Mrs Krishnan’s Party, by Jacob Rajan
“Some of it I really liked and some of it I thought ‘What the Fuck’!!!”
I’m never sure when I’m reviewing a piece how much to find out about it in advance. My approach in general is to let the performers have first dibs on telling me the story and to read as little as possible.
White Man Behind a Desk has scaled heights faster than most comedians get to. For the last wee while he’s been honing his Colbert/Stewart pastiche and delivering lefty sermons with humour from behind his desk and building quite the following.
I feel almost a paternal instinct towards Eli’s comedy. I saw him in his Billy T nominated show ‘Faith’ in 2015, then again last year in ‘The Year of Magical Fucking’ and I usually will leave it at a couple of shows to review a comic before I move on to someone else.
I have been hanging out to see Wilson Dixson for years. There’s something super alluring about what he does. The cowboy shtick that he has down to a fine art, that soft picking at the guitar as he gently woos you with his drawl and his songs. This year was my first time seeing a full Wilson Dixon hour and I wasn’t disappointed.
I knew it. I knew Marcel Lucont would be a phenomenal show. I saw his show a couple of years ago when he was last in New Zealand and it was one of the shows I was most looking forward to
What a joyous eruption of chaos, energy and laughter. Donna’s show You do you babes is crammed full with so much energy, so much material that it’s almost exhausting.
Alice Snedden is a fucking good comedian. I try to get along to as many Billy T Nominee shows in Wellington as possible because I often don’t know much about the comics and so frequently unearth some gold, like Guy Montgomery from a few years back. Alice is like Guy in that I went in knowing little and left being super impressed.
Lucy Roche and Ray O’Leary are a couple of NZ comics on the up and up. Lucy won the National Raw Comedy Quest in 2016 and Ray was a Billy T Award nominee last year. They both have a solid resume of shows and experience but there’s still a bit of work to be done.
James Veitch is known for his hilarious emails, no not the guy who tried to pay his power bills with a spider-drawing, but for being the guy who emails back scammers. The Nigerian Prince types.
At the Wake by Victor Rodger, starring Lisa Harrow Circa Theatre Opening night 6:30pm, 21 March 2018
As a first time reviewer I was both excited, and slightly nervous when I left work on Tuesday evening heading for Circa to see Joan, by Tom Scott. I wanted very much to like what I was about to review (does anyone go to the theatre not hoping to enjoy themselves?).
Whenever I write reviews of comedy shows I don’t feel it’s important to mention that someone is a female comedian (if they are); I guess that’s because I don’t feel it’s important to mention that the 75% of comedians I see are male
We are pairing up with Wellington food icons, Wellingnoms, so you can get all the best images from their Instagram account and all the best words from here. Exciting times.
What an utter fucking delight. Such a joyous wonderful, feel-good, bizarre funny show. This is a show I’ve been struggling to think of how to review. Because to reveal too much would be to spoil it.
I was nervous about this show. I’d heard that Tony’s performance in the gala had gone to places that I’d probably not be a fan of and so I approached it with some trepidation. I left with a feeling of delight and joy.
