Back to the arts

See, this is why I need to have access to the performing arts. When I see a show, it always leaves me ITCHING to talk and talk and talk about it until I fall asleep.

Tonight's been a double whammy, so let me give you the Odds version review of my first real exposure to kiwi-created arts.

1. Hunting the Snark

I went to see this at a little studio theatre called BATS (NOT the shit theatre society I was in when I was 9). A nice small world experience was bumping in to one of the box office guys from St George's West there and catching up. Anyway, the show, it's based on Lewis Carroll texts, references to the Jaberwocky and Jub Jub bird etc. Described as a 'black theatrical comedy', it tells the story of a hotchpotch of characters who go on a hunt for the 'snark'.

There were some giggle-inducing moments but most of it was a bit too random and obvious, although members of the audience who were clearly cast members' mates seemed to find it the funniest thing they'd ever seen. It was a production by a group of actors my age and had more of a drama school feel about it than a pro production. A nice show though, no complaints.

2. Maui

Imagine Andrew Lloyd Webber meets Michael Flatly, but with less proficient dancing and a maori spin on it. Kind of Phantom of the Lord of the Haka. That might give you an idea of this show. It's a huge production by NZ standards, PR'd to the hilt, glitzy, commercial. And a bit of a let-down for me. The last thing I saw that I'd put in the same box is Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands, but Maui is only about half as technically proficient. And doesn't have dancing topiaries.

Maui is very important in maori culture - he's the legendary character who fished the north island of NZ out of the sea (the south island is his boat), and there's a whole bunch of stories about him. This show tells his life story using maori chants, song, rap (yes, as in hip hop), maori-inspired dances and aerial acrobatics.

The combining of ALW style songs with maori chants was actually quite inspired, if a little painful on the classical musical ear at times. The people flying through the air was not very well done and highly repetitive, unfortunately, and for cheapskate Odds up in the gods, partly invisible.

The end result is a series of fairly disjointed scenes with random songs and dances, but pretty costumes.

The locals seemed to love it though, which is the most important thing, although I suspect the male lead is some kind of maori celebrity, which would explain a lot of the female whooping and shrieking throughout.