San Francisco Bathhouse
May 13 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

Malcolm Middleton must be very sick of people accusing him of being a sad-sack. But while his songs act as an emotional enema, his on-stage banter could see him comfortably make a living as a stand-up comedian. He was a natural on-stage, winning over the crowd in between songs with witty observations, casual teasing and self-deprecating humour. He’d accompany people’s footsteps to the toilet with his guitar, he’d tell people to take their feet off the stage (and then tell them to put them back on), plug his live album to us even though he admitted that it was sold out. Of course, he had some great songs to play too.

Harvey Benge photographs;
Introduction by Gerry Badger
Godwit/RH, NZ$44.95 | Reviewed by Andy Palmer

THE IDEA is an interesting one. Unfortunately the result is less so. A Short History Of Photography aims to be a... short history of photography – specifically a short history of contemporary art photography from the 1960s on. Looking at the names on the cover, it’s a reasonable list of the more influential photographers of the last few decades (plus a couple of names I didn’t know). Where this book falls down is in the application of the its conceit.

Michael Hirschfeld Gallery
May 2-June 8 | Reviewed by Thomasin Sleigh

Etiquette for the Homesick is a great name for an exhibition. The show combines the work of Massey graduates Caroline McQuarrie and Genevieve Packer under the curatorial premise of the ‘darker face’ of the decorative arts. It has a great catalogue essay by Abby Cunnane and the work in the show is strong.

PETER BISLEY catches up with striking tenor Jesus Garcia, playing Rodolfo in the NBR New Zealand Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème.

St James Theatre; Aotea Centre
May 10-17; 29-June 7 | Reviewed by Simon Sweetman

La Bohème was first performed in 1896. Since then it’s gain a reputation as a classic opera for all seasons – a simple tale that mixes comedy and tragedy and there are reviews that praise the best casts in the world for running the gamut of emotions, for allowing Puccini’s music to dance. But really, this updated version is a basic cash-cow; a chance to bring some money in by staging a much-loved opera and hopefully luring in all and sundry. Presumably, with a sold-out Wellington season, it has worked.

AMY BROWN quizzes American travel writer Thomas Kohnstamm ahead of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival. His first book, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, is published this month.

Heather O’Neill’s debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals tells the story of Baby, a twelve-year-old girl living with her junkie father, Jules, in a less than desirable suburb of Montreal. As Jules goes further off the rails, Baby is shifted from foster home to scummy apartment to juvenile detention centre. Yet despite such grim circumstances, she retains her wit and optimism (and the reader’s sympathies), and is unfailingly generous in her assessment of others. Ahead of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival, GEMMA FREEMAN spoke to O’Neill in Montreal about writing, prizes, and how to tell if you’re American or Canadian.

Anders Falstie-Jensen is one third of the junta running The Rebel Alliance, an independent theatre company about to present a revival of their first production, The Orderly, in Auckland and then Upper Hutt. The play is written and performed by Michael Downey and directed by Falstie-Jensen. RENEE LIANG caught up with Anders recently to talk about the dark art of directing, writing and reviving plays.

Comedy Festival 2008, Trust Wallace Gallery
May 6-10 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

ON FIRST entering the little room where Dave’s scheduled to play, I was immediately confronted by a flow chart in the centre of the stage and a cartoon picture of a whale on one side of the stage, and a cartoon picture of a human on the other. It was nice to see that a stage was being used for a few props, as if set dressing was still a part of the show. It was also likely to be an interesting night in terms of material – for those of you who don’t know, Dave Wiggins is one of the few comics I’ve seen who refuses to go the path of the gutter in terms of his material and provides only “clean comedy” – which given how some of the festival crowd this year have got their best laughs from obscenities would suggest he may already been on a losing streak. However, this is the path he’d chosen and much of his young audience at the show tonight, didn’t seem to mind.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Transmission Room
May 8-10 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

WHEN A TRIO come out on stage, synchronised to the sound of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ and start dancing before adapting their moves into the Bee Gee’s ‘Staying Alive’ complete with whooping and hollering from the crowd, you have to wonder what you’re about to see. Clearly I was unprepared for what followed – and I have to say, somewhat underwhelmed.

Penny Ashton aka Hot Pink is a force to be reckoned with... award-winning performance poet, comedy diva and champion of true poetics. RENEE LIANG caught up with Penny ahead of Poetry Idol at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Classic
May 4 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

IF THIS is an indication of what’s to come on the comic scene in New Zealand, I can’t wait to see more. Nine acts were held up for scrutiny at the finals of the RAW Comedy Quest with seven from Auckland and two from Wellington. Hosted by Australian comic Mickey D, the whole two hour show was an interesting take on what’s coming through the clubs and who’s stepping up to the stage.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Classic
May 7-10 | Reviewed by Jacob Powell

TOUTED in his comedy fest bio (and his intro this evening) as a Billy T Award nominee I was interested in what this relatively new face had to offer. Grant’s material started with his origins in Christchurch and a few observances about some boring facets of life down there, like how skateboarding isn’t so interesting when the terrain is flat. Really flat. That skateboarding in this environment consists mostly of pushing yourself along slowly getting tired until you’ve had enough and end up taking a bus and carrying your board under your arm. Many of his jokes and sketches employ a reasonable use of physical comedy – in this case the action of his leg pushing a skateboard along united with his bored/tired facials. He also talked about his background as a baker which required him to do 7000 hours of work during his apprenticeship that only took him about 30mins in total to learn. So that was one hour of novelty followed by 6999 hours of slowly increasing boredom. This was also accompanied by mimed bread shaping actions; a different one for each of several different bread styles – some French sticks followed by a Vienna loaf or two. Another physical piece (which unfortunately fell flat on this night) was his impersonation of “A man going down on himself”. Cleverly turning expectations of fellatial contortions on their head (*snigger*) he instead performed the action of a man deflating like a tyre, and did a really nice job of it too! A pity that the audience wasn’t in the flow on that one as I thought it was pretty flash.

Comedy Festival 2008, SkyCity Theatre
May 6-10 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

LET’S MAKE this clear: there is little point seeing this show unless you’re a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, or can recall it well, as your partner’s made you watch it plenty of times before.

Downstage Theatre
May 6-10 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

MEEKLINGS, merkins and murderous teens dominate Downstage Theatre this week, host to the return season of three diverse plays from the Fringe Festival 2008: March of the Meeklings (Three Spoon Theatre), Sensible Susan and the Queen’s Merkin (Theatre Militia) and 2 b or nt 2 b?. The season gives the shows a chance to further develop their successful productions.

Comedy Festival 2008, Auckland Town Hall
May 7-10 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

AS THE show began, a colleague mentioned to me that Brendan Lovegrove could be acerbic and vulgar and I’d do well to hide my notebook (sat as close to the front as we were) just in case. And he was right to do so – though thankfully I was not a target (unlike those sat next to us).

Comedy Festival 2008, Transmission Room
May 7-10 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

THERE was a real South Island feel to this show – and despite the less than full Transmission Room audience, Justine Smith and her warm up act (both apparently from Christchurch) worked pretty hard to keep them amused.

Comedy Festival 2008, BATS Theatre
May 6-10 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

THIS SHOW is not all about Indian Radio; it’s true. There are multitudes of obscure references and wildly tangential side-stories strung about the loose frame of a loose premise that comes out of nowhere and goes almost nowhere. Opaque, mish-mashed and blinding in a bad sense (why must theatre companies still face spot-lights towards the audience?), this is definitely a comedy festival feature that should be put back in the incubator until next year; or not at all. To be fair, they did warn us. The publicity notes state that this show is the one that ‘“may just disappoint” audience and critics alike.’ Alack, if only we had taken heed.

Comedy Festival 2008, BATS Theatre
May 6-11 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

Funk Rabbit is a high powered duo of improvisers from Canada. True to publicity notes they are indeed eclectic, and there is certainly an element of being “on the edge” in the show; though perhaps more due to nervous tension than any risqué inclinations. However their comedy is well-rounded and wholesome, and provokes big belly laughs through its range of teasing and cutesy stories. Nicely consummated by the end of the hour, the skits in Funk Rabbit are impressively well-structured, and if not always consistent with the themes and activities earlier drawn from the audience (where did the cricket go?) they provide a hearty dose of humour.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Classic
May 5-10| Reviewed by Jacob Powell

WEARING a red dress and a nonchalant smile Julia Morris took the stage at the Classic this Wednesday evening, sized up the audience, and then launched into a trip around the world replete with stops at various bars, shops, and comedy shows along the way. When she mentioned at the beginning of the show that friends say she likes to talk, she wasn’t kidding! Seemingly indefatigable, this brash-cum-’bashful’ Australian barely stopped to take a breath as she filled the entire hour (plus change) with anecdotes about her travels along with sarcastic witticisms interjected every minute, and often a second, third, or even fourth self-rejoinder to these acid-laced comments she had just made. With nary a stumble in the whole course of the show, to simply say that Morris is confident a comedienne would be to undersell her total control of the stage. This lady knows what she’s about and you get the sense that things don’t often get away on her.

Comedy Festival 2008, Transmission Room
April 22; May 6 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

WHAT IS there to say about Jamie Bowen which hasn’t been said before? He’s been described by this very site as “entertaining, talented and hilarious” (I know that as it was on a flyer on the table I sat at at the show). So it’s curious to note this two show residency at the Transmission Room with “Bowen Arrow” seems to just fall short of the target.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Classic; BATS Theatre
April 24 26; 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Campbell Stewart

I’D NEVER see a hypnosis show and even the thought of a faux-hypno show didn’t do much for me by way of anticipation. However, Hypnotastic won me over in the opening scene. They seemed to have the rest of the audience on side even before that and there was a feeling that the cast could do no wrong. It was a very clever and well put together piece of theatre that intertwined various difficult theatrical disciplines effortlessly and with much hilarity.

Maidment Theatre
May 1-24 | Reviewed by Renee Liang

SOME MIGHT might call it too much stomping on top of bra-less bosoms but I think that the ideology of feminism lends itself rather well to farce. And The Female of the Species, by Australian Joanna Murray-Smith, is indeed a farce. The play was ‘inspired’ by a real-life incident in 2000 when uber-feminist Germaine Greer was held hostage in her own home by a fanatical student, Karen Burke, who famously clung to her legs crying “Mummy! Mummy!” until the police came. But here, says Murray-Smith in an interview, the play departs from real-life altogether, and bears only passing resemblance to persons living or dead.

TOM FITZSIMONS scans the stellar programme of this year’s Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

THIS IS my first Auckland Writers & Readers Festival and the organisers have kindly landed a huge haul for the occasion. Some truly big overseas names here – and a good scattering of locals too. Five who I’ll definitely be seeing:

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This April: The Spoils w/ White Swan, Black Swan; Malcolm Middleton, Stiff Little Fingers, !!!.

Comedy Festival 2008, Bluenote Bar
April 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

FRESH OFF the plane from the UK, stand up comedian James Nokise put on an entertaining and varied performance in the seedy surrounds of the Bluenote Bar. It seems obvious that he has gained considerable maturity as a comedian – he had prepared a sharp set based on tried and true material (mostly race-related) but was able to divert from it to interact with some of the more vocal members of the audience. Although he felt too far from Newtown or the Hutt, the “Raros” (and potential mob members?) at the back of the audience kept him on his toes.

Comedy Festival 2008, SkyCity Theatre
May 1-3 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

I HAVE TO admit to never really being a massive Dai Henwood fan – from what I’ve seen of him on C4 his humour to me always seemed a tad juvenile and puerile. So it was with a level of apprehension that I went to his show “Return of Dai-namic Scenarios”. But I was thoroughly wrong to have been worried – the dimunitive Dai put on an excellent show, packed with enthusiasm and of course, interpretative dance. (More on that later.) However, it wasn’t without a shaky start.

Opera House
April 29 | Reviewed by Shruti Navathe

FOOTNOTE Dance Company returned to Wellington after a successful tour last year to present 2008 Made in New Zealand, a performance that promised to be uniquely and indelibly kiwi. I went to the performance on 29th at the Opera House expecting to be impressed. My response was somewhat more equivocal than that.

Soundings Theatre, Te Papa
April 25 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

BASED on a book written by Jim Henderson, this play is not so much about World War II per se, as his experiences recuperating from it. He spent 715 days training as a gunner, 10 days in action in North Africa, and nineteen months in an Italian military hospital in Bari. The scene is instantly set by the crackling recording of guns, planes and bombs, and the narration is entirely in the present tense.

Comedy Festival 2008, San Francisco Bathhouse
April 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

David O’Doherty is lucky. For a start, he’s Irish. All Irish are lucky in some manner, when you rub them the right way. And they eat potatoes. The Wellington crowd at the San Francisco Bathhouse wasn’t rubbing O’Doherty up quite the right way at his show’s opening night on Tuesday, but somehow we were fortunate – he complained, but he performed too. Laughs and charming insults were flung back and forth, though mostly forth. Our applause increased exponentially in the way he’d promised his show’s quality would not; by the end he was pleading with us to give him some valuable feedback (could he not hear the level of laughter?) and we were clapping ‘til our hands hurt and our abandoned chips had fallen desolately on the floor.

Comedy Festival 2008, The Classic
April 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

I FIRST caught Simon McKinney at last year’s Comedy Festival where, as far as I was concerned, he was one of the stand out acts of the Big Show. Since then I’ve seen him at various nights at the Classic, and I have to say he’s fast becoming one of my favourite comedians. He’s known on the New Zealand circuit as being adept at accents – in fact his Scottish accent is terrifyingly good – but that’s a bit unfair to him as his material’s pretty damn good too.

Author of Live News, a collection of short stories, and currently working on her second historical novel, Maxine Alterio took the time to speak with JENNIFER VAN BEYNEN on the phone from Dunedin about her first historical novel, her writing process, the disparity of her narrators – gender-wise and culturally – and what it takes to produce a book so historically, culturally, and emotionally rich.

Comedy Festival 2008, Auckland Town Hall
April 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Jacob Powell

Mark Watson is an interesting blend of manic energy and nervous awkwardness. All gangly limbs and eager looks, one moment he’s spinning lines so fast he’s approaching the speed of sound, the next he has paused; tentatively eyeing his audience like an embarrassed child. Thankfully the overall effect is ultimately endearing and provides a good launching platform for his free-form story telling and adlibbing.

Comedy Festival 2008, SkyCity Theatre
April 29-May 3 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

“You’ll be none the wiser by the end of the night.” —Jimeoin.

You have to admire that kind of honesty – and being brutally frank by the time the Irishman left the stage I was none the wiser – although I did realise that all of the idiosyncracies and absurdities that were mentioned throughout his performance, some of them I did actually identify with.

Visiting New Zealand in May, Malcolm Middleton opens his doomsday pamphlet to BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM, talks Arab Strap, and about becoming a One Hit Wonder.