Plays & Stories

Justin Gregory reviews the new look Giselle, Lynn Freeman faces the hard truths in Bless The Child, Tim Dodd explores how Phil Dadson is starting From Scratch & we celebrate past Concerto competition…

I hope you've got your wits about you because our next interview is pun-tastic. Dad jokes, word play and wise-cracks are the order of the day as Wellington's Pun Battle kicks off tonight.  Audio

As a child, Charmian Hughes often went to pantomimes and the ballet - but was always disappointed by the happily ever afters. She couldn't understand why marrying a prince was always a woman's happy… Audio

Failing health, euthanasia and family trying to get their hands on inheritance permeate the retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Adapted by Geraldine Brophy, with a score composed by… Audio

Did The Royal New Zealand Ballet bring Jane Campion’s iconic film The Piano to life as a dance work? Jennifer Shennan reviews the new production that opened at New Zealand Festival. William…

Ally Baharoon has been living with a stutter for more than 20 years, and now he's telling the story in his stand-up comedy act. Audio

Kiwi actor Simon London is best known for his role in The Hobbit playing elf Feren but how he's returning to Auckland for the Auckland Arts Festival production of 1984. It's been touring Australia for… Audio

Combining sign with mime and physical theatre, 'Salonica' is the tale of two soldiers who form an unlikely friendship in World War I. The work was developed with an international team of both deaf and… Video, Audio

John Collins, founder and director of experimental theatre group Elevator Repair Service, talks about The Select (The Sun Also Rises). It’s a unique adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s classic first… Audio

Former Green MP Catherine Delahunty has teamed up with her theatrical sister Sarah Delahunty, to bring Question Time Blues to the Auckland Fringe Festival. Audio

Our comedians look at the lighter stories of the week including a potentially embarrassing "wardrobe malfunction" of a South Korea skater at the Winter Olympics. Audio

The Hobson Street Theatre Company was created in 2010 and the performers have all used Auckland's City Mission and have all been homeless at some point. This year's production, 'The Race' will run in… Audio

Our comedians discuss the lighter stories of the week including the return of Sirocco the kākāpō, who has been found after a two-year disappearance. Audio

After giving up her childhood dream of becoming the world's greatest ballerina, Sacha Jones acquired a family, an education (PhD) and a job teaching politics. Nothing funny about that you'd think… Audio

The brand spanking new Te Auaha New Zealand Institute of Creativity in Wellington is all on track to open. Audio

Audience members at composer Max Richter's concert, Sleep, are provided with camp beds and encouraged to nod off during the eight-hour overnight performance. Richter, joined by other musicians and… Audio

Our comedians discuss the funnier stories of the week including how hundreds of highly-classifed Australian Cabinet files ended up in a second hand shop. Audio

Award-winning playwright Pip Hall has been writing full time for two decades. Now she's taken on one of NZ's best loved sci-fi stories, a classic Maurice Gee novel. Pip Hall is adapting Under the… Audio