Two plays at the Basement show the variety of work on offer at dynamic Auckland theatre.

Silo Theatre's Body Double gives a feminist take on sex and desire, says Janet McAllister.

Jack Charles, a drug addict for 40 years and a prisoner for 20 of those, argues his case.

Putting George Orwell's dystopia onstage is a way to skewer our era of alternative facts.

Janet McAllister continues her literary odyssey in the woman who read Auckland.

The woman who read Auckland visits Ranui where locals love their library.

Pop-up Globe's Macbeth is enjoyable but it lacks the wow factor, says Janet McAllister.

Spin doctors, skulduggery and main character killed early: Recommended.

Janet McAllister visits Blockhouse Bay and Avondale and finds a torrid library history.

Janet McAllister visits Birkenhead and Northcote for the next chapter of her book safari.

Play about Martin Luther King's final hours sees big themes dealt with warmth and humour.

Janet McAllister, who's reading Auckland, steps inside warm and welcoming Manurewa library

Sweet and sour siblings served with a liberal helping of messages about morals.

Assured storytelling from Wellington playwright explores identity, writes Janet McAllister

Pleasuredome - the musical is pure spectacle, writes Janet McAllister.

Janet McAllister visits Tupu Youth and Manukau libraries on her library quest in Auckland

A lower key offering in the Auckland Live Cabaret Season shines, says Janet McAllister.

OTHER [chinese] is educational, gentle and filled with off-the-cuff humour.

Devonport Library should be a major tourist attraction, writes Janet McAllister.

Nell Gwynn is a highly recommended night at the theatre, writes Janet McAllister.

Believable portrayal of deeply felt connection satisfies, writes Janet McAllister.

Emotion-as-drug tale off-theme toward end but more than enough here to satisfy.

On a quest to visit every library in Auckland, Janet McAllister visits Papatoetoe.

Janet McAllister continues her quest to visit every one of Auckland Council's libraries.

Two surprising Matariki shows use music to express new ideas, writes Janet McAllister.

Maggie Flynn is a charismatic heroine in NZ history tale Shakespearean in its telling.

The woman who read Auckland visits Leys Institute in Ponsonby and Parnell Library.

Musical based on our favourite TV ad jingles is nostalgic fun, writes Janet McAllister.

A play about sex education is assured and innovative theatre, writes Janet McAllister.

Janet McAllister, the woman who's reading Auckland, visits Panmure and Glen Innes.

Janet McAllister, the woman who's reading her way around Auckland, heads west.

Boys is loud and angry, which is all to the good.

COMMENT: Janet McAllister explores the next chapter in the future of Auckland libraries.

Frustrated by small talk? Then Weaves is theatre for you, writes Janet McAllister.

Interview-derived show offers surprisingly eloquent take on shared sense of identity.

Sonya Kelly presents a romantic comedy with modern love in a shrinking world at its heart.

Janet McAllister, who's reading her way around Auckland, visits Waitakere Library.

Trolls, dancing and cake make Peer Gynt absurd, smart and funny, says Janet McAllister.

A play about Shakespeare in prison avoids clichés, writes Janet McAllister.

Theatre reviewer Janet McAllister has a mixed night out at the fringe festival.

A night on the Floating Theatre makes for an enchanted evening, writes Janet McAllister.

Theatre reviewer Janet McAllister takes a theatrical trip to the supermarket.

Summer Shakespeare As You Like It is a good time, but a long one.

This successful, uber-stylish nightclub musical from Wellington's Tawata Productions feels like a dreamy album-length live music video.

The woman who read Auckland checks out New Lynn War Memorial Library.

Janet McAllister continues her tour of Auckland libraries, visiting the Albany and Glenfield branches.

Don Juan is an energetic, irrepressibly gleeful and good-natured evening out.

Real-life experiences depicted with humour, intensity and relevance.

Janet McAllister continues her mission to visit each and every one of Auckland's 55 libraries.

Show is loosely-woven without any particular punchline, a look inside the mind of a curious character.

The Basement Theatre's spring season is blossoming with funny and poignant new Kiwi plays.

Gruesome Playground Injuries is a slightly perplexing, but absorbing play.

This surprising show - by new writer/director Ash Jones - is bonkers in the most wonderful way.

Geoff Allen's snippets-of-life drama is prettily presented by director Amanda Rees and holds attention with some lovely moving moments

There are some similarities in these two provocative tales of sexual tension by talented young New Zealand playwrights.

Melodrama falls a little flat on debut but theatre company shows potential.

This beautifully sung song cycle follows the same unusual format as Brel: two guys and two gals singing songs without an overarching

This warm-hearted hour is a signature Massive Company ensemble piece: real-life snippets cleverly performed with spark and verve by

This entertaining production - Indian Ink's seventh - offers buffoonery, clever theatrics and yards of ramshackle plot.

Lord, but it's good to see Annie Whittle ham the hell out of a bombastic role.

This is more of an illustrated lecture than a play; our presenters are purportedly two members of the first successful Everest expedition, but we don't really get to know them properly.

This Tadpole production is an endearing tale of marital betrayal, more entertaining than one might expect for a romantic dramedy more than 40 years old.

The stage musical of the 1983 dance film takes itself too seriously.

Listing racist remarks and restrictive stereotypes may seem simplistic at first, but this is mere preparation for some smart theatrics.

This Flaxworks production mentions the boyfriends but ignores the image, and instead presents a girlish Jean, enthusiastic and sweet.

Sixteen figures in flowing cream reclaim the King of Thebes from Freud in this melodic contemporary opera.

This excellent one-man show is not chatty or casual. Tight, dramatic spotlights focus sharply on the orator in the dark.

In this fantastical Kiwi detective story, Carl Bland's musings on truth and loss are framed as "three men in search of a playwright," writes Janet.

Funny, sexy and feminist all at the same time, Australian cabaret star Meow Meow (Melissa Madden Gray) delivers wonderful frivolity.

The makers of this show have given themselves a challenge: they've attempted to adapt what is primarily adult literature for 4-8-year-olds.

The focus is on people's casual attitudes and everyday interactions, and Burch re-enacts several of her own experiences with angry humour and audience help.

The hour-long work starts with a shaft of light spilling on to a large leaf as if through the forest canopy, before a spider walks over to a woman emerging from shadow.

The five featured women dance, create pretty moving tableaux and briefly sing songs. From the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Samoa, and Aotearoa, they're great, well-rehearsed performers.

This Pride Festival cabaret co-directed by Okareka Dance's Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete is an enjoyable pick'n'mix of 14 diverse pieces, Janet writes.

This intriguing solo Pride show is misleadingly billed as "Real Housewives meets Krishnan's Dairy," Janet writes.

Australia's appalling human rights record is in the limelight at the moment, thanks in part to the referring of Australia Day as "Invasion Day".