Blessed with rich variety and verve

(Clockwise from left) <i>The Arrival, Pohutukawa Tree, Ruben Guthrie, The History Boys, The Cherry Orchard, Flintlock Musket, Oliver!, Apollo 13.</i>

Dammit Auckland theatre, I wanted to be a bitchy critic! But this year's offerings were, in general, so complex, funny and nerve-touching I could hardly scrape together a soupcon of snide. In particular, it was a delight to see so many quality local plays _ from both emerging and established practitioners _ parading in front of the footlights.

My top 4 picks, here in order of appearance, are an unintentional testament to the variety on offer: Red Leap Theatre adapted Shaun Tan's graphic novel The Arrival by pulling out physical theatre's bag of tricks, and tumbling about John Verryt's stunning origami set to create a gentle yet soaring, wonder-filled dream.

Big names lived up to their big reputation in The Cherry Orchard, even though the big auditorium swallowed some of the atmosphere. The international Bridge Project was both faithful to Chekov and _ unlike many local productions _ overtly politically-engaged with the present.

Nga Manurere at Tapac was the surprise jewel of the year for me _ emerging playwright Renae Maihi has wisdom, sensitivity, good pace and a fine sense of humour. Forget Vintner's Luck and Fashion Week, this was the best thing Keisha Castle-Hughes was in all year.

Silo Theatre's New York jaw-jaw fest The Scene was exciting to witness; the zippy serial monologues put the race into racy. The gear-crashed genre change near the end means only the first three-quarters of the play make it on to this list, but if we'd left before the last 20 minutes we would happily have written a fan-fiction ending.

And Oliver! was so entertaining, and Mark Hadlow's Fagin so loveable, we can overlook the few anachronistic Jane Austen costumes. Charles Dickens would have been proud of the Auckland Theatre Company's storytelling verve.

Honourable mentions include Silo's young discoveries pointing out that astrology is bunkum in Life's A Dream, and (potent pause)'s production for the pointy-headed, The Chairs. Local references and local larrikin Oliver Driver ensured Ruben Guthrie was far from sending us to drink, while Ooh Baby Baby gracefully mixed poignancy and aerial wires with pregnancy jokes. Flintlock Musket was rich in both linguistic and visual poetry.

The examination of the yawning gap of exile in The Mooncake and the Kumara, a Native Alienz short, was quietly powerful.

Up-and-coming performers include Fern Sutherland, with her impressive turn in historical curiosity The Pohutukawa Tree; Greg Padoa, who quickly jollied things along in Oliver!; and Isla Adamson and Josephine Stewart-Tewhiu whose humorous and detailed character sketches in Ruby Tuesday were fantastic (just a pity about the heavy drama at the end).

Finally, The Women memorial award for best use of New Zealand fashion goes to Ruben Guthrie for the spiky Czech-model threads from Cybele, and the award for best programme goes to the deservedly sold-out fringe comedy Burlesque As You Like It: Not a Family Show. A complex fan of various folds including a vintage centrefold, the booklet - like the show - contained an educational history of burlesque.

So, Auckland theatre! I surrender. But only until next year.