Shakespeare's Shorts at the Silo Theatre

By FRANCES TILL

SILO THEATRE, Auckland - Intriguing 20-minute vignettes developed from four Shakespeare plays are offered in this brilliantly costumed and well-staged pastiche, marked by uptown performances in a fringe environment.

The quartet begins with two comedies and closes with two tragedies, a natural flow that gives the sampling a sense of emotional development, although little else strings it together.

First up is a piece drawn on Shakespeare's magical and perhaps most paradoxical play, The Tempest. Director Vanessa Rhodes resets the drama to interesting effect in a mythical Polynesia and opens a huge allegorical chest in the process.

For all the potential freight this move carries, Peter Kaa and Kate Sullivan are great fun to watch as Prospero and Miranda, and add some fascinating embellishments to the traditional characters.

Director Kirsty-Emma Gray also takes a chance with her rapid transitions between contemporary Kiwi and classic Shakespearean language and storytelling techniques in the second presentation, a lighthearted contemporary run at Much Ado About Nothing. The bridging is fluid, and the cast - particularly Anna Meech and Pia Midgley - carry off the burlesque with evident relish.

Next, director Andi Reveley celebrates the convoluted Tamora, Queen of the Goths, to spectacular effect in her close examination of the rape of Lavinia in Titus Andronicus.

Special attention should go to the (unfortunately uncredited) actress who delivers a feral and chillingly beautiful centrepiece evocation of the murderous, sexually avaricious Queen in a hugely physical slice of this dark play.

The quartet closes with Margaret-Mary Hollins' adaptation of Macbeth, a mobile composite that showcases a stunning performance by Katy Parker as Lady Macbeth. Despite a dance scene in which the music drowns out speech, this segment alone is worth a trip to the Silo.

Like the producer, Lisa Heath, the directors here are women, and women are generally the focus in each of the segments. But any search for thematic commonality in these exploratory works founders on the absence of a producer's note in the programme, which also fails to credit all the performers.