Why?
Why write these “reviews” or “thoughts”?, well I want to give a little something back to the artists who put so much effort into creating something for me to experience. And I’m constantly annoyed at myself that all I can say is “It was good, I liked it”, all things an artist wants to hear but I want to challenge myself to look deeper at myself and the medium and write something more meaningful might be of interest to the artists.
Who even are you?
My name is Ezra, I’m in my early thirties, I identify nervously as Bi-sexual, my pronouns are He/Him/They/Them, I am a recovering ex-christian, I like cats, and fantasy fiction, and usually travel with a small white teddy bear.
Some years ago decided I was too isolated and started going to as many live theatre shows as I could, at first at the Court Theatre, then I got heavily involved with supporting and promoting Little Andromeda and then anyone who wanted to put on a show, big or small.
I also started weekly Improv classes run by the Court Jesters then later Impulse Theatre NZ. I have performed in various Improv and sketch shows around the city, in late-2021 I had the honour of appearing in the production of “The Boys in the Band” by the Riccarton Players. I even had a brief (but I feel successful) stand-up comedy phase.
These days I just go to shows, (a very heavy schedule going to everything, esp during the Buskers Festival), theres an incredible amount of talent and creativity for consumption here. Its pretty awesome.
Are you a professional critic?
What does that even mean? 😅 No, I can’t usually tell if the lighting was all wrong or if your leading character’s accent slips. I’ll try and follow what’s happening and write whatever I thought I saw happening, and my interpretation of it.
Why do you rate everything two stars?
Given how much talent there is on display in theatre and live performance in NZ I’m pretty much guaranteed to love everything I see. So the star rating of one star will reflect something I found particularly bad (only one show in the last 4 years has met that criteria) and three stars for something that blew my mind (there have been several of these).
The rating has much less value in my opinion than what I can write about how I felt and perceived what I saw.
Why do you say if you fell asleep, isn't that rude?
It can be rude, but also indicates how much attention I was paying relative to what I wrote about the show. After a long day of work and usually a rush from work directly to the show (combined with a medical condition) I'm very tired and sitting in a warm room for 2 hours does put me to sleep 😅. I have fallen asleep before in shows, and I loose focus quickly as a result of enduring 26 years of dead boring church services.
I'll usually try and sit in the front row of shows (I don't mind being picked on by performers) for maximum leg room and less chance of loosing focus.
You came to my show, why didn’t you write anything?
I probably forgot or was moved so deeply I have to take time to digest it, remind me and I will 😅.
How can I contact you?
You can email me at thoughts [at] nice [dot] kiwi or tweet me from the link below. 😊