Review Archive
Dione Joseph is a writer, director and dramaturge. She has an academic and practical background in live performance and her work has an emphasis on culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Over the past ten years she has directed a range of productions including new dramas by contemporary writers, classics and their adaptations, experimental works, musicals, comedies and community-based theatre productions in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. She has also been active as a stage critic for both dance and theatre and has engaged with a variety of topical issues as an arts journalist.
Dione has also held various residencies and fellowships in the UK, China, Mexico, Canada and the USA and is the recipient of numerous awards for theatre including the Lorna Stirling Theatre Award (2012), a Creative Young Stars Australian government grant (2013), the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Award (2013) and has been invited twice as a guest scholar and Artist in Residence to the University of Saskatchewan (2014/15).
She is the first New Zealander to have been awarded a place at the prestigious Lincoln Centre directors’ lab in New York (2014) and was the only New Zealand critic to have been shortlisted for the Allen Wright media award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2014). In the past Dione has been a senior theatre critic at Australian Stage, arts editor at Melbourne City Newspaper and features writer at Aussie Theatre.
Currently based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Dione writes for Theatreview, The Big Idea, DANZ (Dance Aotearoa NZ) and her reviews can also be found on Radio NZ.
Welcome to the review archive.
Theatre and dance reviews since 2006.
BADJELLY THE WITCH
Auckland
09/07/2016 - 23/07/2016
"Smart, whimsical, larger-than-life..
PURAPURAWHETŪ
Auckland
06/07/2016 - 16/07/2016
"It is the Mana that shines through..
"One of New Zealand’s most absorbing plays..
Manaia - short works premiere season
Auckland
05/07/2016 - 09/07/2016
"New works in development..
"Manaia-connected choreographies..
More reviews
TRANSFER
Wellington, Auckland
29/06/2016 - 07/07/2016
"Experimental and traditional dance works face to face..
"Unforgettable dance experiences..
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LA VIE DANS UNE MARIONETTE
Auckland, Havelock North, Wellington
28/02/2013 - 25/03/2017
"Impeccable timing, grace and skill..
"Exhilaratingly funny, sad and heart-warming..
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MEDEA
Auckland
16/06/2016 - 09/07/2016
"Reworking turns classic tale of vengeance on its head..
"Poignant and well-executed..
Wahinetoa
Auckland
15/06/2016 - 16/06/2016
"Celebrating Pasifika women's choreography..
"Rich and absorbing personal narratives..
THE ELEPHANT THIEF
Hamilton, Nelson, Wellington, New Plymouth, Auckland
05/12/2015 - 02/07/2016
"Stealing the Show..
"Immensely talented cast but play feels lost and confused..
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Mana Wahine
Hamilton, Rotorua, Auckland, Dunedin, Napier, Wellington
15/02/2014 - 26/06/2016
"Two years after debut, Mana Wahine still an unforgettable performance..
"Embracing the inherent power of mana wahine as a collective force..
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ICE AGE LIVE! A Mammoth Show on Ice
Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton
13/05/2016 - 29/05/2016
"Over-stimulation detracts from engagement..
"Makes the world of the film tangible and immediate..
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MOVE
Auckland
21/04/2016 - 04/06/2016
"Significant cultural tāonga..
"When the the lights came up I hear a teenage daughter lean over to her father and say with a…..
WHITE/OTHER
Auckland
12/04/2016 - 21/04/2016
"Smart theatrics..
"White Noise..
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SEVEN DEADLY MONOLOGUES
Auckland
06/04/2016 - 09/04/2016
"Memorable moments in monologues of varying quality and strength..
THE WHOLEHEARTED
Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Auckland
18/03/2016 - 27/09/2017
"Leaves us feeling more full of life than when we arrived..
"So Many Soapboxes, So Little Time..
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LITTLE CHILD OF MIRACLE
Auckland
29/03/2016 - 01/04/2016
"A thing made-with-joy..
"Yet to deliver on its promise..
THE JAMES PLAYS
Auckland
05/03/2016 - 05/03/2016
"Scotland plays no games..
"Two Critics with the Egos of Three Kings..
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NOT IN OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
Wellington, Auckland, Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, Palmerston North
01/03/2014 - 24/06/2017
"Devastating yet wanted more..
"The importance of this work cannot be overstated..
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THE TEMPEST
Auckland
01/03/2016 - 13/03/2016
"Solid theatrical fare punctuated with comic relief..
IF THERE’S NOT DANCING AT THE REVOLUTION, I’M NOT COMING…
Auckland, Wellington, Edinburgh, Scotland, Nelson, Invercargill
02/09/2015 - 10/05/2018
"A riot – in every sense..
"Uplifting despite harsh message..
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THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Auckland
11/02/2016 - 05/03/2016
"Phantom of the Civic a lavishly romantic spectacle..
"Succeeds in the quality of its talents..
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PUZZY
Auckland
09/02/2016 - 13/02/2016
"Poetry from the Puzzy..
"Brave, engaging and necessary..
HART
Wellington, Auckland
02/02/2016 - 24/02/2016
"Reveals the pain felt by the stolen generation and those that followed them..
"An impressionistic representation..
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I, PEASEBLOSSOM
Auckland
08/12/2015 - 12/12/2015
"Whanau-friendly ‘skip through fields and flowers’..
"Ready!..
