Review Archive
Dr Vanessa Byrnes is an award-winning director, actor, producer and performance teacher who’s worked extensively in film and theatre in New Zealand and overseas. She has led and collaborated on more than 150 theatre and screen productions during the past 25 years in everything from independent, self-funded works to major international productions. This includes numerous feature films, short films, television commercials/drama, radio, and theatre. She is a passionate advocate of the power of creativity, the significance of the role of the artist in society, and the quality and innovation of New Zealand work. She is currently Head of Creative Industries at Unitec (Auckland).
In 2000 Vanessa was the first Australasian to assistant-direct at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, staging The Two Noble Kinsmen for the Globe’s main stage with director Tim Carroll and the Red Company at The Globe. In 2015 she directed a heavily-cut and highly contemporary version of Antony and Cleopatra for Unitec’s third year actors, which was recently reworked for 9 shows at Auckland’s Pop-up Globe theatre season (28 March- 9 April 2016).
Vanessa was Senior Acting tutor and Manager of the Acting Department at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School; in over 11 years there she also taught acting and directed productions at Toi Whakaari and Victoria University. In tertiary environments and professionally, she has directed many classic, contemporary, devised and text-based theatre productions.
Vanessa trained at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School (Acting, 1994) and Waikato University (MA, 1992: PhD, 2015). Her doctorate focussed on directing, looking at the praxis of selected New Zealand text-based theatre directors. She is currently writing further in this area. She has held senior leadership roles for various arts education bodies, and freelances under her own production company. Vanessa is a past Board Member of Downstage Theatre, Playmarket, the Shakespeare Globe Centre (NZ) and TAPAC: The Auckland Performing Arts Centre. As a director she brings compassion, rigour and craft to the table.
Welcome to the review archive.
Theatre and dance reviews since 2006.
Hotel
Invercargill, Christchurch, Wanaka, Tauranga, Taupo, Wellington
09/02/2007 - 30/05/2014
"Secret lives in common..
"Hotel Secrets..
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The Butler
Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch
09/06/2006 - 16/10/2010
"Dinner party evoked through dream-like logic, comedy, disturbances, visually rich mobile tableaux …..
"Magnificent!..
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Ship Songs
Hamilton, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Arrowtown, Paraparaumu, Wanaka
06/08/2008 - 07/04/2012
"Ship Songs Sparkles..
"Poignant, rollicking, tragic, lyrical, cheering and stirring..
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Apollo 13: Mission Control
Auckland, Hamilton
20/07/2009 - 15/08/2009
"A fun experience with real dramatic tension..
"An interactive treat: ‘Failure is not an option’..
Cuban Carousel
Tauranga, Wellington
24/04/2009 - 25/04/2009
"History made accessible through energetic dance and music..
Letter to Blanchy: Stir Crazy
Christchurch, Tauranga
29/03/2008 - 27/02/2009
"Rooted in its origins..
"Audience well hooked in the end..
500 Letters
Tauranga, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Nelson, Wellington, Auckland
12/10/2006 - 04/10/2008
"Trusting truth..
"Memorable memoir with music and inventive projections..
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On The Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark taking me as her Young Lover
Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin
15/01/2008 - 27/09/2008
"Meros for office!..
"Perfect timing..
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Compleat Female Stage Beauty
Hamilton
13/08/2008 - 16/08/2008
"Shakespeare, Sex & Stanislavsky channelled in rich, ugly, beautiful play..
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