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.
HAURAKI HORROR
Auckland
04/12/2014 - 20/12/2014
"Silly Seas..
"Ridiculous romp encapsulates the silly season..
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AT THE WAKE
Auckland
25/11/2014 - 06/12/2014
"In the Wake of Genius..
"Underneath hilarious comedy is concern with painful reality of relationships..
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The Paper Cinema’s ODYSSEY
Nelson, Dunedin, Auckland
16/10/2014 - 01/11/2014
"Sophisticated theatrical magic..
"Dionysus would approve..
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IF I ONLY HAD A HEART
Auckland
21/10/2014 - 25/10/2014
"Almost offensively safe..
"Affairs of the Heart..
SONS
Auckland
16/10/2014 - 25/10/2014
"Sins of the parents dominate family drama with laughs thrown in..
"Poignant and heartfelt emotional maelstrom..
STONES IN HIS POCKETS
Auckland
16/10/2014 - 31/10/2014
"Hello hallowed hollow Hollywood..
MANAWA ORA: Stories from the Street
Auckland
15/10/2014 - 18/10/2014
"Say YES to seeing these stories creatively told..
SHIRLEY VALENTINE
Auckland
10/10/2014 - 25/10/2014
"Endearing..
THE COHORT HOTEL
Auckland
03/10/2014 - 05/10/2014
"Engaging script imaginatively brought to life..
MUSIC and ME
Auckland
24/09/2014 - 27/09/2014
"Heartfelt story undermined by direction..
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2014 - taster
Edinburgh, Scotland
08/08/2014 - 31/08/2014
"Alienating, intoxicating, captivating | Exquisite | Highly refined with vitality | Incredibly profound and moving | Spectacle on a massive…..
I AM
Edinburgh, Scotland, Auckland
16/08/2014 - 07/03/2015
"Cosmological figures in play..
"I AM: ASB Theatre..
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EDINBURGH FRINGE 2014 WRAP #3
Edinburgh, Scotland
12/08/2014 - 25/08/2014
"Important questions | Much to offer | Beautiful writing vs frenetic acting | Clever and confident | Largely unimaginative |…..
KAVA GIRLS
Edinburgh, Scotland
10/08/2014 - 25/08/2014
"Genuinely interesting, extremely relevant, needs work..
BARNIE DUNCAN in CALYPSO NIGHTS
Nelson, Wellington, Hamilton, Edinburgh, Scotland, Auckland, Dunedin
01/05/2013 - 07/10/2016
"From bewilderment to dancing via calypso..
"Sexy, mysterious and political..
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THE PIANIST
Nelson, Tauranga, Wellington, Hamilton, Edinburgh, Scotland, Auckland, Kerikeri
21/10/2013 - 23/04/2015
"Exceptionally skilled performance with an extra helping of panache..
"Bravura Recital..
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ECHOLALIA
Edinburgh, Scotland, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch
25/02/2012 - 22/08/2014
"Strong contribution to contemporary clowning and the conversation about autism..
"Fresh and Funny Surprise Package..
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Strange Resting Places
Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, (not a specified venue), Nelson, Edinburgh, Scotland
18/03/2007 - 25/08/2014
"Beautifully constructed, creative and engaging..
"Humour, pain and profound insight shared..
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On The Upside-Down of the World
Auckland, Edinburgh, Scotland, Hamilton, Tauranga, NYC, USA, Nelson, Wanaka, Christchurch, Wellington
01/07/2011 - 25/08/2014
"Interrogating multiple selves..
"Sweet, heartfelt and tenderly funny star performance..
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EDINBURGH FRINGE 2014 WRAP #2
Edinburgh, Scotland
12/08/2014 - 25/08/2014
"Illuminating; Frustratingly safe; A clipped classic; Powerful interrogation..
TAKI MAORI HAKA EXPERIENCE
Edinburgh, Scotland
10/08/2014 - 24/08/2014
"Playful and whimsical..
BLACK GRACE
Edinburgh, Scotland
12/08/2014 - 22/08/2014
"People, story and movement..
THE FACTORY – A Pacific Musical
Edinburgh, Scotland, Auckland
13/08/2011 - 25/08/2014
"Pacific voices asserted..
"A sweet and rhythmic ride with pure Samoan soul..
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