Other Productions

MUSIC VIDEOS

The Phoenix Foundation – 40 Years (2009)

… Running Man

The Phoenix Foundation – Bright Grey (2007)

… Man in a Car

Age Pryor – Shanks’ Pony (2007)

… a cameo

all directed by Taika

ON STAGE

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs 2.0 (2012)

> blog news about Taika in the play

Only Sukkie Bubbas Use Laser Guns (2002)

… Chuck, Tina and many other characters

Written and performed by Adam Gardiner, Bret McKenzie and Taika Cohen.

Recorded in front of an audience at Bats Theatre, Wellington, all the music, sound effects and characters are created and performed live by the three actors.

A comedy science fiction, the story is of an unholy love between man and machine set against an alien invasion.

THE BACCHANALS’ plays (2000)

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

… Othello

“The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” by William Shakespeare
14 October – 4 November 2000
Apartment 8, 21 Marion St, Wellington
Cast:
Taika Cohen (Othello), Carey Smith (Iago), Eve Middleton (Emilia), James Stewart (Roderigo), Alex Greig (Cassio), Mark Cleary (Montano), Phil Grieve (Brabantio), Rebecca Lawrence (Desdemona), Michael Ness (Duke, Clown, Lodovico), Judith Wayers (Senator, Gratiano), John Porter (Messenger, Musician), Abigail Margetts (Senator, Bianca)
Production Manager Eve Middleton
Music by Jemaine Clement & Bret McKenzie
Directed by David Lawrence

“A Moorish Captain takes to wife a Venetian Lady, and his Ensign accuses her to her husband of adultery; he desires the Ensign to kill the man whom he believes to be the adulterer; the Captain kills his wife and is accused by the Ensign. The Moor does not confess, but on clear indications of his guilt he is banished; and the scoundrelly Ensign, thinking to injure others, brings a miserable end on himself.”
[…]
In October 2000 The Bacchanals staged Shakespeare’s Othello in a warehouse apartment on Marion Street, with Taika Cohen playing the title role and Carey Smith as Iago. The show’s principle agenda was to heighten the intensity of the play by placing it in a tiny, intimate space and to demonstrate how easily Shakespearean language can be made to sound like normal everyday speech. The Dominion’s Tim O’Brien said “this is an Othello that gets everything that really matters right” and said the production was “a great reminder of how understandable and vital Shakespeare is when approached with serious thought but without solemnity”.

> Othello page
> Reviews on Othello

The Frogs

… Dionysus

“The Frogs” by Aristophanes
29 February – 11 March 2000
Outdoor Amphitheatre, Studio 77; 77 Fairlie Terrace, Wellington
Cast:
Taika Cohen (Dionysus), Carey Smith (Xanthias), Charlie Bleakley (Heracles, Pluto), Thomas McGinty (Corpse, Chorus), James Stewart (Charon, Second Landlady, Elderly Slave, Chorus), Eve Middleton (First Landlady, Chorus), Rebecca Lawrence (Aeacus, Chorus), Jemaine Clement (Aeschylus), Bret McKenzie (Euripides), Abigail Margetts (Maid of Persephone, Chorus)
Music composed by Jemaine Clement & Bret McKenzie
Greek dancing choreographed by Miranda & Vana Manasiadis
Frog masks constructed by Carey Smith
Text adapted and directed by David Lawrence

To save the city of Athens from artistic death, Dionysus (God of Theatre) and his trusty servant Xanthias travel to Hell to bring back a dead playwright, because all the living ones are crap.
[…]
Aristophanes’ 405BC comedy The Frogs performed in the Studio 77 amphitheatre as part of 2000 Fringe Festival in Wellington. The show was a huge success with the venue packed to twice its capacity on some nights of the two-week season. The media said The Frogs was “extremely accurate and hilariously funny,” “a comic highlight of Fringe 2000” and “deceptively ramshackle”.