The Height of the Eiffel Tower @ NYC FRINGE 'It's perfect!' Reviewed by AndrewAndrew, 18th August, 2010 timeoutny.com
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The Height of the Eiffel Tower @ NYC FRINGE 'This show is a joy.' (EXERPT) Reviewed by Kate McGill, 16th August, 2010 theatreview.org.nz
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"Abigail Greenwood has astutely and thoughtfully directed this one woman show, and she and Morgana O’Reilly combined, clearly have great aptitude for comic timing.
With nothing but a chair onstage, the visual element is enlivened by simple lighting shifts and the choreography of the piece. It is well orchestrated, well-observed and its tight and tender moments have been given space and breath just when we need it...
...Morgana O’Reilly displays wonderful artistry; effortlessly morphing from character to character with vocal dexterity, physical panache and specificity. She and Abigail Greenwood have orchestrated a tight show that wonderfully intercuts full-blown belly laughs with softer, more intimate moments.
As for the Americans … One always wonders if taking a country specific piece is going to resonate overseas, especially when it comes from New Zealand and half the world thinks we’re part of Australia. But the witty writing, laughs throughout, inspiring ending, and a full standing ovation melt that worry away.
As we exit the theatre, a man says loudly, “Is she in Flight of the Conchords?”
“No,” someone replies.
“Well, she should be!” he says. I concur."
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The Height of the Eiffel Tower @ NYC FRINGE 'Fifty charming minutes of family exposé with a big pay off at the end.' Reviewed by Terra Vetter, 18th August, 2010 theasy.com
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"Terri Hulme (played by Morgana O'Reilly) is raising four reasonably average kids, is married to a suitable enough man, lives a relatively comfortable life, but is neither happy nor content. Upon first walking out of The Height of The Eiffel Tower I wasn't quite sure what the show was about, but the show grew richer upon further reflection. For about an hour O'Reilly portrays different members of the Hulme family in moments that are often funny, but never really significant. Thirteen-year-old Nathan Hulme delivers a speech about fish. Sixteen and pregnant, Anna-Louisa Hume takes every moment she has to ensure that someone else is annoyed. And Kate Hume tells stories about her adventures abroad. Nothing stands out until the last two minutes, when Terri Hulme reads a letter she left to her husband announcing her departure from the family. She leaves her husband and pregnant daughter in what is not a terribly dramatic moment on stage, but one that resonates in its calmness afterwards. The Height of the Eiffel Tower is ultimately about mediocrity being terrifying, and in this it speaks loudly.
Lest I leave anyone thinking that this is a very serious piece, I should also praise O'Reilly's comedic timing. The very beginning of the play, in which she stages a fight between the sulky Nathan and the pregnant Anna-Louisa, stands out as a particularly good moment. O'Reilly is one of the rare solo performers who defines her characters so specifically and skillfully that it's easy to forget she's the only one up there. The fifty minutes speed by; The Height of the Eiffel Tower is definitely worth the time."
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The Height of the Eiffel Tower @ NYC FRINGE 'SLEEK AND WELL-PACED' Recommended by Michelle Rodriguez, 17th August, 2010 newyorktheatrereview.blogspot.com
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Hey Fringe-goers! Just saw a touching, funny one-woman show called "The Height of the Eiffel Tower," coming all the.way from New Zealand! From the moment the play begins, the audience is greeted with Morgana O'Reilly's quirky character... well, four characters. O'Reilly, who co-wrote the piece with director Abigail Greenwood, portrays the Hulmes, a modern dysfunctional family, dealing with nostalgia and the struggles of growing up in New Zealand. O'Reilly's transitions between characters are rapid and very clear--I've never seen such a comical, rapid-fire brother and sister fight - complete with Mum's intervention - all played by one person!
Sleek and well-paced, "The Height of the Eiffel Tower" captured the essence of a wide range of ages and experiences within the family: Duncan, an awkward but sincere pre-teen, Anna Louise, a pregnant teenager, Katie, the eldest daughter soul-searching in Europe, all held together by Terry, an unhappy housewife trying to prove otherwise. Simple all-black costume, no elaborate lighting, simply O'Reilly's subtle vocal changes transport the audience directly into the individual stories of the Hulme family.
This show is what the Fringe is all about: relevant, relatable, and simple to mount. O'Reilly's stunning ability to immediately soften a moment, to intensify a comedic situation, and to draw the audience in with each character's portrayal make this a solo show worth catching. Oh, and it's also hysterical."
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The Height of the Eiffel Tower @ NYC FRINGE 'Lovably disfunctional' (EXCERPT) Reviewed by Avi Glickstein, 14th August, 2010 nytheatre.com
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Like any one-person show, The Height of the Eiffel Tower, playing at the East 4th Street Theater as part of the New York International Fringe Festival this year, began as a nail-biter. The beginnings of plays are always terrifying for an audience—after all, they're trapped in a room with them for at least the better part of an hour—but even more so when solo performances are involved. We put ourselves into the hands of one person and hope that the risk pays off, because there really is nowhere else to turn. Luckily, after a few minutes of watching Morgana O'Reilly tornado her way through the members of one lovably dysfunctional New Zealand family, I slowly moved my nails away from my teeth, happy to spend some time with this whirling dervish of an actor.
...The school speech that Terri's son Nathan gives on the sex life of New Zealand's many species of fish is at once hilariously endearing and terribly painful to watch. In Nathan, O'Reilly captures both the excitement of an astoundingly bright and curious child to share information he considers immeasurably fascinating and the terror that he feels in sharing it, knowing that his classmates will probably make him pay for it later. Meeting Nathan should be reason enough to see this show.
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The Height of the Eiffel Tower 'AN EXCEPTIONAL PIECE OF WORK ON COUNTLESS LEVELS'(EXCERPT) Reviewed by Lillian Richards, 19th April, 2010 theatreview.org.nz
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"...Writer/performer Morgana O’Reilly – directed and dramaturged perfectly, seamlessly
and obviously with great understanding by Abigail Greenwood – evokes a cast of
characters that form around nothing but a Persian rug and a chair to resemble
a working class family and a catalogue of cameos that are as touching and distinct
as the main characters...
...What struck me the most about this performance – and this is hard to whittle down
because I could speak about the clarity and precision with which O’Reilly goes from
one character to the next or the brilliance of the script, how tight and delightful
it is, how completely uncompromising in its reality and humour, in its near
preternatural insights – was the levity of it all..."
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