REVIEW: Dumped (Comedy Festival)
I don't know how to say this, but... [by James Wenley]
Dumped
If it hasn’t happened to you you’re either extremely fortunate, like to get in first, or lying.
Dumped is the title of the comedy play, and the firm subject. The characters – four bar staff and a particularly boozy customer each have their own take on the condition and rules of being both dumped and dumped-ee.
Work becomes awkward when Andy (Andrew Clay) breaks up with Fiona (Rachel Blampied)… via txt. She thinks this is an offensive way to do it, he says there is no good way of letting someone down. In the role of mediator is bar owner Mickey (Michael Saccente) who offers his years of experience as perspective, as well as some suitably salt-rimmed cocktail quips.
REVIEW: Richard Meros Salutes the Southern Man (Comedy Festival)
Politically Aware and Intelligent Humour, now with Bonus FlyBuy Points! [by Rosabel Tan]
Richard Meros and Friends!
These are tough times. There’s the global financial crisis. Climate change. John Key. And Richard Meros, once a leading academic specialising in Helen Clark’s specific niche – can no longer earn a living. And so he turns to the world for a solution, and finds it in that lone figure staring across the plains: the Southern Man.
As with On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover, Meros, played by Arthur Meek, uses a gorgeously rendered PowerPoint presentation to convince us of his thesis in inspired and imaginative ways. Drawing on visual jokes, live-action shadow puppetry and a short-lived bout of pyrotechnics, Meros explains in bullet-point form his search for the Southern Man, the figure he believes will be our modern-day hero.
REVIEW: Bombs Away! – A Musical (Comedy Festival)
Bombs Away!: Who you [not] gonna call? [by Sharu Delilkan]
Three buffoons trying to diffuse bombs -- disaster is inevitable!
There is no secret that ‘there will be bombs’ in the brand new comedy-musical Bombs Away!.
The hilarious script written by Nic Sampson, Ryan Richards and Barnaby Fredric, complemented by a full-length musical score from Joseph Moore, can only be described as absurd, uplifting, full of life and the height of silliness.
The opening track includes a call to Muslim prayer followed by a song with Muslims and burkahs, but the show is not about Muslims and bombing. Although not Muslim myself, but having grown up in Malaysia I was pleasantly surprised that the writers decided not to resort to Muslim-bashing to make and tell their fantastical story. Instead the focus is on three NZ Bomb Academy dropouts A.D. (Nic Sampson), Matt Baker (Ryan Richards) and Ben (Calum Gittins) who couldn’t defuse a bomb if their lives depended on it.
REVIEW: Janey Godley: The Godley Hour (Comedy Festival)
Janey Godley – Nobody spared [by Sharu Delilkan]
Janey got a gun (her mouth) and she ain't scared to use it.
An impressive crowd was assembled in The Classic for Janey Godley’s entrance despite it being a cold and wet Monday evening.
However it was only when she got on stage that my husband realised that the woman who had been smoking right next to us was the one and only Godley. That basically sums Godley up – understated but with something to say. Further emphasised by the fact that she was outside 10 seconds after the show selling her autobiography, Handstands in the Dark.
Proudly Scottish, which some comedians would play more on, Godley is just naturally funny from the get-go.
Her off the cuff reaction to restless audience members who tried to light a candle at the table and who talk loudly to their friends, at the start of the show, make you a tad nervous to move in case you got picked on. But when the audience settled so did she.
REVIEW: Constantinople (Comedy Festival)
An Experience Not to be Missed (And If You Did, It’s Too Late, Shame on You) [by Rosabel Tan]
Constantinople
Crowded at the bottom of the stairs to the Wintergarden are a chorus of ladies (and a few men) in togas. As we descend, one of them kisses us on the cheek, another offers us grapes, and yet another points us towards our table, nestled in the centre of the cabaret-style seating.
Given the warm welcome, it’s unsurprising that the crowd are in lively spirits – it’s also late, and in true bacchanalian fashion the liquor is flowing and for a moment the atmosphere feels more party than pre-show, but then the lights dim and Barnie Duncan and Trygve Wakenshaw hit the stage. Kicking things off with a rendition of Istanbul (Not Constantinople), what follows is a loose history of this “city of syllables”, presented in a series of sketches that are charming and absurd in equal measure.
INTERVIEW: Ben Anderson on The Suicidal Airplane, New Zealand’s first Graphic Play!
Scripting Images [by James Wenley]
The Suicidal Airplane by Ben Anderson
Auckland playwright Ben Anderson’s latest play is not your standard script. Published by The Play Press, The Suicidal Airplane is being claimed as New Zealand’s first published ‘Graphic Play’.
It’s part of a slowly emerging trend to make plays in graphic form, presenting ideas and scenes in images as well as words. Ben’s play, reproduced in full colour, is described as Draft One. Draft Two “is, and must be, the actual production.”
Play Press says that in reading the play “It quickly becomes clear that what at first sight might appear to be an attractive piece of whimsy about an angst-ridden plane is actually a profound, perfectly structured, hauntingly beautiful, funny, wise and magical story, with a surprisingly tough little backbone.”
Ben, who recently presented delightfully visual play This Kitchen is Not Imaginary at the Basement, answered my questions about his intriguing play, and equally intriguing format…
The Suicidal Airplane is billed as NZ’s first ‘Graphic Play’ – what does this mean?
Basically the play is written using words and also pictures. The idea is that everything on each page should be produced on stage whether that be the written text (as in a conventional script) or a comic strip or a drawing of some kind. It also means that written text may not be on the page conventionally - the layout of each bit of the page is also important to how it's 'read' and how it should be interpreted.
REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Auckland Theatre Company)
Fancy a Puck? [by James Wenley]
Puck's got Swagger
At the end of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, hobgoblin Puck famously excuses all that has gone before as a “weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream”. If so, it was a fantastic and crazy dream that the audience collectively dreamed in the theatre. While Puck undersells the thematic depths of the play, Auckland Theatre’s Company’s fast and furious streamlined show (no interval!) emphasises the fun and farce of love gone very, very wrong.
Midsummer Night’s Dream, though taking inspiration from several sources, is credited as being Shakespeare’s only original plot. It’s one of his most popular too – a comic plot that sees a love quadrangle of miss-matched Athenian youths Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius enter the woods, which also contains a group of amateur actors rehearsing a play for the wedding of Duke Theseus (Peter Daube) to his exotic bride Hippolyta (Goretti Chadwick), as well as being the home of mischievous fairies, reigned over by feuding lovers King Oberon (Xavier Horan) and Queen Titania (Alison Bruce).
I wish my own dreams looked like this. An almost unbearably bright red raked stage looks out at us, a fittingly unbalanced playing space which at various times the actors climb, slide and leap off. No subtly here then – the red of fervent passion and desire dominates. The gloriously styled black and white fashions of the four lovers – including Brooke Williams’ Hermia school girl burlesque chic topped with an upside-down cupcake tutu, and Josh McKenzie’s wrapped in a foppishly large bow tie and ankle high socks, take a bow designer Nic Smillie – gets considerably skimpier the longer the play goes on. Goretti Chadwick’s Hippolyta, going against received interpretation, is rather into her Theseus. And there are enough bare-chested men to rival the wolf pack of the Twilight films.
REVIEW: Jason Byrne – People’s Puppeteer (Comedy Festival)
Jason 'Byrnes' Bright [by Sharu Delilkan]
Jason Byrne in his riverdancing get-up.
Waiting for Jason Byrne to begin his first show in New Zealand gave me the chance scan the room. Strangely Q Theatre had stuck a ‘Q’ sticker on the back of each chair to make sure we knew where we were. Thanks guys!
When Byrne came on stage he was greeted by great fanfare and the mood was equally ‘awesome’. A word Byrne never heard over the next hour but one that would be displayed through the audience participation in the show. All I will say is: little did he know what was to come.
At every opportunity he included the audience and their reaction seemed to epitomise a distinct clash of cultures. And however many Irish he found in the crowd, the Kiwi responses from the audience seemed to dumbfound and delight Byrne at every turn.
He seemed genuinely chuffed to be in Aotearoa for the first time and his childish yet sometimes gullible nature was both refreshing and entertaining throughout.
PREVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Auckland Theatre Company)
In Love with Shakespeare [by Sharu Delilkan]
(L-R) Xavier Horan (Oberon) rehearsing with theatre stalwart Raymond Hawthorne (Puck)Photo by Edward Peni
It has been a journey of self-discovery for Xavier Horan, particularly since he has gone from being a ‘Shakespeare-phobe’ to acting in two of his plays within a matter of months.
Horan, who has recently performed at The Globe Theatre London in the ground breaking Maori production of Troilus and Cressida, is extremely excited about his role as Oberon in Auckland Theatre Company's latest production A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He is equally chuffed about being part of the 18-strong stellar cast which includes father daughter duo Stuart Devenie (Egeus) and Laurel Devenie (Helena) as well as Alison Bruce (Titania), Goretti Chadwick (Hippolyta), Peter Daube (Theseus), Andrew Grainger (Bottom), Raymond Hawthorne (Puck), Rima Te Wiata (Peter Quince) and Brooke Williams (Hermia).
A Midsummer Night's Dream features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.
Horan admits that the whole Shakespeare experience was very scary at first, due to the fact that he was treading on unfamiliar territory. However he says working closely with veteran thespian Hawthorne has been his saving grace.
REVIEW: Yeti is Dead / I am Tom (Comedy Festival)
Yeti Strikes Back [by James Wenley]
Yeti is Dead?
When we last saw Yeti, she had been shot by a jealous Yvette Parsons after the Himalayan visitor had started an affair with Yvette’s husband, Thomas Sainsbury....
That would seem to have been the end of our beloved Yeti. That is, until the sequel. Turns out Yeti isn’t dead, but has been in a coma for months, watched on by a distraught Tom.
For the last few years round comedy festival time I've looked forward to the off-the-wall comedies of Natalie Medlock and Dan Musgrove (A Song for the Ugly Kids, The Giant Face). Last year’s Dan is Dead / I Am a Yeti, which told the story of aspiring filmmaker Yeti moving in with Tom and Yvette was the team’s funniest.
As I wrote in last year’s review:
This show had the best ratio of belly laughs to length that I can recall. Safe in the fluffy white Yeti suit (which still manages to show off Natalie’s shapely legs), Natalie can get away with ANYTHING. All three performers in fact are refreshingly without shame, and the show contains some rather entertaining gross-out humour and unfortunate seductions - the show likes to push, and revels in the gasps of audience reaction.
There really isn’t any other performer like Natalie Medlock. She is a wholly unique talent: charming, gorgeous, master of the silly voice, and willing to subject herself to all kinds of indignities. And did I mention she is beyond funny? Her Yeti creation is her best yet (topping even her headless character from A Song for the Ugly Kids), with an inherently funny accent, fantastic quirky mannerisms... and a dangerous need to connect to people.