Quick & Quirky, next Greytown Little Theatre show

Reviewed by Angela Yeoman

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This satisfying smorgasbord began with a tentative overture for the appetiser, moved on to a courtly pie, progressed with a sorbet palate cleanser, then served up a main course of such distinction that it filled the senses with richness. A short pause for digestion was followed by a dessert of apple pie and custard, a serving of port wine, and a rounding off with cheese and crackers (with a helping of quince paste and fresh figs).

We’re talking, of course, about Quick & Quirky, Greytown Little Theatre’s latest show being performed until Sunday 24 May at Studio 73. It’s a feast of seven short performances, mostly
written by writers from Aotearoa New Zealand.

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The appetiser Sing Like a Canary is a short piece written by Dunedin-based police prosecutor and playwright Tim Hambleton. Actors Sean Wilton, Anna Logan and Hannah Wilton had a fun script with which to perfect their craft, made up almost entirely of lines from famous songs. The plot skillfully negotiated an interview with a suspected arsonist and a budding relationship between the cops.

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Well-known courtly gentlemen Steve Lillyston and Graeme Burnard read historical Letters of Note relating to significant composers, each set to the relevant music. The letter about Mozart came from Antonio Salieri; he described his rival’s work as the “voice of God”. The letter about a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was written by Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind. She described the throb and urge of passion as well as the tender sounds that could be felt just by touching the radio’s mechanism, as the New York Symphony Orchestra played in 1924. This courtly dish was rounded off with readings of poignant letters exchanged between Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen before their deaths in 2016 - “so long Marianne”.

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Kuranui students Finn-Oskar Mikkelsen, Heath Dunnet, and Owen Wos took to the stage with fearless gusto to give us the palate cleanser of Improvised Games, with topics supplied by the audience. The joy and skill that these students bring to the stage is infectious. ​

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Masterton teacher and celebrant, James Riley, directed by the accomplished Richard Brooks, then served up an extraordinary performance of the Lament from Greg McGee’s Foreskin’s Lament. This was the main course of the evening. Foreskin, the character’s nickname, provides a grim critique of Aotearoa’s rugby culture and identity following the murder of the rugby team’s captain by one of the players.

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First performed in 1980, Foreskin’s Lament is a denunciation of the violent red-neck culture of rugby prevalent at the time. In the context of the current global rolling back of human rights for women, indigenous peoples, migrants, and the LGBT+ community - and the geopolitical push towards violence over dialogue - the challenge stands: “whaddarya” and what do we want to be as people and a society?

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Riley says he’s been acting since he was a teenager; a model for our fantastic Kuranui students. He says his rendition of Foreskin’s lament about the death of the captain drew on his personal experiences of grief from the passing of his father and the death of a close friend who had also once acted in Foreskin’s Lament. The actor’s authenticity, combined with the director’s skill and decades of experience as a drama teacher, took the audience’s breath away. We were privileged to be given a glimpse into a raw but nuanced exploration of identity.

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After the interval, accomplished director Lynn Bushell worked her magic with talented actors Jo Crimp and student Mikkelsen. The short play No Present Like the Time, written by Christchurch playwright Marilyn Ollett, is a wonderful interplay between a mother and son about the father’s shortcomings. This satisfying serving of apple pie with custard produced two surprises in quick succession in the final spoonful: one tragic and the other both huge, and a relief. The acting was a delight.

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Looking every inch the part of Theodore Roosevelt, actor Jonty Austin served up port wine in The Bully Pulpit, a self-written interpretation of the life and times of one of America’s greatest presidents - one who did win the Nobel Peace Prize. Hearty and wholesome, performed for the first time and directed by Julia Harris, Austin’s performance encompassed ‘Teddy’s’ care of family, people, health, nature, and the world. Austin did not need to explicitly note the difference between Roosevelt’s reign and that of some other presidents.

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Bookending the feast with another serving from police prosecutor and playwright, Tim Hambleton, gifted local actors Victoria Ross and Greg Webb gave us more than just cheese and crackers with their performance of Better Say a Prayer for Me.

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Both this play and Sing Like a Canary were being performed for the first time, and both under the tutelage of seasoned director John Gilberthorpe. Actors Ross and Webb were superb; their easy banter expertly supporting the exchange between a female and male praying mantis, when only one of them knows what awaits the male after consummation.

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Supported by Julia Harris as stage manager, and with lighting and sound from Alan De La Mare and Zac Winterwood, Quick & Quirky is a feast fit for kings and queens.