…well the stage itself will be lit up like a Christ­mas tree but the bar and exte­ri­ors will be lit by can­dles for Earth Hour.

 Sat­ur­day is the clos­ing night for Pick of the Fringe at Down­stage, if the whirl of Fringe and the New Zealand Inter­na­tion­al Arts Fes­ti­val has passed you by this year you can still catch two out­stand­ing shows at Down­stage. 

The­atre is an expe­ri­ence to be shared and both shows on offer are real­ly acces­si­ble as well as being ‘Fringe’, so you could take you sis­ter or your boyfriend or your work col­league.  You can see both shows for $40 which is very rea­son­able.

back/words is a piece of doc­u­men­tary the­atre with per­for­mances that focus on being com­plete­ly faith­ful to the source of the sto­ry.  The source being in this case, filmed inter­views with peo­ple that have been loose­ly framed around impor­tant ‘firsts’.  Out of hours and hours of footage they have shaped a the­atre length show full of humor and emo­tion.

All of the cast wear ipods which are play­ing the dia­logue as they per­form it, ven­quil­itrist the­atre if you will.  This device works but the sto­ries them­selves are what draw you in as the actors switch from elder­ly cou­ple, to gay man, to eight year old girl, to bogan with true com­mit­ment and skill.
 

 Wannabe was a mas­sive hit with the judges at Fringe Fes­ti­val, win­ning best solo show but also rock­ing some seri­ous satire and straight up com­e­dy gold.  This man is a one man boy band with the act­ing chops to have you keep­ing up with the char­ac­ter changes and wav­ing your hands in the air like you just don’t care.
 
Yeeeaaah girl.
 
Go, it will be fun.  Take some­one you wan­na get close to and spend some time at the can­dle lit bar per­haps…
 
 
 
 

 Pho­to cred­it: Domini­ka Zielin­s­ka