Jonathan Brugh’s one-man play The Sec­ond Test returns to Welling­ton, this time play­ing at Cir­ca.

The Sec­ond Test tells the amaz­ing true-life sto­ry of New Zealand crick­eter Bob Blair, whose fiancee Ner­is­sa Love was trag­i­cal­ly killed in the Tangi­wai dis­as­ter while Bob was in South Africa on tour with the New Zealand crick­et team (also the sub­ject of an upcom­ing tele­film).

The play has a love­ly New Zealand flavour to it, com­plete with that under­stat­ed Kiwi char­ac­ter that gives this sport­ing sto­ry a del­i­cate feel­ing. Com­ing in the wake of the Pike Riv­er dis­as­ter, it’s a reminder of how there are always per­son­al sto­ries behind every nation­al tragedy.

But it’s not all tragedy — there are plen­ty of com­ic moments, and Jonathan Brugh cap­tures the high-jinks of a bunch of young dudes going on a big over­seas trip togeth­er. Actu­al home movie footage tak­en by one of the team adds to the sense of excite­ment the lads must have felt set­ting foot in the exot­ic coun­try.

Upon see­ing The Sec­ond Test at its first Welling­ton run at Bats, Welling­ton­ista and crick­et nerd Dan Slevin remarked:

Brugh’s play is a mov­ing and beau­ti­ful­ly act­ed treat­ment of the sto­ry. He plays dozens of parts (Blair & Love; crick­eters Rabone, Reid, Sut­cliffe, etc; Prime Min­is­ter Sid Hol­land) and imbues them all with fine detail and a sweet com­ic sen­si­bil­i­ty. He brings, not just the game to life, but the era – a dif­fer­ent age.

Old­er mem­bers of the audi­ence enjoyed the nos­tal­gic look back at 1950s New Zealand, crick­et (radio com­men­tary via tele­graph!) and the Tangi­wai dis­as­ter, while for those of us not old enough to remem­ber that time, it’s an eye-open­er into the way things use to be — and a well told, bloody good sto­ry.

The Sec­ond Test
Cir­ca The­atre
Runs until 23 Decem­ber