Te Radar has a pas­sion for his­tory. This show has developed over a num­ber of years from an ori­gin­al com­mis­sion by the Christ­ch­urch Arts Fest­iv­al, in con­junc­tion with Te Run­anga o Ngai Tahu, in 2005. There he explored South Island his­tory. Here, he explores some of New Zeal­and’s his­tory. Explorers, high­way­men, invent­ors, and enter­tain­ers are all brought under the spot­light. It’s a strange thing to be in a theatre watch­ing a power­point present­a­tion and enjoy­ing it.

It’s not only the scrip­ted stuff that’s funny. He does a great line in self-deprec­a­tion, invit­ing us to laugh at him laugh­ing at us laugh­ing at him. Watch him closely – a flick of his eyes, a twitch of his mouth adds a lot to his rela­tion­ship with the audi­ence. I got the sense that he’s done a lot of research and that there’s prob­ably 2 or 3 more shows (at least) worth of mater­i­al. It’s really nice to relax into a show know­ing that you will be enter­tained by someone who’s enjoy­ing them­selves.

This is Down­stage’s last main show before they go grey for a while. It’s a return sea­son and it’s still a crack­er.