Wow this week is FULL of shows and there’s a par­ty at the end of it. Let’s go!

Hud­son & Halls is still going strong at the Han­nah Play­house. I loved it, Mr Goul­ter loved it, the Welling­ton The­atre Awards judges loved it. Don’t miss it.

Across the road at BATS The­atre Musique Roman­tique, Stand up love, and Wine Lips all pre­view tonight. In Musique Roman­tique per­former Matthew Pike presents this col­lec­tion of 19th cen­tu­ry songs, pro­cured specif­i­cal­ly for their time­less beau­ty and emo­tive qual­i­ties. In Stand up love “Fred­dy is a come­di­an and has a drink­ing prob­lem. Ana has some­thing she does­n’t want him to know. Their rela­tion­ship has prob­lems but they love each oth­er. Isn’t that enough? A bril­liant dark com­e­dy that rips the scabs off of rela­tion­ships past, present and future and asks if you can face up to the open wounds.” Writ­ten by Gavin McGib­bon and direct­ed by Adam Goodall. Final­ly at BATS, Wine Lips invites you into the back­stage world of the the­atri­cal per­former. “Scot­ty has invit­ed actor and ex-girl­friend Brit to share a bot­tle of wine with him. She brings the wine, he brings the unpleas­ant mem­o­ries. They both bring the quar­ter life cri­sis.” Writ­ten by Sam Brooks and direct­ed by Stel­la Reid.

Brooks has anoth­er play on. Rid­ing in Cars with (Most­ly Straight) Boys is on a return sea­son. It’s mov­ing around from Stu­dio 77 Amphithe­atre, Vic­to­ria Uni­ver­si­ty on 29 Nov — 1 Dec at 7pm to the Red Gates at Te Papa, 2 Dec — 6 Dec at 6pm. “Using a sim­ple rig of speak­ers and micro­phones, it’s per­formed to an audi­ence who sit [bring your own chair] and stand around a car while the action unfolds in front of them; it’s a unique, lo-fi and immer­sive the­atri­cal expe­ri­ence like no oth­er.” This show is koha. (I rec­om­mend $10–20 and make sure you have change – don’t be grab­bing it out of the koha box.)

Also show­ing in uncon­ven­tion­al (for the­atre) places is Galathea: into the bush. This is a mod­ern adap­ta­tion of Galathea by John Lyly, updat­ed with mod­ern lan­guage and fresh char­ac­ters. The orig­i­nal play fea­tures a for­est inhab­it­ed by Gods and a pair of star-crossed lovers — who are both female. On per­for­mance days Twin City will open up the Grand Hall from 1pm — 4pm as a space for the pub­lic. A pletho­ra of activ­i­ties await includ­ing a cross-dress­ing pho­to­booth.

Then Don Juan. Who is Don Juan? ‘Don Juan, the char­ac­ter, is the bold­est and great­est of men. He does what­ev­er he wants… with some­times dubi­ous eth­i­cal con­se­quences. Don Juan, the show, cel­e­brates the fool in all of us. Of how we often fail to be the per­son we want to be, despite our best efforts.’  I haven’t seen this ver­sion of it yet either but loved it when it played at Cir­ca. Catch it at Scot­ty and Mals – or in one of the oth­er sur­prise venues!

Speak­ing of Cir­ca, the pan­tomime Roger Hall’s Jack and the Beanstalk got a two-thumbs-up infor­mal review from a pan­to lov­ing friend of mine. ” Jack and his moth­er are so poor they have to sell Bet­sy, their beloved cow. But instead of get­ting mon­ey, Jack accepts beans from a stranger… mag­ic beans! And soon he is up among the clouds in a won­drous land where there is a goose that lays gold­en eggs, and – Fee, Fi Fo, Fum – a Giant with a dan­ger­ous appetite!”  In Cir­ca 2 the New Zealand pre­miere of Scar­let and gold by Lorae Par­ry opened on the week­end. “Wai­hi 1912: Anoth­er acci­dent in the Martha Gold Mine and the min­ers’ wives say Enough! Improve con­di­tions or strike! They’re the ones try­ing to scrape togeth­er food for the table, clothes for the kids. As the strike gains momen­tum the women gain con­fi­dence – in their own strength, in their abil­i­ty to insti­gate change.  Major change – not just here, but through­out the coun­try. And woven into all this is a love sto­ry. What if your man cross­es the pick­et line for des­per­ate­ly need­ed cash? Will you still love him? And what if you’re mar­ried to a share­hold­er, and rely on the div­i­dends to live on? What if…?” I’m look­ing for­ward to see­ing it soon.

Final­ly, a par­ty! Come to GAYQUAKE a protest gig against Bri­an Tamak­i’s com­ments that gays cause earth­quakes with all pro­ceeds to Kaik­oura com­mu­ni­ties. Fea­tur­ing HEX, DISASTERADIO, and Klaus Ver­mil­lion Quar­tet. 7pm / Sun­day 4 Decem­ber  2016 at San Fran­cis­co Bath­house. Door sales $10 waged / $5 unwaged