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