“The world’s most famous boy band, Four­Ev­er, is near­ly ready to take the stage for their only New Zealand show. All that stands in their way is each oth­er, their fans, the media, and the ghosts of their dodgy past.”

Stel­la Reid directs this Young & Hun­gry play by Finnius Tep­pett. In her Director’s note she describes the pro­duc­tion as a “high-camp, glam­orous, hour-long Vine com­pi­la­tion”. It’s pleas­ing to see young actors com­mit to their char­ac­ters and look like they’re hav­ing fun on stage and it’s a god­damn delight to see them be con­fi­dent enough to play with the audi­ence.

Pauline Ward — as jour­nal­ist Lisa Lub­grub look­ing for the scoop that will make her career — brings a great phys­i­cal ener­gy to her char­ac­ter. The three mem­bers of Four­Ev­er — played by Ben Ash­by, Jacob Brown and Oliv­er Pol – show just the right mix of bick­er­ing and sup­port for each oth­er as their alliances and motives change through­out the play. Trae Te Wiki  — as the ambigu­ous Mimi – is per­fect­ly a mean girl pre­tend­ing to be nice. Ethan Morse and Jac­in­ta Comp­ton — two lucky Four­Ev­er fans, M1 and M2 — nav­i­gate the shift­ing rela­tion­ship of their char­ac­ters with great skill.

Cos­tume design­er Natasha Thyne keeps things straight­for­ward and uses tex­tured fab­rics to cre­ate con­trast. Isado­ra Lao’s set and light­ing design adds visu­al depth. In tan­dem with Patrick Barnes’ sound design Lao’s light­ing plays a key part in help­ing the audi­ence inter­pret what is hap­pen­ing on stage.

Mad­cap fun.

NB: This is one of the three plays on at BATS The­atre as part of the Young and Hun­gry fes­ti­val. It’s pos­si­ble to get a dis­count­ed sea­son pass to all three so I rec­om­mend this option if you have the time.