Noted Wel­ling­ton improv troupe Best on Tap is back per­form­ing this month with a new iter­a­tion of their groun­ded and clev­er improv in a show using your music sug­ges­tions! Music To Die For takes six songs that you (the audi­ence) would play at your funer­al and uses them to inspire layered, com­plex scenes about the life of the one per­son who would have those six songs at their funer­al.

On open­ing night, we’re wel­comed in by the Funer­al Cel­eb­rant (Barry Miskim­min), who intro­duces us to Anna Lucy Edwards (Nic­ola Paul­ing). She’s an adven­turer, spir­ited, and takes no shit. With the first song, Glor­ia Gayner­’s “I Will Sur­vive”, we fall into moments of Anna’s life – get­ting her own room, learn­ing (in grue­some detail) about how she was born, and many more.

The show unfolds, draw­ing more and more upon the audi­ence-chosen songs for inspir­a­tion. A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” turns Anna into a premi­er-league foot­baller, Joan Jett & The Black­hearts’s “Bad Repu­ta­tion” tells us the tale of how Anna’s par­ents (played by Kate Whit­taker and Geoff Sim­mons) break up, and Leonard Cohen’s “So Long, Mari­anne” brings us into the final scenes of the play, where Anna and her hus­band (Tim Croft) have a baby, and the whole fam­ily finds them­selves togeth­er again – at least, mostly, with Becky (Clare Ker­ris­on) – Anna’s sis­ter – on a Skype call from pris­on. Kan­sas’ “Dust in the Wind” is the back­drop for a final series of “pho­tos” – the act­ors frozen on stage in vari­ous moments of Anna’s life.

Best on Tap focusses on truth-based storytelling in their shows, and it’s at its very best here. While there are obvi­ously a few leaps in logic, there’s always this excel­lent groun­ded qual­ity in Best on Tap’s work which is deeply endear­ing: see­ing real people make real human con­nec­tions on stage, in a way that might be funny but isn’t goofy, with a hint of the mel­an­chol­ic.

Dis­cuss­ing death on stage isn’t easy, but Best on Tap truly hits the right bal­ance – approach­ing death via a cel­eb­ra­tion of life. Best on Tap shows are always wel­com­ing, always kind and always a bit silly, but that’s what makes me adore them, cause you always know what boat you’re on. The skill of the impro­visers is what makes these shows what they are, with such truth in their words, and espe­cially the vis­ible trust between them: over a cen­tury’s worth of exper­i­ence, or so their web­site says. Under­scored by Matt Hut­ton on the keys and D’ Woods as their oper­at­or, the room takes on a kind of intim­acy – today myself and a bunch of strangers really are here to cel­eb­rate Anna’s life.

When asked what song I’d play at my funer­al, I don’t know. I scroll through my phone look­ing for some­thing with appro­pri­ate grav­itas, read through lyr­ics online, won­der if it’s the tone or the words that mat­ter most. Finally, I settle on some­thing that does­n’t feel quite right – but in the end, I won’t be there to see it. Though, I’m almost thank­ful I was asked.

Music to Die For is on at Te Aua­ha until Sat­urday. Tick­ets here.