Strike PercussionJust before my Wel­ling­tonista priv­ileges are removed due to, erm, non-com­pli­ance with accept­able post­ing chro­no­metry (or some­thing) here’s an update on every­one’s favour­ite pro­fes­sion­al theatre, Down­stage.

Last week they launched their new Sea­son bro­chure, “Life in High Defin­i­tion”, which lists all the shows between now and Christ­mas. High­lights are many, but include new plays by Jo Rander­son (Good Night – The End) and Stu­art McK­en­zie (Bio­graphy of My Skin, star­ring his wife Mir­anda Har­court), Col­lapsing Cre­ation (by the team that brought you On the Con­di­tions and Pos­sib­il­it­ies of Helen Clark Tak­ing Me as her Young Lov­er last year) and the return of beloved cir­cus-theatre show Adagio with extra, added, Christ­massy bits.

Also on the menu between now and Novem­ber is Sound­stage, Down­stage’s new ven­ture into the world of pop­u­lar music: Once a month Sunday even­ing shows fea­tur­ing favour­ite loc­al bands in a relaxed, the­at­ric­al set­ting, the first act is The Woolshed Ses­sions on Sunday night shortly fol­lowed by Little Bush­man on 2 August. The Woolsheds are so pop­u­lar that the Sunday even­ing show has almost sold out and an extra 3pm mat­in­ee has just been added. Seats are lim­ited and going fast.

Tonight the “Life in High Defin­i­tion” sea­son gets under way with the return of two of Down­stage’s best friends: Strike Per­cus­sion always raise the roof with their high energy, high pre­ci­sion per­form­ance. This time they are joined by the vir­tu­oso Aus­trali­an impro­vis­or Adam Page who wowed Wel­ling­ton audi­ences with his solo show dur­ing the Fringe. They have been col­lab­or­at­ing on new work, com­bin­ing Strike’s hit­ting things with Adam’s blow­ing into things and the res­ults are explos­ive.

Adam will also be doing his usu­al multi-instru­ment­al impro­visa­tions (with Strike sup­port) so no two shows will be the same.

You can down­load a pdf of the “Life in High Defin­i­tion” bro­chure here, or con­tact theatre@downstage.co.nz and ask for a paper one to be sent out to you. Inter­est­ingly 90% of Woolshed book­ings have been over the web at www.downstage.co.nz which is pretty remark­able. Also, today, Down­stage have launched TradeMe Tues­day – a chance to get Down­stage tick­ets for as low as $1 reserve. It’s a bit like Gra­baseat – check in to the TradeMe Down­stage Store every Tues­day for more spe­cials.