If you’ve vis­ited Akaroa, you’ll know how the li’l Can­ter­bury vil­lage prides itself on its French­ness. See, it was foun­ded by the French.

Dave Arm­strong’s new play “Le Sud” takes the idea of the French in Aotearoa a few steps fur­ther – ce qui si le français avait col­on­isé l’Île du Sud?

Uh, I mean, what if the French col­on­ised the South Island?

The com­edy is set at a polit­ic­al meet­ing, with the Kiwi-as North Zeal­anders pay­ing a vis­it to their Gal­lic south­ern neigh­bours to see about buy­ing some of that elec­tri­city they have an abund­ance of.

We meet the sleazy South Zea­l­and prime min­is­ter, his les­bio­nique deputy, and their min­is­ter of nat­ive affairs, who’ll do any­thing for a dol­lar. Or a franc. And if you’ve learned a bit of French in school, you’ll be able to feel clev­er through­out their open­ing dia­logue en français.

The North Zea­l­and team are lead by the good ol’ Kiwi bloke PM, and his coali­tion part­ners – a very left-wing Maori woman and a very ACT-like young dude.

The story man­ages to be quite naughty at times – much more naughty than you’d get on the telly – and the cast are bril­liant with both the verbal and phys­ic­al com­edy.

I will also praise the bold, effect­ive cos­tumes by Nic Smil­lie. It’s kind of nice know­ing that New Zea­l­and polit­ic­al cul­ture can be summed up in three well chosen suits.

And when all this comes togeth­er, Dave Arm­strong’s pen of lolz man­ages to skew­er French, Kiwi, Maori and polit­ic­al cul­ture, throw in a bit of sex farce (Oh-haw-haw! Baguette!), and pro­duce a really fun, funny play.

“Le Sud” plays at Down­stage until August 22.