“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.