UTHER DEAN

This is a show some­what about the hit U2 song “Elev­a­tion” (which I still haven’t heard) and some­what not at all about that song. From the Fast and the Furi­ous films to fights in Bur­ger King, new part­ners and the cine­mat­ic clas­sic Lara Croft: Tomb Raid­er, Dean spins a verb­ose tale of coin­cid­ence, ennui and “Elev­a­tion”.

Full of hil­ar­ity and mel­an­choly as his work often is, Elev­a­tion is some­what on the light­er side, but feels quite intim­ate in Te Aua­ha’s Tapere Nui theatre. Though ridicu­lous at points – I’ll be hon­est, I keep on think­ing about that Lara Croft bit and I con­tin­ue to love it – the show in the end is heart­felt, and some­how all tied togeth­er by the admit­tedly-aver­age song “Elev­a­tion”. Uth­er Dean is incred­ibly clev­er, and abso­lutely deserves a big­ger audi­ence along­side much more prom­in­ent accol­ades.

(No know­ledge of the song “Elev­a­tion” is needed to under­stand this show.)

Elev­a­tion is on at Te Aua­ha in Wel­ling­ton until Sat­urday this week. Get your tick­ets here.