Posts tagged Q Theatre

Awaiting the start of the show on opening night of Guru of Chai my eyes darted around the small and simple set surveying the array of instruments on the stage, but I was still none the wiser as to what was to come.

Enter a poor chaiwallah,  (Jacob Rajan) an over excited, animated, bucktoothed Indian tea seller, and Dave (David Ward)  his muted friend. They were ready to tell us a story, to allow us to be relieved of our emptiness, escape our ‘painful urinations’ that we inevitably suffer from and enter their world to become enlightened! 

Jacob Rajan in Indian Ink’s Guru of Chai - Photo from www.qtheatre.co.nz

It was with this introduction that we were transported to a chai stall in a hot Bangalore Central Station. Accompanied by Dave, who provides both harmony, melody and atmosphere throughout the 90 minute performance, our raconteur told the tale of the abandoned seven sisters who sang for a living at the Chai stall all those years ago.

What followed was nothing short of enchanting and magical, but also hilariously funny. Using the Indian fairytale of ‘Punchkin’ as inspiration, Indian Ink Theatre Company have produced a modern spin on the ancient art form of storytelling.

The plot has all the twitsts and turns one should expect but what wasn’t expexted was how expertly Jacob and David would collectively bring these characterss, places and emotions to life. Jacob’s portrayal of our canny narrator, with a penchant for cock fighting, is brilliantly funny and endearing. A few useful props where key in some of the joy, laughter and sadness but other than that only one ruled the stage and that was Jacob.

The beautiful music and song composed by David Ward enabled the audience to drift further into this world and his talent only hightened our senses to become effortlessly  immersed in the compelling yarn being spun on stage.

After the performance I lost count of how many conversations I overheard praising this inspiring and heartwarming tale told so expertly by the talented duo. The most notable comment I heard was one lady saying ‘I just thought all those people were there! He brought everyone to life!’

Justin Lewis – Indian Ink Theatre Company

Speaking after the show director, writer and executive producer, Justin Lewis announced a future season in New York and the beginnings of a Film.

 Jacob Rajan speaking after opening night at Q Theatre

This show is an original and modern triumph in storytelling and compelling theatre. A fantastic show that really should be everyone’s cup of tea!

Guru of Chai is on at Q Theatre, Auckland until the 21 July and opened this week.

Terry Alderton is back in New Zealand with his new show You’ll Be Glad to See the Back of Him at the Q Theatre in Auckland this week.

While leaving the theatre, following last nights opening night of this unique UK act, my boyfriend said, ‘I can’t wait to read your review of that!’

This is not to say we didn’t like it, we loved it! It was just that he is so totally insane that we found it difficult to describe his show.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Terry had an acting background as his phsycalities and charactisations are spot on. I believe he is the most theatrical comedian I have ever seen on stage (with the exception of Lee Evens; a comparison and indeed impersonation Terry makes himself, and who Kiwi readers may not be aware of so you will just have to trust me on this one).

This show is random and surreal, a sort of planned bedlam with huge Shakespearean expressions and movements. There’s music, sound effects, songs, dancing and many many characters. 

I say characters but really I mean personalties as after a while you are not sure who Terry actually is, which I guess is the point. During the show he switches around voices, sound effects and even appendages amongst his seemingly Gollumesq turmoil.

Sometimes you are not sure if you should laugh or not but if you stick with it you definitely should. If you are one of the lucky few to get Terry’s attention during the show you too will be pulled into his crazy world and it won’t be a show you forget easily!

His talent for voices and sound effects is astonishing and the pace and speed of his delivery was almost exhausting, but exciting to watch. I admired his ability to deliver subtle jokes around all the madness and to ressurect references from earlier on in the show.

Terry is a comedian that encompasses so much talent and variety in his performance its no surprise he battles with which version of himself to perform as!

Check out Terry Alderton at Q Theatre until 12 May.

Bookings: 093099771

Ben Hurley presented a night of new talent from New Zealand last night at the Loft at Q Theatre.

Unfortunately the room was not full but those of us that were there were up for a laugh, and for supporting up and coming comedy.

Ben Hurley is a seasoned performer so he is at ease both on the stage, and with chatting to the audience, which included a chat with with me! After a short warm up he introduced the first new act of the night.

There were four comedians on, the first of which was Sanjay Patel whose dead pan delivery had everyone giggling. Unfortunately as a newbie to NZ I missed some of the pop culture references but I enjoyed his on stage persona and slightly surreal subject matter. Sanjay has a show at the festival called At Last The 2011 Show on until 5 May at Brooklyn Bar.

Next up was the youngest comedian I think I have ever seen, just turned 18 Lewis Dean was confident and had some good material and stage demeanour. I am sure he will go from stretch to strength and get over the stigma of being a comedian who likes Hamilton. 

Following Lewis was Pax, a naturally comedic  person who used his body movements and physicalities in his act to make us laugh which included some tips on how to get out of a fight by looking a bit ‘rapey’.

Finally Guy Williams, our last comedian, was on stage. He worked his slightly geeky image well and was my favourite of the night. I found him to be clever and original mixing excellently delivered jokes with more random visual ones.

He is confident on stage and of his material, which came effortlessly from his lacklustre attempt at audience interaction, comments on moving to Auckland and understanding the global financial crises through the extortionate price of cheese. I definitely wanted to see more from him.

Luckily for me, and everyone else, Guy also has his own show at the festival called On the Verge of Nothing 14 - 19 May at The Classic.

Ben Hurley will be presenting another New Faces on Sat 5 May and will also be performing in a show with 7 Days co-star Steve Wrigley - Live & Unleashed 15 - 19 May at Q Theatre.

This show was part of the NZ International Comedy Festival.