Doubly good
Lynn Freeman
The Second Test, directed by Andrew Foster and Toby Leach, Skungpoomery, directed by Phoebe Smith, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman
AFTER the Fringe and International Arts Festivals, critics really want a cup of tea and a lie down for a few weeks. Your head is full, you’re sleep deprived and your cats have left home.
So it’s an absolute credit that both these plays were, in their own very different ways, captivating and memorable.
In The Second Test, Jonny Brugh has revisited a well known piece of New Zealand’s sporting history and done something remarkable. He tells this story of ultimate drama and heroism, in a beautifully understated way.
Because understated is just how the New Zealand cricket team were when they were decimated by the South Africans in a second test which coincided with the Tangiwai disaster back home.
Brugh uses as his lynchpin the story of bowler Bob Blair, whose fiancée died when the train was washed into the flooded river. He came out to bat at the tail end even though he was excused, and he walked onto a pitch splattered with the blood of his teammates who had returned to the pitch bearing physical rather than emotional wounds.
What a story, what a moment, what an inspiration.
Brugh brilliantly portrays the bulk of the team from their selection to the sailing to the test itself, and other characters along the way. It’s all here, one man in 70 minutes reminds us of the true meaning of sportsmanship, and indeed of love.
Skungpoomery is something else.
Where The Second Test is nuanced and quiet, Ken Campbell’s 40 year old play is an assault on the senses from start to finish.
You feel like you need a seat belt and a brolly as the characters throw jelly-filled underwear and other assorted food at each other.
In summary, the pyjama gang of Faz and Twoo (Ash James and Debbie Fish in a manic double act) cause pandemonium throughout a made up town as they encourage the townsfolk to join in their mission to make up words for made up actions.
Phoebe Smith has her director’s foot firmly on top gear right from the start. It’s absolutely nuts and blissfully so. There are lashings of Monty Python in the play, down to the men playing women – Adam Donald channels Michael Palin eerily well as Mrs Wibble, while Melissa Phillips, John Ong, Gina Vanessi and Bronwyn Haines are the Keystone Cops reincarnated.
The Humbottoms (Bronwyn Pattison and Tom Horder) are a great double act. Penny Angrick’s set design is damned clever as is Claire McMeeking’s costume design and Ellen Stewart’s make-up.
AFTER the Fringe and International Arts Festivals, critics really want a cup of tea and a lie down for a few weeks. Your head is full, you’re sleep deprived and your cats have left home.
So it’s an absolute credit that both these plays were, in their own very different ways, captivating and memorable.
In The Second Test, Jonny Brugh has revisited a well known piece of New Zealand’s sporting history and done something remarkable. He tells this story of ultimate drama and heroism, in a beautifully understated way.
Because understated is just how the New Zealand cricket team were when they were decimated by the South Africans in a second test which coincided with the Tangiwai disaster back home.
Brugh uses as his lynchpin the story of bowler Bob Blair, whose fiancée died when the train was washed into the flooded river. He came out to bat at the tail end even though he was excused, and he walked onto a pitch splattered with the blood of his teammates who had returned to the pitch bearing physical rather than emotional wounds.
What a story, what a moment, what an inspiration.
Brugh brilliantly portrays the bulk of the team from their selection to the sailing to the test itself, and other characters along the way. It’s all here, one man in 70 minutes reminds us of the true meaning of sportsmanship, and indeed of love.
Skungpoomery is something else.
Where The Second Test is nuanced and quiet, Ken Campbell’s 40 year old play is an assault on the senses from start to finish.
You feel like you need a seat belt and a brolly as the characters throw jelly-filled underwear and other assorted food at each other.
In summary, the pyjama gang of Faz and Twoo (Ash James and Debbie Fish in a manic double act) cause pandemonium throughout a made up town as they encourage the townsfolk to join in their mission to make up words for made up actions.
Phoebe Smith has her director’s foot firmly on top gear right from the start. It’s absolutely nuts and blissfully so. There are lashings of Monty Python in the play, down to the men playing women – Adam Donald channels Michael Palin eerily well as Mrs Wibble, while Melissa Phillips, John Ong, Gina Vanessi and Bronwyn Haines are the Keystone Cops reincarnated.
The Humbottoms (Bronwyn Pattison and Tom Horder) are a great double act. Penny Angrick’s set design is damned clever as is Claire McMeeking’s costume design and Ellen Stewart’s make-up.
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