Bats Theatre News - Late August 2005

Bats Theatre News - Late August 2005

Kia ora BATS mates!

Just three more days to catch 'Baghdad, Baby!' '... a must-see.' - Harry Ricketts, The Listener. More info below.

And then we're dancing in time to the Dance Your Socks Off! Festival.

BATS has an awesome festival deal: Four shows for just $40! Choice!

Step together next week for 'Fishnet' by Lyne Pringle & Kilda Northcott (30 Aug - 3 Sep, 9pm) and 'Dancing Frankly' by Bronwyn Hayward (31 Aug - 3 Sep, 7pm).

To fill your dance card - book by email: book@bats.co.nz or phone: (04) 802 4175. Please include your name, the show name/s and the date/s of the performance you would like to attend, and the number of tickets.

More info next week or check out www.bats.co.nz for the full festival programme.

Let Freedom Reign

Baghdad, Baby!

A new play by Dean Parker

Directed by Jean Betts

"Welcome to Baghdad, old Mesopotamia! Before Rome, before Greece, before Egypt, there was--Mesopotamia! Here-the Garden of Eden! the Tigris! the Euphrates! Baghdad, cradle of civilization! Where the fish from the river Tigris give off a strange chemical smell!" Shirin Saifi, cafe owner and belly dancer (Ban Abdul)

An exotic tragi-comic epic with romantic overtones, Baghdad, Baby! is a perfect balance of humour, politics, broken hearts and outrage. It's also a play which rattles all certainties. Very few will leave without feeling that their personal beliefs have been challenged, whatever their convictions. This is a play about people, our common humanity; how, when faced with violence and our need for love and security, we all want the same fundamental things.

It argues provocatively for tolerance, compassion and humanity, without ever losing its sense of humour, without ever allowing its complex characters to become mouthpieces, and without ever dropping the 'entertainment' ball.

Superb Iraqi actress and dancer Ban Abdul (Disco Pigs, Top Girls), is joined by an impressive cast - including Michael Wilson (Dark Knight, Send a Gorilla), Matthew Saville (Vincent in Brixton, The Boxer), Charlie Bleakley (Scarfies, Saving Grace), Andrew Smith (A Midsummer Night¹s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing) and Kate Prior (Penumbra, Beauty and the Beast); directed by Jean Betts (Gagarin Way, The Collective).

Baghdad, Baby! By Dean Parker Dates: Thurs 4 August ­ Sat 27 August ($10 preview Wed 3 Aug) Venue: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Tce, City Time: 8pm Tickets: $18 Full, $12 Conc. and groups of 8+ Bookings: 04 802 4175, book@bats.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media