Mixing up the Days hardout

Do you like a bit of Drama with your Comedy, or a little Comedy with your Drama? Happy to see the male form "unmasked", or prefer a fully dressed pre-op Tranny? Whatever you like, it's at BATS until this Saturday with Postal and Mates and Lovers, both getting great reviews and both fully reccomended by the BATS staff. Check them out below.

Also a big congratulations to Newtown Ghetto Anger, who won Two Day Plays! They won a whole heap of stuff to put on a play with. I can't wait to see what they come up with... meanwhile I'll get back to sussing out some awesome Fringe shows for you - applications close on Thursday.

xxxBATS

Postal

By Lucy O'Brien

From Tuesday 22nd September - Saturday 3rd October at 6.30PM
Tickets: $18 full / $13 Concession & groups of 4 or more public servants with ID!

Directed by Kerryn Palmer
Produced by Adrianne Roberts
And starring: Rashmi Pilapitiya, Heather O’Carroll, Simon Smith and Paul Harrop

Ever wanted to escape the meaningless, repetitive drudgery of your nine to five existence? Felt the need to bring down the workplace walls with a bloodcurdling scream? Clock your boss? Come see Postal - a biting black comedy focusing on three middle-aged, cross-cultured postal workers trying to find the meaning of life in a post office.

The play is a theatrical expose of the invisible members of New Zealand society, and the cultural divide that separates them. Underneath the veneer of the smiling public servant, Postal reveals a desperate, last-ditch quest for identity that seeks to reach the faceless masses of the ‘New Zealand public’.

Kerryn Palmer's production is uncomplicated and direct, using the Bats stage well and from her cast she has elicited robust performances. As Fiona (or Woman as she is called in the programme) Heather O'Carroll creates explosions of frustration that are both funny and emotionally painful as are her cautious attempts at seduction after a wine too many. Simon Smith as Michael and Paul Harrop as Celine tackle their difficult scene when the couple meets for the first time with aplomb, and Rashmi Pilapitiya tackles the role of Fanti with exuberance. - Laurie Atkinson, Dominion Post

READ MORE BOOK NOW!

Mates & Lovers

From Thursday 24 September - Saturday 3rd October at 9PM

Tickets: $18 full / $13 Concession/ $16 groups (6+)

Check out the You Tube trailer here!

Two guys in a bare space with two chairs and simple clothing, which they slip in and out of countless times, traverse 140-odd years of gay male history in NZ within 80 minutes. Kent Seaman and Sam McLeod work with an assured fluency that belies the effort they and writer /director Ronald Trifero Nelson have put into bringing Chris Brickell's award-winning book, or parts of it, to life (the sumptuous tome runs at 377 pages of illustrated text). - John Smythe, Theatreview

Mates & Lovers, written and directed by Ronald Trifero Nelson (Bud, Corner 4 AM & Cuba) is based on the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Award winner Mates & Lovers, A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell with special arrangement with Random House New Zealand.

Actors Kent Seaman and Sam McLeod add flesh and blood to dozens of untold true stories of our brothers, fathers, uncles and sons throughout 300 years of New Zealand gay history. FAANZ welcomes back choreographer John Butterfield from San Francisco to the BATS stage.

This work presents sexually explicit situations, images and language.

READ MORE BOOK NOW!

The PlayPit

THIS MONDAY at 6pm

The PlayPit is back after a month off with a suitably awesome pair of short plays for your enjoyment! Charlotte Simmonds - nominated for the Montana Book Awards, playwright, and BATS volunteer - shares with us her latest works for the stage since Black Coffee. If I was a Christian Fundamentalist, Would You Still Be My Friend? and Dust melds Charlotte's poetic language with her sharp tongued Theatre.

Kick back in the informal atmosphere of The PlayPit and throw around a bit of discussion after the reading, or just listen to these great plays read out loud.

The PlayPit is a series of monthly informal playreadings held in The Pit Bar. Writers are always welcome to submit scripts for a reading to Steph Walker at BATS - email steph@bats.co.nz

Win some tickets!

Next up at BATS is the NZ Improv Fest - last year the tickets flew out the door so if you'd like to go to the Thursday night session, just tell us: which overseas groups is joining in the fun this year? Winners will be drawn on Monday at 11am by BATS staff.

Congratulations to Lissa Chong, who won tickets to see Postal this week. To all of you with bad work stories - we feel your pain.

ENTER NOW!

Mental Health Break

If you're like me you didn't quite get to WOW, but that doesn't mean you can't perve at the costumes. One of our long time BATS volunteers, Kris Eriksen, was a finalist in the illumination section - check it out here

Don't drink and text people - this is what happens. And think you need that Caffeine afterwards? Maybe not after this...

And form the world of internet video - an open letter to Lily Allen about Filesharing, sung to one of her tunes; and Alan Arkin - on The Muppets?!

Got any links you think deserve a mention? Email me!

ENDS

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