Apart from blokes inevitably getting pissed out of their tiny little minds, what might go on, during a stag night, or, beyond this, a whole stag weekend? Just about anything, it seems.  

Simon is on the brink of getting hitched, so he and three of his friends come to what appears to be a private deer-shooters’ hut, ostensibly somewhere in the Tararuas, to reprise his fabled boyhood adventurings, going out with his Dad to shoot, um, stags.  

Still, these are city boys and they haven’t got a clue about operating in the bush. Whatever, this play is a romp, a farcical comedy: accept what happens, enjoy it. And there is much to enjoy; some good laughs. Moreover, the playwrights have succeeded in providing new plot-twists and surprises, and good lines, right through to the end.

There’s an old Pommie proverb, “There’s naught as queer as folks”. Of the four, Andrew is overtly gay and over-fastidious, yet the others have their own weirdnesses, oddities, hang-ups – and the context and the booze bring them out. Gary, employed as a security guard, has adopted a compulsively macho role along with having other issues. Tim, employed as a nurse, believes he can employ spirit-powers and has plenty of other issues. Simon himself is straight enough, yet uncertain about things and still trying to work out what it takes to become a Man. In the course of the action, he’s clearly getting nearer to becoming one. 

The cast – Kieran Foster as Simon, Andrew Ford as Andrew, Tom Knowles as Gary, and Ben van Lier as Tim – give good, solid performances, both when their own characters are full-on and when they are supporting one another’s full-on efforts. And it’s a good solid production directed by Kingsford-Brown. Its rhythms hold up well, with maybe some variance possible to accommodate audience responses to laugh-lines.

Dennis Hearfield’s set design involves, mainly, the main room of the hut, with schematic edging, and an area stage right for action outside, edged with bits of foliage. It works well. The presence downstage left of a large, rather beaten-up couch, fit for a student flat, implies this hut can’t be very far into the bush from a road – how far would people be eager, or even able, to carry that?

Usually less obvious, yet always effective, are Darryn Woods’s lighting design and Ian Harman’s costuming.

It’s a show with some rough edges. While most go with the territory others may mellow as the production settles in. One wishes it well. All the audience-chatter in the foyer after the first night’s performance is happy and enthusiastic. 

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