When I reviewed the world premiere of Gavin McGibbon’s Stand Up Love, at the old BATS Theatre in April 2007, I concluded it was “the sort of play good actors will aspire to because it challenges them and relies almost entirely on their excellence – guided by a skilled director – to achieve its potential. Relatively inexpensive to stage and tour, it should have a long and healthy life in our homegrown repertoire.”

The next production recorded by Theatreview was at Allen Hall Theatre, Dunedin, in June 2014, directed in the round by Adam Goodall. Now Goodall has mounted a new production in the traverse at BATS Theatre’s Heyday Dome space and my conclusion stands: it’s a potent piece in good hands and this team does it proud.

Jonny Potts absolutely nails the persona and delivery of Freddy’s stand-up comedy sets, winning us over as an appreciative audience even as his ‘Baby on Board’ gag misfires and we get the hint that his dad used to hit him until he got too big. And because this is a well-crafted script, these seemingly incidental seeds will produce more fruit later on.

Rachel Baker’s Ana is intriguingly enigmatic as she tolerates Freddy’s drunken return to their flat while not fully indulging his compulsive wisecracking. Her status is established when he meekly complies with her sending him to sleep on the couch because he snores when he’s drunk.

The shaky tectonics of their relationship surface in the aftermath of their trip to the zoo. Most of us will recognise that strange yet common compulsion to sabotage happiness because …  Well that’s what we’re drawn into trying to understand, as the action moves seamlessly from home to comedy venue and back again, traversing unspecified time.

The abiding question of why people are attracted to each other and what is needed to sustain a relationship long term gives Stand Up Love a strong foundation, even as cracks start to appear in this one. The universal quest for independence without loneliness or the inherently destructive chemistry of co-dependence, and the fundamental need for truth and trust in a relationship, feed the fire that makes this play and production glow, warm, flare and combust in dramatically entertaining ways.

Despite her getting her say at the stand-up mic too, I still find myself wanting to know more about Ana – her backstory or job, for example – to help me know who she is outside the relationship and work out why she behaves as she does. But I see that pop-psychology would diminish rather than enhance the play so must remain content that what we see from both characters is true to life and each of us will have their own way of explaining it.

Judiciously lit by Tony Black’s design, operated by Michael Hebenton, the functional design by Oliver Morse works well in the traverse. There are some issues with audibility, briefly, but doubtless the actors will get the pitch of the space as the season continues.

Stand Up Love double bills with Sam Brooks’ Wine Lips (review forthcoming) and I heartily recommend booking for both.

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