UTHER DEAN READS 300 HAIKU
BATS Theatre, Studio, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
20/03/2019 - 23/03/2019
Production Details
A new hour of story-telling from the most exciting new comedian in the country.
“A great companion for the young and worried.” The NZ Herald
Poetry and post-modernism, verse and the universe, syllables and the slow decay of nature. Uther Dean Reads 300 Haiku is a tour-de-force of emotion, narrative and, most importantly, haiku.
Can we ever make art that reflects what it’s really like to be a person? Can the pain of creation ever justify the joy of presentation? Can Uther be trusted to count 5,100 syllables correctly?
WINNER: Best Solo – NZ Fringe 2014
WINNER: Best Theatre – Dunedin Fringe 2013
“Comic genius” – Theatreview
“Dean’s wit is incredible” – Wellingtonista
“A master class in story-telling” – Manawatu Standard
BATS Theatre The Studio
20 – 23 March 2019
9:30pm
Full Price $20
Concession Price $15
Group 6+ $14
Addict Cardholder $14
BOOK TICKETS
Accessibility
*Access to The Studio is via stairs, so please contact the BATS Box Office at least 24 hours in advance if you have accessibility requirements so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Read more about accessibility at BATS.
Theatre , Spoken word , Solo ,
1 hr
For all who enjoy jokes, poetry, art, images, stories
Review by Emilie Hope 21st Mar 2019
Is it considered
clever marketing when the
show is its title?
It really is a
show with three hundred haiku
Uther Dean reads out.
The Studio is
bare, the lighting is polar:
blue/green and hot pink
With a cool centre.
Dean moves comfortably on
stage betwixt the lights.
Sometimes Dean’s shadow
is cast on the back white wall:
it is the poster.
He launches into
the show. When he is meta
there are two hundred
and eighty-seven
left. It doesn’t feel an hour
show. Dean holds us well.
Some haiku are cute.
Others are thought-provoking.
Some haiku are sad.
“Do you ever think
about how you’ll never get
to hold your own hand?”
Dean is a sad man.
He knows and shares his pain
in his poetry.
“I didn’t write this,”
he says. Peter the Poet
did. Okay, we nod.
Peter the Poet
and Janine the Witch become
haiku characters.
We follow their love
story intermittently.
Soon, we see a dark
side to Peter. Pete
is in pain, Janine sees this
and runs. She has spells
to cast. Pete is left
alone with his thoughts: “What
is art really?” A
cage for Peter or
“a mirror with our souls as
bait”? Neither? Or both?
Dean breaks away from
the tiny little script he
holds in his hands to
look at us and say,
“That one got a better laugh
than Auckland.” Pitting
cities against one
another is one route to
solidarity.
Some haiku are jokes.
But the show is not all jokes.
I enjoy (bad) puns.
Dean has a dark and
serendipitous mind. I
find myself laughing.
I would recommend
this show to all who enjoy
jokes, poetry, art,
images, stories.
Well, that covers most of you.
Go on and enjoy!
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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