A purple glow fills the stage where magic is about to appear (as it always does when producer Hadley pours their sparkle into any event).

It’s here at BATS Theatre. Our favourite (self-appointed) well rounded comedian magician is about to launch into her comedy show, Purple is the Gayest Colour, and she busts all the moves in doing so. No magic required.

That’s right, she’s a dancer, she’s a medical actor and therefore the only one qualified to pull a sick day at work. Although her office power move is her treat walk, we soon learn: Time for a coffee? Let’s get a little treat. Missed your treat yesterday? What are you waiting for?! Let’s go!

We are all treated to the finest comedy biscuits here at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, coated in sugar and sass, with a cool calm exterior that has the answer to all of life’s problems: let’s get a little treat. And treat us she does.

I’ve never felt so special with a 15-minute set dedicated to theatre reviewers, all based around how reviewers sound when referring to Alayne Dick by her last name only, in their articles.

I would like to take this opportunity therefore to refer to Alayne furthermore, not by last name but a more apt title I think: Superhero Alayne.

Superhero Alayne unsubtly swoops in with tales of library liberations, story times gone wrong, and how one child broke into Superhero Alayne’s Facebook page… now wait Superhero and Facebook just sound wrong in the same sentence. But everything goes right in this show, which is all that matters on a Friday.

Like the purple poster, it’s filled with heart(s) and our hearts are full also. I even catch a couple making out in the toilet after the show. What’s more romantic than that for a comedy filled night out? Oh I know, rainbow socks and cake. Yup there was that too!

As our brilliant tech for this evening, Darryn Woods, says to me wisely, the audience are “super happy”.

Worthy of super smiles, super dance moves, and Super Alayne’s superhero pose that she calls her “Athletic” flex, to make sure we know she’s hot AND funny. WE KNOW, OK! Purple is the Gayest Colour and the most joyful show we could see this Comedy Festival. I would love to be proven wrong but damn, this is a fun night out loving the skin you are in and, despite not being Super Alayne’s preferred gay guy reviewer with a compulsory broken heart, too bad, my heart is full of love for this show and our Superhero Alayne. Superheroes wear purple, don’t you know? 

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