Antiques Rogue Show
Rossburn Reception Centre, Rangiora, Christchurch
04/09/2010 - 04/09/2010
Production Details
It’s the same show, except every show is different. In the tradition of the venerable BBC show of the same name, Patrick Duffy and Greg Ellis (and Patrick with Ian Harcourt performing from Hawera to Hokianga 7-16 August), ask the public to bring along their favourite family antiques for an ‘expert’ opinion of their worth.
Audiences are invited into the genteel world of stately manors and country fetes as the two performers, with the help of the hapless owners expound on the mystery, history and likely value of various heirlooms in a manner that has no relevance to real history or artistic appreciation – or any worthwhile knowledge whatsoever.
The histories, knowledge and valuations are completely bogus, but the comedy is 100% genuine.
ITINERARY
Friday 6 August 8pm Expressions Arts Centre Upper Hutt
$30 Adult $25 Concession $20(groups of 8) Book : 527 2168 or www.expressions.org,nz
Saturday 7 August 7.30pm Hawera Memorial Theatre
$25; Seniors and Students $20 Book : I-Site Visitor Centre 06 278 8599
Sunday 8 August 7pm Theatre Royal TSB Showplace
New Plymouth $25 (plus service fee) Book : Ticketek @ TSB Showplace 06 759 0021
Tuesday 10 August 7.30pm Tokoroa Little Theatre
$20 Book : Tokoroa Mens and Boyswear
Wednesday 11 August 7pm Heritage Arts Centre
Opotiki $22 Book : Travel Shop 07 315 8881
Thursday 12 August 8pm, Little Theatre Matamata
$20 Book : Frasers Take Note
Saturday 14 August 8pm OSPA Theatre Onewhero
$20 Book : River Traders Tuakau
Sunday 15 August 7.30pm The Centre Kerikeri
Book : Centre Box Office 0800 200 411 www.centakeri.com (fees apply)
Monday 16 August 7.30pm Opononi Hotel $15
Thursday 19 August 7.30pm The Village Theatre Takaka
$15 Book : Brief Affair Commercial St
Friday 20 August 8pm Last Resort Karamea
$20 Book : Last Resort
Saturday 21 August 7.30pm NBS Theatre Westport
$25 Book : NBS Theatre
Sunday 22 August 7pm Left Bank Art Gallery Greymouth
$25 Book : Left Bank Art Gallery, Ali’s Café
Monday 23 August 7.30pm Donovan’s Store Okarito
$25 Book : Okarito Nature Tours
Tuesday 24 August 8.30pm Cinema Paradiso Wanaka
$20 : Book at the Cinema
Wednesday 25 August 7.30pm Athenaeum Hall Arrowtown $10
Thursday 26 August 7.30pm Riverton Community Arts Centre
Members $20/Non member $25 Book : Riverton Arts Centre
Friday 27 August 8pm Longford Function Centre Gore
$20 Book : Eastern Southland Gallery
Saturday 28 August Coronation Hall Mosgiel 8pm
$25/$20(groups 10 or more) Book : Ticketdirect or Mosgiel Paper Plus
Sunday 29 August 7.30pm The ODT Inkbox Oamaru Opera House
$19.90 (plus service fees) Book : Ticketdirect 03 433 0770
Tuesday 31 August Criterion Hotel Waimate 7.30pm. $25
Wednesday 1September 7.30pm Eat Cafe Fairlie
$20 Book : Heartlands Resource Centre
Thursday 2 September 7.30pm Town and Country Club Geraldine
$20 (light supper provided) Book : Tresjoli Giftware 03 693 9339
Friday 3 September Ashburton College Auditorium 7.30pm.
$20/$15(Early bird before 10 August) Book : Regent Cinema or www.iticket.co.nz
Saturday 4 September 7.30pm Rossburn Reception Centre, Rangiora
(moved from Rangiora Town Hall which was damaged in the Christchurch earthquake)
$20 Book : Robe; Fi’s Flowers and Art; Corina’s House of Fashion; Blackwells Kaiapoi, Nor ‘Wester Cafe Amberley
About Arts on Tour New Zealand
Based at the historic Arts Centre of Christchurch, Arts on Tour New Zealand (AOTNZ) organises tours of outstanding New Zealand performers to rural and smaller centres in New Zealand. The trust receives funding from Creative New Zealand and liaises with local arts councils, repertory theatres and community groups to bring the best of musical and other talent to country districts.
Following Antiques Rogue Show, the 2010 Arts on Tour programme features Fiona Pears Band (October), and Whirimako Black (November).
Patrick Duffy
Patrick Duffy is the Swiss Army Knife of the theatre world – an actor, director, designer, executive smartypants and creative insultant.
He was one of the founding members of the Court Jesters in Christchurch, has performed throughout Australia and Europe with the international comedy duo The Shenanigan Brothers and was instrumental in the creation of the World Buskers Festival. Duffy has presented his own work Geezers and Rock On at the Court Theatre. Together with Greg Ellis he has toured the country with Geezers as well as The Antiques Rogue Show.
His involvement with various Court Theatre productions ranges from actor to director and has included both set and costume design. As a designer he has gained national success as an award winner at the NZ Wearable Art awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Greg Ellis
Greg Ellis graduated from Victoria University in 1992 with a BA in Theatre and Film, then trained as a primary school teacher. In 1994 he graduated with a Diploma in Secondary Teaching from Christchurch College of Education and taught in both New Zealand and England. For the past 17 years he has taught comedy and improvisation throughout this country at both secondary and tertiary levels.
Greg has held the Secondary Schools, University, National and Commonwealth Theatresports titles, representing New Zealand at Theatresports as part of a Commonwealth competition in 1992 and then at the World Championships in 2006.
He has appeared in numerous movies, television and radio drama and comedy as well as developing improvisational narrative shows for performance throughout the country including The Mullet Brothers, Geezers, The X-Philes, Rock On, Spooked, Show us your Willy, Improv – the Musical and Improv – the Rock Opera.
Greg is currently an artistic director for The Improvisors, Wellington’s long running corporate theatre company, known for its theatresports and tailor-made theatre products including conference entertainment, team building work and appearances at weddings, birthdays and other entertainment.
Ian Harcourt
Ian has over twenty years experience as a professional actor and entertainer. He has performed extensively as a stand-up comedian and has appeared in TV comedy and drama productions, short films, feature films, corporate videos and numerous radio and TV commercials.
As a member of the ground-breaking comedy group Funny Business he co-wrote and performed in two series of the TV sketch comedy “Funny Business” (1988 & 1991). In 1990 Funny Business were the first NZ comedians to be invited to perform in the “Just For Laughs” International Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada.
Ian has been a core member of The Improvisors since 1993, performing in literally hundreds of shows with the company. In his time with The Improvisors he has played a huge range of characters – everything from Gandalf to Professor McGonagall, from a Moldavian wine expert to a talking oil drum!
Ian was a busy man in 2006 – performing cameos in most movies shot in New Zealand, including "Bridge to Terabithia" and "Black Sheep". 2007 was no different and Ian was seen in "The Waterhorse", released in 2008. We may well see Ian on the big screen again when the Kung-fu Western Comedy "Laundry Warrior" comes out in cinemas.
The show goes on: Complementary skills make the most of the format
Review by Kirsty Gillespie 05th Sep 2010
Inspired by a scene concept performed at Scared Scriptless in 2006, Patrick Duffy and Greg Ellis saw the potential to develop the Antiques Road Show theme further, thus creating the fully fledged long format improv show that it is today.
Like its name sake, this Arts On Tour show has been travelling to small towns throughout New Zealand: 25 venues in five weeks. [Theatreview finally caught up with them at their last appearance on this tour, at a venue that was hastily arranged after the Rangiora Town Hall suffered damage in the early morning earthquake.]
Requiring minimal set and staging, the audiences are treated to quality entertainment with the added pleasure gained from performing to a group that know each other.
Using the same rudiments of the similarly named TV show, where experts discuss cherished items brought in by the public and explains the history of the piece and likely value, Duffy and Ellis encourage the audience to do the same. Not inhibited by a lack of knowledge of antiques or their workings, the ‘experts’ create stories to justify what the item is, what it would be used for and the likely value.
Initially dressed as ‘curators,’ the items are collated pre show with the actors also no doubt deciding which audience members will be comfortable on stage as well as the most interesting items. The curators then warm up the audience in the same vein used by street performers and other improvised shows, where the audience are required to participate rather than be just a viewing audience.
After the warm up Duffy and Ellis return to the stage as drunken experts Chester Drawers and Clive hyphenated Something O.B.G.Y.N, helping themselves to the audience’s wine on their way and hassling the audience en route. Two elderly ladies are labelled as ‘cougars’ and the audience quickly see that this show is nothing like its name sake.
While the show has a definite structure of inviting the audience up on stage, and discussing the history of the item with them before improvising the story behind the object on the spot; the format of the show makes this less contrived than it could be in the hands of lesser improvisers.
The hosts’ sparring relationship in some way seems to explain why they would need to deliver the facts speaking together in one voice. The reference to the audience member’s name Elizabeth seems to justify why the story of its origins would be told in the style of Shakespeare.
In last night’s show, the first half included a tribute poem to Jenny who had brought along a pearl necklace, a speak-in-one voice expert scene and a shared story about war told in the style of Dr Zhivago, Milly Molly Mandy, the NZ Wars and Tolstoy. The request for this scene of ‘types of books about war’ left most of the audience scrambling for even one idea and the story probably suffered for both audience and performers by not knowing the genres as well as they could. The Morse Code tapper rap was excellent though.
For me the show really took off in the second half, particularly when the actors fully engaged with the audience, taking the phone off an audience member who had the misfortune to receive a text and then phoning the sender mid show, throwing a lamington across the room with the arm of an Indian fielder, and an amusing audience puppets scene that made reference to the musk unique to a sexually repressed 13 year old boy.
The real proof of Ellis and Duff’s skills, though, was their competent handling of an audience diminished in size by more than half due to the Christchurch earthquake and who had likely been up since 4:30am. Small audiences are the hardest to perform to and those dealing with a last minute change in venue as well as a major catastrophic event would have lesser mortals shaking in their boots (excuse the pun!).
Duffy’s superb skills in physical theatre and audience seduction, and Ellis’s encyclopaedic general knowledge, complement each other perfectly in a show that is highly enjoyable on a bad day and ‘wet your pants’ funny on a good one.
Improv is never a sure thing but with a format like Antiques Rogue Show and entertainers like these two who bring over 40 years of improv experience, you had better hope that it will have another season and yours is one of the small towns that they will visit.
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