This is absolute Christmas fare, which already looks to be a sell-out. By opening night 50 per cent of the six week season was already sold-out, and deservedly so. A hit when first performed at Centrepoint in 1997 it also had good seasons at Circa Theatre, Wellington and Court Theatre, Christchurch. And although spanning over 20 years from 1973 to the 1990s it has not dated.

It is loosely based on four rather decent, real male characters, in their late teens-early 20s who pool their money to buy a $10,000 golden sand beach section. There is a feel of authenticity. The opening scenes are very much New Zealand of the 70s. The sexual revolution is well underway, and when two young party girls suddenly turn up at the section one is left in no doubt what one of them wants – and it is not just a car. From then on the play unfolds over 20 years at a very brisk, hilarious pace. [More] 

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Every damn life-situation has its upsides and downsides, and all you can hope for is more upsides than downers. Stuff happens. So life goes on, till it stops. The Black Caps don’t win every time. 

Such is the stuff of this comedy. Premiered at Centrepoint in 1997, it was one of a string of good-fun shows written by Alison Quigan and Ross Gumbley for Christmas seasons.

We’re told several of its main characters were based on real individuals known to one or other of the playwrights, and that one or two of them are present on the opening night of this production, to see what their personalities have morphed into, this time. You have to wonder how they feel. Present too are several of the 1997 cast, including this production’s director. How odd might some of them feel? 

From memory, it seems darker and harsher, yet still entertaining enough. Its episodes seem to extend nearer to the present day. They are introduced with voice-over reports of Black Caps’ tests against Aussie or Pom teams since 1973, with a big deal made of the never-to-be-forgiven underarm bowling scandal. 

To start with, four young blokes, freed to spread their wings in the world, get persuaded by one of their number to band together to buy a beach section, when their main shared interests are partying and ensuring a continuing supply of cold beer. Naturally the first things they plonk on their oversized sandpit (evidently 153 bags of sand!) are just one tent, a dunny, a barbie and a fridge.

Someone touts it as “a chick-magnet” – but nah! It’s meant to be a blokey squat: no girls!! So, promptly two turn up, responding to a forgotten invitation, evidently at the later stages of a party, and a map drawn on someone’s knickers she happened to be not wearing. But these are not fluffy little gigglers; they’re quite feisty, with a range of unexpected talents.

One of them, Francie (Yvette Parsons), for a bet, succeeds in inducing the anti-girls flag-bearer Coops (Jeff Kingsford-Brown) to break his duck. She’ll in due course get married to him, but then, he’ll go on to evidently make quite a lot of dosh in business and … [spoiler averted].

Bully (Doug Brooks), so-called simply because his family’s farm has plenty of bulls, looks to be getting along sweetly with the other magnetized chick, Julie (Renee Sheridan), but if he did, end of story-line, so … things happen. She has her own story. Whether, at the end, they might after all be seriously getting together we’re left guessing, but hopeful.  

Den (Patrick Davies), socially somewhat of a hanger-on of Coops’s, has a life yet doesn’t marry. Skeen (Stephen Papps), a car enthusiast, becomes a car-dealer and a family-man, although we don’t get to meet his family. Coops and Francie’s kids (Sheridan, Papps and Brown) we do meet, yet they are a bickering, snarky, whingeing trio – not greatly enjoying their beach holiday.

The script has plenty of clever twists and funny incidents, and good strong lines – often wry, or in-your-face, or bleak, yet at other times amusing, even laugh-out-loud. The opening scene, on the first night, takes a couple of minutes to find its rhythms, but after that the show moves along immaculately, well-directed by Lucy Schmidt.

The casting is excellent, with everyone quite strong. All credit too for Sean Coyle, the set designer, with his sandy beach section, Talya Pilcher, the lighting designer, with some good open skies and sunsets, and Ian Harmer, as costume designer, who meets the challenge of providing changing casual garb over a period of about forty years.

So, here’s a perfectly adequate show for the Christmas market. It fits modern moods. One wishes it well. 

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