Following up her roles as the naïve bride in Camping and the naïve actress in The Opening Night Before Christmas, actress Brynley Stent completes a hat trick with her new solo show Escape from Gloriavale, in which she plays a naïve member of the secretive religious cult. After reading a copy of Women’s Weekly, Providence Gratitude (Stent) becomes possessed by a desire to go to the mythical Shortland Street and meet the ‘celebrities’ who reside there. With the help of pumpkins, costumes and various other props, Providence regales the audience with her epic story. [More]

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We scurry into the small space known as Q Theatre’s ‘Cellar’ (same parking lot as the Basement Theatre) for the one woman comedy musical theatre show inspired by New Zealand’s very own Gloriavale: a closed community near Greymouth in the South Island with fundamentalist Christian beliefs and some of their own interesting rules (such as the standardized blue uniform to maintain modesty).

Brynley Stent creates a light-hearted and amusing adventure in the guise of awkward and naive Providence Gratitude. She is the star of Gloriavale’s own theatre productions and set to marry a young man she barely knows. As Providence, her voice is flat, her singing enthusiastic and cringe-inducing, and we are giggling right from the start.  Her sweet, scrubbed, pale face and long, smooth hair makes Stent look like she might have sprung from the stock of its founder, Hopeful Christian.

With only a stick and pumpkin as a base, Stent creates additional characters that are instantly recognizable. A blue shirt on a coat hanger conjures up a ‘good Gloriavale man’ professing his love and eager to produce eight children. Stent’s facial and physical expressions are wildly comic; she is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Despite the darker side of Gloriavale’s reputation, Stent isn’t churning that particular butter to excess. Accusations of abuse are referred to only fleetingly and she uses the austerity of the lifestyle to highlight the absurdity of ‘celebrity’ in our own culture. Shortland Street, in the context of this show, has never been so much fun or so entertaining.

We nod in agreement whenever she brings up her view on Kelly Tarlton’s, and by the time she makes it to a certain Auckland Street, our heroine can suddenly and magically pronounce a Māori word with ease. There is so much more I’d love to include but that would only spoil it. 

As a former Christian who attended a cult like church, I am appreciative of this naughty, funny and energetic one woman dynamo. If you once fervently sang “I get a thrill from Jesus every moment of the day”, then this show is for you. 

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