Choose Your Own Fringe: A Mysterious Caper at Murder Point
Wellington Performing Arts Centre, Wellington
22/02/2011 - 25/02/2011
Production Details
You’re the star in this ground-breaking interactive rollercoaster.
Our hero Jimmy (YOU!) must make his way back to his rural-coastal hometown, the pleasant sounding Murder Point, but what will face him when he gets there: smugglers? hipsters? unplanned children? more questions? With over 200 – fully scripted – possible versions of the plot if you want to see new, tightly written comedy, are an 80’s kid who can’t let go of the past, or just someone who resolved to "do other things with more people in 2011", you’re "guaranteed" to laugh at and love Choose Your Own Fringe.
From the experienced writers at Magpie Productions and featuring the very talented cast of Chris Dawson (Back/Words – one of 2010’s ‘Pick of the Fringe’), Reuben Levermore, Alix Boberg, Tom Hallett-Hook, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, Joe Ballard, Greg Robins, Michelle Millar and George Hampton.
Features unique electronic audience response system, with software specifically developed for the show.
Get in quick!
At the Wellington Performing Arts Centre.
Tickets numbers limited due to electronic devices.
Visit www.wpac.org.nz or call 0800 944 847 for tickets
and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Choose-Your-Own-Fringe/103208399753255 for more information.
22 Feb 7:30pm (Tue)
23 Feb 7:30pm (Wed)
24 Feb 7:30pm (Thu)
25 Feb 7:30pm (Fri)
Prices
Full $16.00
Concession $14.00
Fringe Addict Card Holder $12.00
Info
Duration: 1h 10m
Venue
Whitireia Performance Centre
25-27 Vivian Street, Te Aro
Wheelchair access
Tickets
From: WPAC Tickets
Ph: (04) 238 6225
Website: http://www.wpac.org.nz
Cheeky, funny, ridiculous, enjoyable
Review by Hannah Smith 24th Feb 2011
I love murder mysteries and I devoured pick-a-path adventures as a child, so I can’t think of a premise for a show more immediately intriguing than a pick-a-path murder mystery where we, the audience, decide how the story ends.
Using ‘Beyond 2000 technology’ (little decision-making-button-machines) the audience are in control as Jimmy, a young orphan, returns to the place where his parents met their untimely demise: his home town of Murder Point.
As you can imagine Jimmy runs into all sorts of mysterious characters and crazy situations along the way. It is cheeky, funny, ridiculous – and really very enjoyable.
Aside from Chris Dawson, as our hero Jimmy, I do not think these actors are familiar to the Wellington stage, though some of them I recognize from last year’s Law Revue. The program doesn’t reveal which actor plays which part, but the ensemble as a whole is strong, though there is a tendency to make too much of moments and be overly declamatory. Chris, as Jimmy, really holds the whole thing together with a more natural style of performance and some well timed raised eyebrows.
Comparisons to the law revue spring readily to mind: there is something about the kind of humour involved (I think they actually re-use a Tony Veitch joke, but I could be wrong); it is all very tongue-in-cheek, camping it up and rather silly. However the tone of the piece – Smuggler King! The Moors! – chimes perfectly with that of a pick-a-path adventure book. And it certainly goes down a treat with the audience who chuckle away merrily and kill of sundry minor characters with gay abandon.
The new WPAC venue is superior to the old one, and the set design manages to create a fairly intimate playing space and support the fluid nature of the production. Projected images allowing us to move between locations (The Moors! The Smuggler’s Gaol!) and some strange white triangle things are arranged and rearranged to good effect.
All in all: a jolly good time. I personally thought that the Beyond 2000 technology was rigged (some of those ‘audience decisions’ were a little too convenient) but I am assured it was not. So I will die a cynic. Or maybe I will have to go again in order to find out for sure.
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Comments
first time caller February 24th, 2011
Glad you enjoyed the show! Being on the crew, I can assure you that the choices are NOT pre-ordained. The Wednesday night show was 80% different from Tuesday night, which led to very different props being used. The cast have done an incredible job of implementing the different options - clearly to the point where it is indistinguishable from a set piece from an audience perspective!