Firstly there’s Father Stan (Isaac Thomas) preparing the church with incense and candles and an attractively draped altar. Musician Oliver Devlin is playing weddingish chords in the corner. Then there’s a well dressed, nervous looking man (Doug Brooks) with a ginger beard talking on a phone to the bride-to-be. He’s reassuring the bride that all is in order, the guests (that’s the audience of course) are present and no, don’t worry, none of them is wearing denim (here he frowns censoriously at a man in jeans in the front row). It becomes clear that he’s the bride’s brother Maxwell and he’s also the best man.

Having coaxed his sister into turning up in a timely manner, he hangs up, greets us and obtains some tidbits of information from the audience – wise advice from “Aunty Frieda” which takes the form of “Ask your Mother”; a line from a song: “Wise men say”; and the name Maria from someone’s text message. Then he sets up a projector for a slideshow of photos of the friends and family celebrating the engagement. (The photos have just been taken in the BATS foyer and feature Doug with members of the public waiting to enter the theatre).

“That’s my mate,” he says fondly, and then spots the featured ‘mate’ in the audience. “That’s our sister,” he says of an affectionate photo that reveals he has another ‘sister’ besides the bride. Then he waves to their mum and dad in the audience. The unwitting bridegroom is then discovered in the crowd and pulled up onstage.

The best man tells us he has only known the groom two weeks, but he feels like he now has a brother. A bridesmaid is also identified, much to her surprise. Having established familial relationships with a large number of audience members, Doug has already generated a fairly relaxed sense of shared ownership going on with this story.

The fiery bride, Lucy (Laura Irish), blows in at some point during this. The happy couple hold hands and blush. This groom steps up to the game brilliantly; he seems genuinely thrilled to be marrying Lucy. Lucy seems happy too, but she hints at some mysterious resentment toward her brother which is never quite explained.

Another worrying issue is the vicar’s unusual level of interest in Lucy. The best man spins his speech out of the name ‘Maria’, the advice to “Ask your mother”, and the words “Wise men say” along with a lot of stuff about how the groom is his best friend. ‘It’s like my brother is marrying my sister,’ he enthuses.

Then Lucy sings a song inspired by her financé’s hobby, video gaming. Accompanied on guitar by Father Stan, she composes a winner of a lyric, ‘Your Love is the Game Boy of my Heart’. It’s a rousing tune too, her voice is great, and the whole cast is soon harmonising with her, along with many in the audience.

A sermon ensues. The vicar must borrow a text from the audience, so it is from Lonely Planet: New Zealand that he takes his meaningful thoughts for the couple.

Things begin to unravel when the bride suddenly spots denim in the audience! She’s so outraged! Then the best man and the priest have to hide the groom, who is wearing jeans! But that’s not the worst – the groom is already married! His wife steps out of the audience, ends up throwing her rings at the new bride, and then in the end it’s the vicar and the wife who get married!

The fortunes of this show run wild and loose which brings highs and lows, actor fumbles and a fair bit of confusion. I’m at times unsure who on the stage is a cast member and who’s an audience recruit, but this goes to show the level of audience engagement. And fast and loose offers the thrill of the unexpected and loads of big laughs. 

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