Playshop Improvisation, performing at the Gryphon, have chosen a subject we can all relate to – small town New Zealand.

When asked at the show’s outset what relevant images come to mind, audience members are quick to come up with gangs, gossip, huge icecreams, bogans, sheep, cemeteries. When the request is for a most despised animal, someone suggests octopus, and a question about an unusual geographical location elicits crevice.

In such a manner is the show engendered, with the additional prompts of signs on the back curtain such as Town Centre, Bank, Church, Community Hall. The cast of twelve gaily take up the challenge, and give us an experience of the inhabitants and events in Octopus Crevice – somewhere in New Zealand.

“Once you start specialising, it’s best not to go back to generalising,” is the sage advice of a man who has made his mark sanding.

A very proper mother recommends that her sons not look at each other while eating, and further insists that they refer to more than one octopus correctly – as octopi.

“You’re worth every sausage here – the tomato sauce, the onions, all the burnt bits,” declares a hopeful lover at a barbecue. 

As is usual with an improvised performance, the audience takes delight in the clearly fresh nature of the dialogue. Serious themes, such as social assimilation, get a look in: “You don’t need to be a puzzle piece to fit in here,” one character assures another.

The show doesn’t really have a structure – its nature precludes that – but gathers momentum when cast members begin to urge each other off the stage. “Are you almost done?” is hissed from the wings, intended to hurry up a couple of over-stayers. 

The action culminates in a meeting for citizens in the Community Hall – held to decide what “big thing” should be erected to represent the town. If we hadn’t recognised ourselves up to now, we can’t help but do so at this point. Battles rage over what the symbol should be. “No one likes tall poppies – let’s have a short one,” suggests someone. Someone else storms out. Consensus is reached on a steak and kidney pie.

The show is a gentle poke at small towns. We can be thankful that small towns don’t necessarily mean small minds. And that small towns can act as a microcosm of a wider society. 

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