Good Thing He's Cute
New Athenaeum Theatre, 24 The Octagon, Dunedin
19/04/2018 - 21/04/2018
Production Details
Dunedin’s greatest and only fetish drag theatre-cabaret-fusion company is back again, and this time we’re getting a wee bit formal. You may have hazy memories of our previous shows–flashes of bondage, fake(?) blood, magic, poetry, organs flying around the stage and an awful lot of stripping. You may also spot some of our queens at Dunedin Pride 2018, reading picture books to small children; we are the fever dream that just keeps on giving. And even once Pride is wrapped up, we’re not going anywhere, not even if you ask nicely. Good Thing He’s Cute. Get your glad rags on.
Good Thing He’s Cute. takes us to a tasteful dinner party for Andrea Woolf, who has recently been awarded the Willem Reid research grant for proctological research. Organised by her partner, Jake Hammer, at the home they share, the party seems set to be a wholesome affair. Except this is Sacrilege, so her twin brother has sent a stripper in his stead, tense academic rivalries surface between various obscure branches of the proctological community, someone is eating all the hummus, and Jake is nowhere to be seen. Family get-togethers don’t get any better than this.
Sacrilege is a company dedicated to bringing high quality comedy and cabaret to Dunedin, with a particular focus on breaking norms and providing a platform for performers marginalised by mainstream drag and burlesque culture.
“I just think, Mum, that you might encounter less pushback if you tone down the tentacles. Just slightly, I mean.”
NEW ATHENAEUm THEATRE
Dates: 19, 20, 21 April
Time: 8pm
$15/$10 concession.
Tickets at the door or from eventfinda.co.nz.
R18. Contains nudity and sexual themes.
Produced by Jasper Ririnui and Kerry Lane
Theatre , Cabaret , Burlesque ,
A damn good time
Review by Izzy Lomax-Sawyers 20th Apr 2018
“It’s probably going to be a bit weird,” I warn my Very Innocent Straight Flatmate as we make our way to the New Athenaeum Theatre. It’s my first time attending a Sacrilege event (or indeed any queer-fetish-drag-cabaret-burlesque show) and I’m not sure what to expect, but I crack up as I read the content warning posted on the door.
Good Thing He’s Cute is set at a dinner party for Dr Andrea Woolf (Andrew Brinsley-Pirie), a proctologist who has just been awarded a prestigious research grant, and is being congratulated by a ragtag assortment of family and friends.
First to arrive is Dr Andrew Woolf (Andrew Brinsley-Pirie), Andrea’s twin brother, whose dance number to Macklemore’s And We Danced features some very entertaining costuming. Andrew departs, leaving a mysterious gift for Andrea, and The Accompanist (Tyler Neumann) arrives with some of Andrea’s friends, Dirtier Harry (Harry Biggs, who I’m 75% sure was hiding behind the couch drinking wine for most of the intermission, you do you boo) and Magnificus Rex (Allyn Robins).
The multi-talented Neumann briefly removes the gag from his mouth to sing and play a lovely rendition of Die Nebensonnen, and Biggs’ dance to Pony is a good time.
When Andrea arrives with her mother Margaret (Marion Brinsley) we discover what the mysterious envelope from Andrew was, and get treated to a dance by the remarkable Maddie May, whose stage presence and sass is as impressive as her gluteal control.
It all gets a bit weird as Magnificus Rex and his long-time academic rival Magnificent Rocks (Miguel Nitis) get into a tiff and attempt to one-up each other by doing some admittedly entertaining magic tricks. Fellow anxious types should studiously avoid eye contact when audience participation is requested!
Throughout all of this, Andrea’s oft-mentioned boyfriend Jake is nowhere to be seen. Andrea is displeased, as is her mother, whose campy performance of Paula Abdul’s Cold Hearted has me shaking with laughter.
When Jake (Jasper Ririnui, also the director) finally arrives, he brings with him a surprisingly sweet excuse for his lateness, a performance of an Ed Sheeran song, and a question.
Good Thing He’s Cute isn’t slick or polished, and at times it’s a bit stilted, but it’s a damn good time nonetheless. At its core is a bunch of charming, talented people who obviously enjoy hanging out with each other and are working hard to do cool things in the queer burlesque/drag scene, and I dig that. Very Innocent Straight Flatmate concurs, and would like to add that she loved it and it is the first time she has seen strippers.
Good Thing He’s Cute is on again tonight and Saturday at the New Athenaeum Theatre.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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