KEANU REEVES SAVES THE UNIVERSE
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
16/07/2013 - 20/07/2013
Production Details
The New Zealand Premiere of
THE MOST WARPED SCIENCE FICTION PARODY ADVENTURE EVER!
Thousands of years in the future, the crew of the Time-ship Mayflower, need a hero yesterday!
Enter Keanu Reeves – less cool-breeze-over-the-mountains / more solar-wind-between-the-ears.
Keanu Reeves Saves the Universe is a twisted, bawdy, silly, romp through your favourite science fiction tales where time isn’t the only thing that’s warped! This raucous, irreverent satire illegally marries The Matrix with Star Trek, Star Wars and all things Keanu. What happens next is… well… lots of stuff.
Direct (via Borg storage) from New York’s off-off Broadway P.I.T theatre, Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe boldly goes where it’s never been before – New Zealand. Writer/director Rob Reese is transporting himself down-under at warp speed to engineer the premiere! ( www.hellorobreese.com )
Oooh… and epic space sound-track transmission promo here: https://vimeo.com/6703398
Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe
The Basement Theatre, Lower Grays Ave, Auckland CBD
Tuesday July 16th to Saturday July 20th 2013 – 7pm
$20 / $15
Bookings: http://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2013/jul/keanu-reeves-saves-the-universe
Zany spoof needs toning down and tweaking up
Review by Heidi North 17th Jul 2013
Keanu Reeves Saves the Universe by Rob Reese is a light-hearted spoof of both the sci-fi genre and all things Keanu.
The script is heavy with references to popular sci-fi movies: The Matrix (a character named Dorfeous), Star Wars (the baddie is called Dark Hater), and Star Trek, not to mention the many other genre references, and fans will laugh along with these.
However, while the gags are funny at times, once you realise that this is the whole point of the piece – that and scantily clad bodies – they start to wear a little thin.
The plot, as the basic sci-fi genre dictates, is simple: there are baddies, they need a hero. Who better to save our ship full of sexy time pilgrims from the evil of Dark Hater than Keanu? So they kidnap him, pump his brain full of knowledge via the faketrix (darts comes in surprisingly handy) and set him loose to his task.
Much fun, fighting, witty one-liners, singing and a splash of dancing ensue. However, when the true nature of Dark Hater is revealed, they must sacrifice their hero to save their future.
The large cast are clearly having a good time. Bennett Conran does an amusing Keanu impersonation, and there is some good fight scene chorography from Michael Hurst.
Eleven actors in the small space is a challenge and some of the comedy gets lost in the mayhem. Sound effects in particular could do with turning down, allowing the actors to tone down their volume and increase clarity.
The play touches the tip of the iceberg that is time travel and what long reaching effects this can have. But I did leave not sure who the bad guy was.
Writer-director Reese has a zany sense of humour, but the show would benefit from tweaking.
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