In a crummy Massachusetts apartment, in 1995, fictionalised versions of aspiring actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck live on junk food and dreams.

As they bash away at an unauthorised screen adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye, a mysterious package appears, containing a fully formed script of Good Will Hunting. Could this be the break they are hoping for?

So begins Matt & Ben, directed by Ryan Hartigan and the first production of new theatre company Dollhouse.

The script, by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers, involves great quantities of inspired horseplay and lashings of intentional schmaltz and theatrical in-jokes.

Matt (Jordan Wichman) is the more calculatedly ambitious of the two, whereas irresponsible Ben (Nicole Jenkins) relies on instinct and charm. Both have the appealing combination of assurance and naivety that often characterises young actors.

When a scenario occurs to them they act it out, improvising shamelessly.

One fantasy sequence involves Ben in a blonde wig impersonating Gwyneth Paltrow; another has Matt pretending to be J.D. Salinger denying them the rights to The Catcher in the Rye.

Matt & Ben’s performance rights stipulate that both roles must be played by women, and this adds to the sense of idealisation, as opposed to realism. Wichman and Jenkins perform admirably. Occasionally a few words are indistinct, but the production’s strength is its theatrical physicality: the two bounce around, hide, reappear and, convincingly, fight.

Fast-moving and always funny, the play was received with wild enthusiasm by Thursday night’s audience.

Dollhouse seems set to establish itself as the New Athenaeum’s resident company, and promise to be a vibrant addition to the Dunedin theatre scene. 

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Matt and Ben written by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers and performed in their first ever season by dollhouse theatre company was introduced by dollhouse artistic director Ryan Hartigan. His opening words – “In Ōtepoti, you say let’s do a thing! And then it accidentally happens…” felt like a fairly concise summary of how the arts seem to work in Ōtepoti.

Matt and Ben is an impression of the Hollywood actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and the story that might have been the genesis of their Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting. The requirements of the rights include that the cast of two be women “performing in their own voices and accents, and never losing sight of themselves as performers”.

Nicole Jenkins is a charming, funny and self-absorbed but generous Ben while Jordan Wichman plays the preppier, more serious and focused but equally self-absorbed Matt. Their performances are polished, funny and believable – they work together as thought they’ve been doing it for years, appearing entirely comfortable with each other, the stage, and the audience. They both have a cameo role as another person – Jenkins as actor and, more recently, purveyor of woowoo, Gwyneth Paltrow and Wichman as author JD Salinger, both of whom are presented with panache and a certain amount of tongue in cheek.

The audience is invited through the fourth wall many times, practically by causing The Script to magically appear on a conveniently placed x, but also we are invited to respond actively to either player’s charm and musings at various moments. There are moments of action that come very close to the audience in the confined space of the New Athenaeum Theatre – Ben sprays a can of soda over Matt’s pristine blue button-down shirt which also finds its way onto a woman in the front row, and their tussle almost bounces off the knees of others. The audience is very much invested in the performance though, and seems to be revelling in the closeness and interaction.

Hartigan explains in his intro that dollhouse is a company for emerging performers, for now, with plans to welcome re-emerging and perhaps submerging performers as they become established. This builds on the work other companies are doing in Dunedin, often flying under the radar. Combined, this activity and energy and will to try feels like Dunedin’s theatre community is not in such desperate straits as some would have us believe.*

It is delightful to hear that dollhouse will be the company in residence at the New Athenaeum Theatre and kudos to the management for enabling these emerging artists to find a home. It’s another trend emerging in the city – places  (both physical and social) for practitioners to call home, to feel comfortable and safe while they practice their art.

“Paths that keep crossing lead you in circles – you have to find your own way.”

Another quote I note down during the performance, perhaps thinking of it as a metaphor for Ōtepoti’s theatre world? The emergence of new impressions and styles and interpretations of theatre, each with their own voices and accents, and the infrastructure that stabilises them, is encouraging in a world where many are still trying to cling to what was before, whether that’s before Covid or before the Fortune closed.

* Disclaimer – we still need a proper performing arts centre though please and thank you.

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