There seems to be a resurgence of interest in Dr Faust’s legendary pact with Devil (cf: The Tragedy of Dr Faustus at BATS and The Faustus Project at Basement Theatre a couple of months ago; the steampunk fire-fable Mr Faust and Dr Jabberwocky at the Dunedin Gasworks Museum in 2013). Finnius Teppett’s One Night Only is the next iteration – and you will have to see it to understand why.

The key question is: how is ‘the Devil’ made manifest these days? Again, I won’t answer that here. Suffice to say I love a play that turns out to be worth much more than its face-value suggests. Teppett is clearly a playwright to watch.

Heightening the reality with meta-theatrical flourishes, director Stella Reid and her whole-heartedly committed cast draw their target audience in with their compelling portraits of a hugely popular boy band and those who are attracted like moths to their ‘brief candle’. Or is it the boys who have been burned by the flame of fame?  

Pauline Ward’s print media reporter Lisa Lubgrub, desperately focused on scoring a big story to prove her worth, is haunting FourEver’s dressing room. What’s weird is that there are only three guys in FourEver’s line-up and we soon learn that mystery surrounds why Toby suddenly ceased his active SnapChatting.

Of the three remaining, Jacob Brown makes Ricky’s self-obsession compellingly infuriating then surprisingly poignant; Ben Ashby convinces as the ambitious leader, Clayton; Oliver Pol’s Robbie suffers entertainingly as the one all the girls want to kiss – and do. Then there is the somewhat mythologised-through-fear Mimi, whose purposeful mission is powerfully realised by Trae Te Wiki.

A delightfully delineated relationship between two fans – strangely named M1 and M2 in the programme – is played out in fascinating detail by Ethan Morse and Jacinta Compton. The future of their relationship, given she is about to move to Auckland to study, invests this special night with an intriguing dynamic, exacerbated by underlying questions about sexual preferences.

The play, performances and all the production elements align to bring One Night Only to a richly wrought dramatic conclusion that leaves us with plenty to ponder as to its import in the ‘real’ world. 

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Kicking off this year’s season of Young and Hungry is One Night Only, which opened at BATS Propeller Stage last night.

The cast mills about expectantly while a young and not-so-young audience packs the house.

The play, written by Wellington writer Finnius Teppett, opens with a lament by a young female reporter who needs to get her hands on a serious story in order to be taken seriously. The rest of the play relates how she tries to get it!

She’s backstage, microphone in hand, a short while before three members of a boy band give a performance. Her job’s to interview them, and they make it difficult, what with troubles of their own, plus the tensions and histrionics of backstage. Male neurosis about hair predominates. “To be hot you have to earn it,” one tresses titivator is cautioned.  

This reviewer gets a bit lost by the plot which tends to be swamped by incidents and sidelines guaranteed to make our boys late for their show. But perhaps lack of a clear storyline is part of the fun, though at one hour fifteen minutes, it feels a tad too long. 

“Sweating, shivering and dehydrating,” were the reporter’s words on the suspected state of would-be performers. Not to be seen with this lot!

Isadora Lao’s set (mentored byTony De Goldi) is colourful and intriguing, though at times at risk from the antics of the actors! And special praise to director Stella Reid for clever staging – grouping of the characters was well organised and imaginative.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer