In a world full of chaos, fast cars and waiting for life to come together, what if we joined the chaos, the waiting, the fast cars and… hitchhiked.  

Scraggs O’Possum and the Penultimate Hitch answers the ultimate question: What if you packed your bag and took off into the open road, with just a backpack and a cardboard sign. What adventures would await?

Hitchhiker, and the show’s star, Anna Persson, travelled 35,000km across 3 continents using the hitchhiker name “Scraggs O’Possum” to become a self-proclaimed hitchhiking extraordinaire.

After seeing her show of the same name at BATS Theatre, it is clear that her hitchhiking is not the only extraordinary thing about her. Her thumbs up attitude and honed arms-out stance welcomes the audience as they walk into BATS’ Dome space on a Sunday at 9pm – not an easy time to excite crowds surely, but Anna does just that.

Her tales of escaping the Slovenian Police, and even an Auckland businessman, has the audience cringing, laughing and genuinely inspired from her poetic writing and insights of life on the road.

“It wasn’t just getting lifts,” she narrates. “It was this beautiful exchange of kindness and vulnerability. It’s me, on the side of the road, asking for help. And someone offering that help. To trust and be trusted. It was this intimate experience of living outside the conventions of society.”

These gems shine out like a skyrocket against the stark open backdrop and cleverly placed props (not to mention stellar castmates). The show has a never ending star-studded cast of actors and improvisers. These are: Liz Butler, Nick Zajac, Chris Hobbs, Sara Douglas, Jonathan Mandeno and Aaron Douglas.

Set Designer Sebastian Blair is also a superstar for creating an easily interchangeable backdrop that changes from plane, to truck, to gas station within seconds, beautifully lit to enable the audience to follow the journey without skipping a beat.

The passion that actor, writer and producer Anna has poured into the show, and telling these stories, is phenomenal and shared by her talented cast mates and crew. I am left wondering if there is anything she can’t do and even wonder what the show would look like transformed into a musical.

It is then, at the end of the show, that the cast bursts into song and my question is answered. The show is already perfect. 

Watching this show, I am certainly blessed, and wish the show’s further travels, here and abroad, the best of luck. That’s two thumbs up from me.

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