There is only so much you can say in a review of a production that is shrouded in mystery; with a secret location only revealed to ticket holders on the day of the performance.  

Here follows my attempt to review Slow AntiHeroes, a Fringe offering from designer/director Lucas Neal and featuring a cast of local theatre legends. It’s worth noting that this review is based off a preview performance* last Friday afternoon, when the weather was pretty horrible!

Slow AntiHeroes gives very little away in its blurb in the Fringe programme; instead providing us a list of questions, all revolving around what it might be that we “need,” and this “need” is something that is well explored within the work. 

Stella Reid begins the performance in one of the greatest cape/ monocle combinations that I have ever seen, setting an aggressive yet humorous tone that is maintained throughout by her fellow performers. Hannah Banks (‘Doccie B’) features in a brilliant voice-over role – one that has me gasping in both shock and fits of laughter. Oliver Devlin has provided a wonderful score that does a great job fighting the elements on this particular Wellington afternoon. 

When I think of a concept like the ‘Anti-Hero’, I think of names like Macbeth, Tony Soprano, Sherlock Holmes, Dexter, BoJack Horseman and Batman. It seems to be an overwhelmingly male characteristic, wherever you look (fictional and real-world), and therefore the decision to have three wāhine toa presenting this work feels like a careful and deliberate response to this trope.

Seeking to investigate and ultimately destroy this problematic patriarchal character seems to be the central theme of Slow Anti-Heroes, and it is done quite successfully. No doubt the text (score?) could have done with a little bit more development – at times I have to wonder whether there is actually any text from which the performers are playing, and whether or not that matters.

Only Neenah Dekkers-Reihana could portray a turtle in such an affecting and hilarious way. I’m not sure how to describe this performance in a way that makes sense within the wider context of the work – it just does. 

There is so much to be said about this production, and much of it is limited by the NDA that I had to sign on the way up to the performance area – however the title tells you more than you might think. 

Rarely are Stage Managers credited in reviews (for shame!), but Maddy Warren (how have any of these people found the time?!) and Sam Tippett are clearly working extremely hard to keep this ship upright, and managing some fairly sizable props and set pieces! 

Essentially, this is one of the most Fringe concepts that you will ever come across – and I really hope as many people can see this show as possible. Although tickets to this production are limited to 10 per performance, and have rapidly sold out, I believe the company are looking at putting on extra shows in the final week of the Fringe. 

Lucas and his team are to be commended for this experimental investigative theatre work – and I hope that, by the end of NZ Fringe, this show will have made people as angry and inspired as I was.  

*[The first few performances had sold out before the producer realised he should have requested a review, hence his agreeing to the preview being reviewed – ed.]

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer