There is lots of intriguing detail to study in Anne-Lisa Noordover’s bed-sit set design: an unmade single bed, countless books, a picture of Jerry Seinfeld, a Foxton Fizz crate, a fridge, a microwave, an old school desk, a radio with blinking digital clock suggesting it hasn’t been reset since a power cut or something … And over the next 75 minutes, abetted by Bekky Boyce’s dynamic lighting design and operation, the set and what plays out within it will spring a number of dramatic surprises.

Stage left is a stand-up mic which is where playwright/ performer Ethan Morse opens as Anthony, the eponymous Wise Guy. Clearly good with words and extremely articulate with them, it is part of the point that Antony’s stories – including his ‘coming out’ experience – don’t neatly land as ‘jokes’. They make for impressive performance poetry in a later sequence, however. Meanwhile Anthony’s complex twenty-something ego is prone to burning more bridges than he builds.

Back in his room, his companions are a Concert programme announce (producer GypsyMae Harihona), the music of Mozart, a his mum via a phone call and a doomed Grindr date that costs him a potential introduction to Jerry Seinfeld himself, who is soon to play the Wellington Opera House. Antony’s fan-boy relationship with Jerry – impressively personified in fantasy by Keegan Bragg (the director) – and his quest to write a good joke, gives the play a bit of a through-line; a spine of sorts.

It’s in the next stand-up sequence that Anthony reveals his AIDS diagnosis (mentioned in publicity so it’s not a spoiler), provoking an insightful discourse on the history and nature of comedy, catharsis and existential dread. A range of classical artists, philosophers and writers are name-checked as a bridge to an even more subjective reality where red envelopes become a startling motif.

Audience members are involved in various (unthreatening) ways. In counterpoint to confronting the more mundane realities of his condition, Anthony channels Mozart’s Queen of the Night (from The Magic Flute) gloriously and pursues the elusive Jerry and even more elusive joke ignominiously.

My favourite moment involves Jerry/Jesus turning water into wine. Or is that infected blood …? Clearly Morse is an inspired creative force brimming with great ideas in cahoots with his directorial and design collaborators.

There is a feeling, however, that Wise Guy doesn’t know to end. Its energy and focus dissipates rather than coalesces into more than the sum of its parts. A ruthless willingness to dispense with some elements that don’t really ‘earn their keep’ could improve the play’s structure. On the other hand it does manifest Anthony’s reluctance to let go, in particular, and the age and stage of young ‘starving artists’ in general.  

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An aspiring stand-up comedian, Anthony (played by writer Ethan Morse) loves Jerry Seinfeld and red wine. 

Living in a tiny bedsit he has created a shrine to his personal god. Across from this stands a microphone, and a stage door. Fans of Seinfeld out there will make the connection to both settings and the overall idea that this is a show about “nothing”. [More]

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer