'It Really Gets Down And Dirty'

One summer; 34 shows. Yep, the Blue Room Theatre and PICA’s multi award-winning Summer Nights program is on again at Fringe World. “I think it’s probably one of the most in-depth programs that we’ve ever presented, with the most variety,” says Day, who programmed Summer Nights together with Executive Director Kerry O’Sullivan.

Four UK comedians and a virtuoso musician will team up to record an improvised radio play live in And Now For Something Completely Wireless. “I’m kind of interested to see how they manage to interact with an audience… It really gets down and dirty with what they’re improvising.”

From the way Monroe & Associates – a theatrical experience for one person at a time – has been described to Day, she likens it to an Escape Room (live puzzle/adventure) game. “You need to solve clues and that will create a chain reaction of technical things; like, a drawer might open, a phone might ring, or a television might turn on, and then you have to continue through...t’s more self-initiated performance.” 

And then there’s the heavier topics presented in a new way; the sole dance show in the program is Hex, an analysis of AIDS, activism and sex. “You kind of don’t realise as an audience member it is telling that narrative until suddenly there is that shift.”

The most technical show in the program is Concrete:Heartbeat, which makes use of projection-mapping. “We’ve said to people, even though you have to bump in and out in a ten-minute period still push yourself and give yourself high production values because we’re excited to present full, beautiful, luscious work.

Pale Face Cold Blood, a new work by Iranian theatre-maker/performer Mina Mokhtarani about an Iranian translator who’s seen terrible things on Manus Island, will rearrange the PICA space. “We’ll actually be kind of emulating a bit of a boxing ring on the stage of PICA… That one is in the category called ‘Can You Handle The Truth’. It’s hard-hitting theatre and I hope that people come on and support it.”

At the other end of the scale is the family-friendly The Bookbinder. Incorporating shadow play and puppetry, it won Best Theatre and Best In The Fringe at 2014’s New Zealand Fringe. “It’s so much one of those children’s shows where adults will absolutely love it. We’re an adult theatre, really… but this year Fringe is in ten days of the school holidays so we thought that we might try and see if we can attract that market.”