Gods & Heroes Relocated To Mt Victoria By The UN!
Friday, 5 February 2010, 11:01 am
Press Release: New Zealand Fringe Festival
Gods & Heroes Relocated To Mt Victoria By The UN!
Ancient Greek Pantheon Seen Milling About In Togas;
New Zealand Mortals Baffled By ‘New’ Mt Olympus
BATS Theatre
20 – 24 February 2010
A large angry man, clad only in a toga, was seen hurling thunderbolts at other similarly-clad beings atop the Mt Victoria Lookout last weekend. When stunned Kiwis, visiting one of their more beloved sites around town, asked one of the women what was going on she replied “Zeus is having a hissy fit. Again”. Another large man, clad in a massive lion’s hide, was seen wrestling animatedly with what he claimed was a 9-headed Hydra. It was, in fact, a stuffed kiwi plushie from Kirkcaldie & Stains.
Gods & Heroes: Improvised Myths is a brand-new improvised show, featuring Wellington Improvisation Troupe’s (WIT) most experienced players. The Greek Gods and Heroes you know and love now have a new home, atop Wellington’s own Mt Victoria. Witness the creation of new myths and legends as the daily squabbles and dramas of the Gods and Heroes invariably spill over into the world of the Kiwi mortals.
“Our Gods and Heroes are just like humans – they have the same strengths, the same weaknesses. They bicker and fight just like any family. They reflect our own stories, which is great material for improv”, says Christine Brooks, Director for the show.
“WIT has built a reputation for character-based improvised theatre that focuses on storytelling, through three seasons of its sold-out improvised soap opera, The Young and the Witless, and Gods and Heroes will build on this,” she said.
WIT’s best character improvisers bring you Gods & Heroes: Improvised Myths from Saturday February 20 to Wednesday February 24 at 9:30 p.m. at BATS Theatre as part of Fringe 2010.
WIT is an improvised theatre group that has been performing shows in the Wellington region since 2003. WIT has over 30 active members and they are also producing two other shows for Fringe 2010: The Improvathon and the popular format, Micetro.
CAST: Christine Brooks, originally from Christchurch
Geoff Simmons, originally from Auckland
Simon Smith, originally from Taranaki
Paul Sullivan, originally from Christchurch
Anton van Helden of Wellington
Performance dates and times:
Saturday 20 – Wednesday 24 December 2009; 9:30pm
$16 Full / $13 Concession / $10 Fringe Addict
Bookings at BATS Theatre: Phone (04) 802 4175 or email book@bats.co.nz
Between festivals and seasons of shows such as The Young and the Witless WIT began to regularly organise more informal nights at the Blue Note Bar (now the Fringe Bar). These were collectively promoted under the umbrella of Wednesdays with WIT, with the name shifting to The Improv Lounge in 2012.
