NZ Comedy Festival: Lori Dungey

Lori Dungey from ConArtists bases her Oliver Twisted show on Dickens characters.

Lori Dungey from ConArtists (NZ).

Where have we seen you before?:

I was Mrs Bracegirdle in Lord of the Rings. Such was the impact of my seconds onscreen that I have been invited to Bonn, Germany every year where I MC and perform at the largest Lord of the Rings convention in Europe.

My comedy festival show is called:

I'm a glutton for comedy so there's two - Oliver Twisted: An Improvised Dickens and Sex, Lies & Improvise: The Director's Cut

Due to it mainly being about:

Dickens is a full-length improvised play, in the style of Dickens, so we don't know what it will be about but odds on it will include gruel, urchins and the pox. Sex Lies - four directors create scenes and are voted off at the whim of the audience.

The idea behind it having been inspired by:

The prolific Charles Dickens and sex and lies.

Compared with how I am in everyday life the person you will see on stage is:

The persons you will see onstage could be Mrs Podswallop in the Poorhouse, Miss Smigglesquelch with gout, or the penniless orphan, Beatrice. In Sex, Lies & Improvise I'm a bossy cow and then suck up to the audience so they don't throw me off.

The one thing I worry about the most performing this show is:

Forgetting the other actors' "names". Although we have two chalk boards at either side of the stage where we write them up, I can't see the damn things! With names like Master Pottleswatch, who wouldn't forget?

But I think the show is just as funny as:

That delicious feeling of joy when you involuntarily throw your head back and punch the person next to you (not too hard)!

It may not be for you if you're offended by:

Exquisite tension - where is the story going next? Will the actors actually tie up the million loose ends and create a coherent tale? Will that actress ever get anyone's name right?

But do head along if your idea of great live comedy involves:

Surprise, embracing the unknown mixed in with a modicum of forgiveness, improvising, the pox.

Or if you are fans of:

Charles Dickens, Downton Abbey, and Upstairs Downstairs with a bit of Whose Line is it Anyway? thrown in and sex, lies, saucy R18 comedy, reality TV-style eliminations, improv.

Though if you sit down the front be warned:

You may be spat upon by actors in a state of robust elocution execution.

For me, this is NZ comedy festival number:

Ten.

Which makes me:

Older.

Where/when:

Horse & Trap, Enfield St, Mt Eden. Oliver Twisted - April 29 to May 3, 8pm. Sex, Lies & Improvise - May 7-10, 14-17, 8pm.