After a pandemic-forced break, Auckland Theatre Company's Here and Now festival is back. An annual celebration of young theatre-makers, the festival is now a teenager itself, with two new shows to celebrate its 13th year.
And after several years at the ATC's waterfront base, this year sees the festival moved to the Basement Theatre – a more fitting choice for the small-scale productions, the intimate main theatre the perfect size and space for the young talent to thrive in.
First up on a Saturday night was Fleshies 2.0, described by creators The Oddballs as being "born out of a desire" to showcase different body types on stage and provide a different perspective to mainstream body politics. It's an admirable goal, but in this chaotic sketch show, little of that shines through. Instead, we had an 11-strong ensemble-moving through recurring and one-off sketches that touch on themes around body, gender norms and self-acceptance, but a lack of a through-line or clarity means any message gets lost among the noise
Fleshies tries to give each cast member a moment to shine, but only a few are able to stand out. The clear highlight was a monologue by Isobel Christie comparing spines to pine trees, that was the perfect blend of movement and reflection that incorporated the whole cast well. Those poignant scenes were a rarity though, with most feeling like scripted theatresports.
To the cast's credit, they were clearly all having the time of their lives on stage, and their joyous energy was infectious throughout the show. There were plenty of funny moments and sharp jokes, but a lot of the scenes ended up just unhinged noise that didn't showcase anything more than a buzz. It feels like there's always one show like this at every Here and Now festival, and they always come across as a very earnest attempt at having fun and saying something at the same time, but none have succeeded yet.