Toni Potter goes 'potty'

Herald online

7 May, 2009 02:44 AM2 mins to read

Toni Potter. Photo / Supplied

I'll be honest. I always thought

Toni Potter

belonged to the Thespian School of Frightfully Important. You know, the take-themselves-too-seriously set, like

Oliver Driver

, who queried

Banksie'

s decision to fund the seriously good acting of

Ethan Hawke

and The Bridge Project and not divvy that dosh towards local productions. His local productions, presumably.

Potter, like Driver, comes from the

Shortland St

machine of actors, so perhaps that goes someway to my facetious outlook. Not that I'm dissing the

Street

. I like the Street. Stars that take themselves too seriously, not so much.

But Potter very clearly doesn't, if her routine at the Comedy Gala on Friday night is anything to go by. As part of the We Are Currently Experiencing Some Issues team, Potter donned a tiger costume, a pink tutu and a pair of roller skates for a mock kiddie show.

To call it slapstick humour is an understatement. I'm not quite sure what it was, to be honest. I didn't hate it, but then I didn't much like it, either. Nervous laughs and queer looks were seen rippling round the auditorium which is never really a good look, I guess.

It certainly was a breath of fresh air. To be fair, I'm told by a Festival publicist that the stuffed animal routine was created especially for the gala night and "is not a reflection of their actual show".

Thank god! Sitting through that for two hours would be a ‘mare. To perhaps soften my reaction, said publicist confided Potter went to the roller derby to "learn how to roller skate." If "learn" means treading carefully, tripping, then falling. It's slapstick, remember.

The real show, apparently, is rather good and you can see it nearly every night next week at The Herald Theatre where Potter will join

Jamie Bowen

Brett O'Gorman

Simon McKinney

and her good friend

Justine Smith

onstage.

We snapped Potter at the Auckland Art Fair last week with the divine Robyn Malcolm who judged the 48 Second Film Festival with me this morning and TV3's

Dave Farrier

, but more on that in tomorrow's blog.