Play 2 (from the ATC 2nd Unit) at the Maidment Studio

By FRANCIS TILL

2nd Unit's second effort, Play 2, is a volatile exploration of a single night out in club Auckland, dusk to dawn, from every possible perspective. "Fresh" won't do as an adjective - it's too stale for this high-risk, high-reward production.

Fourteen gifted young actors assembled the building blocks of this play by crafting characters out of what they know about the club scene.

Those eclectic personalities were then herded into a coherently interactive text by three up-and-coming writers - Jodie Molloy, Oscar Kightley and Jacques Strauss - then choreographed into production by two directors, Oliver Driver and Colin Moy.

To make it all stick to the stage without running amok, the group turned for technicals to a supremely competent crew of recent grads from that hotbed of new drama talent, Unitec, a choir master (Don McGlashan), a DJ mix that underlies everything (Silverbeat/Per Bojsen-Moller), a cameo by the fabulously seductive voice of Love Songs 'til Midnight radio host Gael Ludlow, and multi-media subtext from Kog Transmissions/Bruce Ferguson.

There's a lot of singing and dancing in this work, including an exquisite Samoan chorale and a twisted comic male revue, but it takes place inside a confident narrative flow that pays high dividends to those who want development, tension and resolution from a play.

Alongside the text, each character inhabits a unique kinaesthetic envelope, telegraphed in the opening dance sequence and amplified throughout: movement is mind, we see, and ultimately, a prehensile truth.

Rachel Walker's set is perfectly tuned to the effervescent mix of events and anything this complex that comes off so seamlessly means the stage manager, T.J. Haunui, should come out for a bow alongside the master of lights, Brad Gledhill.

The cast is young but most have already amassed credits in film, television and theatre and are ready for prime time.

These are the actors of our many tomorrows, on stage here, today. Highly recommended, but be ready for something unlike anything you've seen before.