HIT
I feel a little lame that this isn't more exotic but my hit has to be when I travelled the country with my friends performing our play, The Intricate Art of Actually Caring. It was just four of us packed in a van, going from town to town, laughing, drinking, getting angry with each other. It was the closest I'll ever get to being on tour in a band like a cool person. Our final show (ever) was in Riverton, the furthest south I think I've ever been. We popped champagne to celebrate. I saw more of the country than I'd ever seen before. Particularly the South Island. Driving through snow, it had never really hit me properly before, the power of the landscape down there. It was all very existentially intense. I was probably going through some stuff.
MISS
I was in London with a bunch of friends performing a show in the Vault Festival, which is this really interesting fringe festival run out of these old abandoned Tube tunnels under Waterloo station. You could hear the trains thundering overhead during performances. It was a crazy, surreal, amazing experience and should really be a hit. But it was a miss because on opening night I got hit with food poisoning just after the show and spent the next 12 hours in absolute hell. I went to hospital the next day and we had to cancel the second performance, which sucked. I I can't remember the name of the place but it's a lesson learnt: Eat all the dodgy street food you like but watch out for chicken panini from hipster cafes.
● Actor Eli Kent performs in Auckland Theatre Company's season of The Cherry Orchard, playing June 12-26 at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland.
