Aunty Donna’s Wellington debut was last year with Big Boys but these alumni of the University of Ballarat Arts Academy launched to great acclaim in Melbourne in 2012, and their YouTube presence has been phenomenal ever since. No surprise, then, that Te Auaha’s Tapere Nui (Big Theatre) is full-to-bursting to welcome them back.

I have no idea if their name bears any relation to ABC TV’s The Aunty Jack Show (1972-3) but they could be the bastard child she had with Monty Python. There are certainly genetic similarities although they – the writers/ performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, directed by Sam Lingham – are very much of their own generation and claim their own unique space. And how.

This Glennridge Secondary College show parades an archetypal range of students and staff in order to capture a curdling essence of nostalgia destined to generate the raucous laughter of recognition, choked somewhat with bits of trauma-induced sick. Does it need a trigger warning?

The school song morphs into ‘The Best Days of My Life’ which pretty well sums up everything to come, like the prologues and dumb-shows of yore. Notices and a Roll Call bring us fully into the zone before we wag class with 14 year-old Stephanie and Jessica as they stalk Kevin, described as an “entry-level Justin Beaver”, and text their conversation to each other. Its hormone-pumped brilliance does get bogged down in shat pants, however, which may not be to everyone’s taste.

The Ceramics Class sketch verges on Dada-esque although it could be seriously analysed as an insightful study of the undeveloped cerebral cortex of teenage boys.

While the show’s roots in Australia’s outer-suburbs are clear to see, the Aunty Donna trio endears themselves to us with their attempts to relocate to NZ. But what we call chips, they call chippies; what we call chippies, they call crisps. And the announcement of “interval” turns out to refer to the lunchtime break: the show goes on.

Mention keeps being made of a looming talent show as we are treated to a Geography rhyming challenge, a Trampoline Champ demo, a 4-Square game involving the New Girl and another audience conscript, ‘Two Ghouls and One Boy’ with choreography by Jessica and Stephanie – and an absolutely outstanding sketch featuring a little bouncing Bully. My fave.

Least verbal and most minimal is Mr Bellybutton’s utterly ‘on-the-button’ strategy for achieving order and silence in the auditorium. ‘Going to The Counsellor’ offers more insight into adolescent angst. ‘Million Dollar Shot’ knocks it out of the park …  

Our failure to step up for the Talent Quest, despite the lure of an $8b prize, results in a shocking outcome I cannot reveal here.

Is it serendipity that the audience-sourced New Girl nominated One Direction as her favourite band or does the appearance of Harry Styles as our saviour and the breakout of ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ happen purely in response to that? I suspect the latter and applaud it.

With Glennridge Secondary College, Aunty Donna doesn’t so much go the extra mile as launch live comedy into the stratosphere, mixing wacky theatrics, social commentary and psychological insight with extraordinary flair. Highly recommended.

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