DEXTER’S DEEP SEA DISCOVERY
TAPAC Theatre, Western Springs, Auckland
03/07/2015 - 11/07/2015
Production Details
Bath time’s all fun and bubbles, right?
But what lies beneath the plug hole?
Dexter’s sure something lives down there.
Something magical, Something … fishy
One night, when he pulls the plug and something grabs his foot, Dexter soon realises he has been dragged into a deep sea adventure that will change his life forever. Don’t miss this loony show full of musical mermaids, sharks with swag and dancing dogfish!
Dexter’s Deep Sea Discovery is an interactive, immersive and explorative pantomime that reaches out to all ages. It’s a co-production between Auckland Council’s TAPAC theatre group and Junket Theatre, written by new playwright Jess Sayer and coming to the TAPAC Theatre July 3 to 11 2015
‘It’s all about when bath time becomes an adventure’ says Jess, 24, a three-times winner of the New Zealand Playmarket B425 award and whose play Elevator has been performed in the US, while currently her Wings, at BATS theatre in Wellington is gaining rave reviews — ‘rich in character and contemporary dialogue’ said one reviewer — and she’s written for South Pacific Pictures.
Reviews for Dexter have also been very positive: ‘The children got involved from the opening song and stayed engaged the whole show – a real compliment to the cast as there were all ages in the audience’ they said in Rotorua.
The creators are Jess Sayer and Darlene Mohekey, who say: ‘We are very aware that we live in a time where the “Black Dog” of depression bothers a lot of people, and children are brought up to fear it. With this work, we explore the concept of bullying, the feelings of not being good enough and the tall poppy syndrome.’
The play will inspire through entertaining storytelling, they say, and is performed by outstanding professionals, helping children to be more accepting of themselves and others.
Dexter, played by Amanda Tito, is currently diversifying roles on-screen with character Georgia in TV 2’s Step Dave. Jason “Crabulous” Chasland has returned from LA to join the cast as Crabulous the Sea Witch.
‘This co-production will launch an on-going collaborative relationship aiming to build TAPAC’s family audiences and to ensure that great new, New Zealand works and artists, have a life beyond one season’ says Darlene.
“The children got involved from the opening song and stayed engaged the whole show – a real compliment to the cast as there were all ages in the audience.” – Rotorua Daily Post 2014
Enjoy non-stop, Hilarious Pantomime fun for the whole family these July school holidays! Will Dexter ever resurface? BOOK NOW to find out!
VENUE TAPAC, 100 Motions Road, Western Springs
Fri 3 July 6pm
Sat 4 July 1pm & 6pm
Mon 6 July 10:30am
Tue 7 July 10:30am & 1pm
Wed 8 July 10:30am & 1pm
Thurs 9 July 1pm & 6pm
Fri 10 July 6pm
Sat 11 July 1pm & 6pm
DURATION: 100 Min including interval
INTERVAL: 20 Min
GROUP BOOKINGS & SCHOOL SEASON:
If you are a school or group please contact us for a special discounted rate. The school season of Dexter’s Deep Sea Discovery is from the 1st – 3rd July
Featuring a stellar line up of New Zealand’s Finest Award Winning Talent.
Jess Sayer (4 time award winning writer/actor)
Darlene Mohekey (TV1 Facelift)
Amanda Tito (TV2’s Step Dave)
Torum Heng (Go Girls)
Jason Chasland (Showstoppers, The Hot house)
and Tainui Kuru (The Court Theatre)
Costume: Charlie Baptist
Set Design: Katrina Wessling
Theatre , Family , Children’s ,
Fun and jokes for all ages
Review by Loki Smythe 04th Jul 2015
One minute Dexter is at home with his mum, next minute he is surrounded by aquatic life – from reckless dolphins to annoying catfish. Modern pop music is playing, there are green and blue lights, seaweed decorations hang stage left and right with little fish, jellyfish and starfish. There is a cage that seems like it is made out of golden spears on stage left, centre stage is a big sea rock and there is a table with a neat white tablecloth holding smoothies in skull-shaped mugs.
The main character, Dexter – played by Amanda Tito – has a very stereotypical eight-year-old attitude, thinking shark attacks are awesome and glasses look stupid. He wears blue and white chequered suspenders, an also blue and white striped shirt, blue pants, orange trainers, a grey beanie and of course his black, circular-lensed glasses.
His first encounter, after wishing himself underwater, is with a female, magic-brewing crab named ‘Crabulous’: a lover of pop music and modern dancing. Crabulous is played by Jason Chasland, a very talented man in my opinion who brings plenty of laughs to the audience.
Co-writers and director Jess Sayer and Darlene Mohekey come up with very witty and sometimes silly jokes and also reuse many of the six actors for different types of aquatic creatures.
A mermaid with valuable scales, called Density – played by Torum Heng – is pursued into the golden cage by a mob consisting of a hammerhead and great white shark and a dumb jellyfish.
As Dexter comes to rescue Density, she causes a distraction by singing.
“Geez! Stick to your day job, toots,” says Hammer (the hammerhead).
“I’m gonna need a doctor’s appointment for my ears!” says Mussel (the great white).
“Ha, I don’ even have ears!” says Jellyfish (the jellyfish) as they continue eating their fish and chips.
Along his journey to retrieve the mermaid for Crabulous (who also wants some of her magical scales), Dexter encounters a pod of dolphins – played by Jess Sayer, Bryony Skillington and Tainui Kuru – who want to eat him. Crabulous scares them off but later backstabs Dexter, but they somehow resolve their differences in an unrealistic amount of time. The very forgiving Dexter even makes friends with his predators in the end by helping them out.
The show is for all ages, containing fun interaction for kids, modern jokes for teens/tweens, and some jokes that crack up the adults. It is around eighty minutes plus a little intermission.
[Loki is aged 13]
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