ELEVATOR!
BATS Theatre, The Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
24/09/2020 - 03/10/2020
Production Details
What happens when love blossoms on an elevator? It’s about taking that leap of faith into the unknown!
ELEVATOR! will make you laugh as well as tug at your heartstrings. Be drawn in with fun, quirky performances from the fun-makers at STEW Productions! With original group-devised music, choreography, drama and STEW’s signature style, it is a unique experience not to be missed!
ELEVATOR! debuted at the 2020 NZ Fringe Festival in Wellington and originally performed in J & M’s Fast Foods on Courtenay Place. At the Fringe Festival Awards, STEW Productions was nominated Most Promising Emerging Company and awarded the Parkin Development Award. This gave them the opportunity to re-stage ELEVATOR! at BATS Theatre with loads of exciting creative opportunities.
STEW Productions are a theatre company based in Wellington, New Zealand that believes in collective growth to support each other in our creative practice. Our shows are written and produced collectively, STEW aims to surprise and connect with our audiences with fresh, genuine experiences that highlight contemporary issues such as representation and equality.
Our members, in alphabetical order are: April Boland, Logan Delaney, Dennis Eir Lim, Brittany Meiklejohn & Lorenz Ravalo.
BATS Theatre – The Dome
24 September – 3 October
8:30pm
Full Price $20
Group 6+ $18
Concession Price $15
BOOK TICKETS
About ELEVATOR! and STEW Productions
ELEVATOR! was devised one afternoon at a STEW meeting when Dennis had said to April and Logan that their fringe show needed an elevator pitch. Logan chimed in that Elevator should be the name of the show, and the rest is history! They were quickly joined by Brittany and Lorenz for their twice weekly devising sessions!
Debuting at Fringe and graciously winning the Parkin Award to restage the show at BATS Theatre, ELEVATOR! explores what it is to be in an elevator, both literally and figuratively. Can a small, confined space bring joy? And what happens when you want to leave the familiar?
STEW Productions was formed to investigate different ways of devising theatre. Their major focus is how to empower creatives through giving them opportunities to create and grow as artists. The members aim to support each other through sustainable practice and honest, constructive communication.
Theatre ,
1 hr
LGBTQ+ love in an ELEVATOR! STEW Productions wants to make your heart go bum bum bum
Review by Ines Maria Almeida 30th Sep 2020
I’m not expecting a spectacle akin to Aerosmith’s video ‘Love in an elevator’, but when I hear that ELEVATOR! (Yes! ALL CAPS!) takes place in an elevator, it’s where my brain goes. But no, ELEVATOR! doesn’t take place inside a real elevator, but rather a taped square symbolising an elevator. This is theatre, after all. It’s worth noting that ELEVATOR! was first performed at a fast food restaurant during last year’s Fringe Festival – at J & M’s Fast Foods on Courtenay Place to be specific. The place with the chicken salt french fries to be even more specific. But I’m happy to be here at Bats, even without fries.
There are only 21 of us in the crowd, and I know this because Cheltenham, my date for the night, takes the time to count. There are chairs on the stage we pretend to not see as we shimmy past Logan Delaney who’s gesturing to the chairs we’re ignoring, and head up the stairs to the back. I have a feeling that this is going to be interactive theatre and I want to be far away from the action. There’s a celebrity in the crowd too, Cheltenham slurs into my ear. “Mittens’ dad is here.” And so he is, and it’s not just a coincidence. One of STEW’s skits is around Wellington’s floofy true Mayor, Mittens the Cat. His dad is here to support the show, and there is Mittens Merch for sale in the lobby with proceeds going to the SPCA.
ELEVATOR! is a cast of five talented young guns: Brittany Meiklejohn, Dennis Eir Lim, Logan Delaney, April Boland and Lorenz Ravalo. Apparently they’ve all had a hand in writing and producing the show. The show is set in an elevator where the audience watches characters come and go, just like everyday life. There are funny skits, like the stalker one, which makes me LOL with it’s riff on stalker and STALK HER. There are not so funny skits like the crabs, which while cute makes no sense to me. Oh but there is something quite Theatre of the Absurd going on here, which I like.
What I can get into, however, is a love story, particularly an LGBTQ+ one, and thanks to Dennis and Lorenz, or Colin and Hector, I do. The question this play tries to answer is “What happens when love blossoms in an elevator?” I’m not about to spoil it for you, but you might be surprised at where this narrative goes. Involving elevator nostalgia, game shows, audience participation (I knew it!), mints, choreographed dancing, drama, and yes, singing, a lot of singing, ELEVATOR! is a high energy show buzzing with talent. But not everything lands. Half an hour in, I’m ready for it to be over. The superhero, Lady Lift, fails to lift off. Death & Damnation pick the crowd up again, and I cry-laugh at the farting skits, because farts, even at my age, are hilarious. I will never not laugh at them.
But who are we kidding, Colin and Hector are the real stars tonight, with their sweet duets, and the way they portray the adorable awkwardness of first falling in love. The only thing I find unbelievable about their relationship is the fight – in the elevator of course! It’s muted when I think it should be a screaming match. Colin, Hector did you a dirty, stand up for yourself (even if you are a bit of a leech)! They make up for this limp display of emotion later on with their heartfelt apologies to each other. Very touching indeed. And while I loathe participating in a play, I actually quite enjoyed being part of the decision of whether or not Colin and Hector go the distance. At the point where Colin gets out of the elevator, I figure this is the perfect ending, but then it keeps going. It even goes over the allotted hour, which makes me feel trapped and itching to leave!
I’m not sure that I believe what happens in an elevator isn’t different to what happens to us on the stairs and in the streets, but I do know the messages in this play could be told in a tighter, more polished way, paring back the superfluous and irrelevant skits so Colin and Hector’s love story can take centre stage. This is a love story above all things, and that’s all it has to be.
STEW Productions presents their latest musical performance, ELEVATOR! at Bats’ HeyDay! Dome 24 SEP – 3 OCT at 8:30PM.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
Comments