It’s Dangerous to Go Alone is a workshop-to-stage show that has stepped up to replace a Covid casualty. Many masks in the BATS precinct attest to an abundance of caution in the ranks of NZ Improv Fest participants. (It’s Dangerous to Go Without a Mask?)

The portentous premise is projected:
  In ancient times, our land was beset by evil.
  When we needed them most, a hero arose to fight the darkness.
  But in defeating the great evil, the hero fell, and vanished from memory.

  1000 years later…

Matt Powell has assembled a veritable army of performers – Liz Butler, Ben Jardine, Christine Covode, Marcel Blanch-de Wilt, Frankie Browne, Maria Williams, Heidi Geissler, Tristram Domican, Jess Allen, Joanna Prendergast, Katherine Weaver – with Lia Kelly on keys and Bethany Miller operating lights and AV.

Snapshot poses on a red box plinth denote the Heroic Fantasy genre. Liz lies corpse-like on a row of red boxes, Matt holds a sword above her, wordlessly denoting the Tomb Effigy of a Medieval Knight. An otherworldly voice (Bethany) says, “Wake up, Hero!” and the Knight, Hero, comes to life.

The ask-fors that inform the subsequent scenes come in the form of location lists for us to choose from. Multiple voices shout out multiple choices, Bethany picks one and ethereally announces the result, to spark each phase. The ensemble populates each realm appropriately as they (the performers) await the unexpected arrival of Hero.

The Volcano Ruins are hot as the villagers mooch about their desultory daily lives. When Hero arrives, some people feel she reminds them of someone long ago … She seems to realise her job is to defeat a great evil. An old man lurks mysteriously. Reptilian creatures seem vaguely threatening so Hero pokes her sword at a couple of them and they die. Someone is endowed with a red hoop – something to do with an ancient artefact, I think. Has it been discovered, reclaimed or awarded? Not sure.

I may be missing important information. Some of the cast are still in workshop mode, speaking just loud enough for nearby colleagues to hear. And sometimes, as is inevitable when everyone is being spontaneous, the live dramatic soundscape drowns out the odd word – just one high-pitched note can do it.

Hero’s questing journey continues, carried on the back of an Eagle or Dragon (Matt) whose name will turn out to be Wingfriend. He speaks of the loss of something very important and takes them to the next audience-chosen destination: a Sky Laboratory full of flying / floating / gliding beings. On being told this is a land on many paths, portals obligingly appear and announce where they lead. Hero smites the ones she doesn’t like and chooses The Path With Many Shops Along The Way. Various vendors materialise. A green hoop is awarded to someone called Steve (Christine).

“Let’s go find more stuff!” says Hero. Fire-breathing and zap-throwing monsters swirl about and are successfully repelled by the sword as Hero’s posse takes flight again. A weapons vendor vies with a gambling venue. Weapons are purchased with feathers, on a payment plan. Poisonous berries are also on offer (from Maria) – the price? “Your innocence!” When she is paid, she gets bouncy. “I feel 12!” Priceless.

The next stop is a Desert Library where staff push trollies, readers study … The fine for returning books late is instant death – from the Library staff, not Hero. A masochistic husband (Marcel) says something to his librarian wife (Christine) and gets a wack over the head – then keeps coming back for more (ye olde slapstick).

There is business about getting library cards even though “Nothing ever leaves the shelves except cruelty” – caused by ‘The Ancient Evil’, perhaps because a book was never returned: an historical account of how a Great Warrior defeated an Ancient Evil … Ironically, just as the quest is finding its spine, someone reveals that a book with a blue spine has gone missing – and a blue hoop takes up the role. This turns out to be the third piece that completes the missing artefact.

The blue hoop endows another Steve. Now multiple Steves are along for the ride and a favoured one is renamed Wingfriend Friend. They enter through a Temple archway and encounter an old man, the mysteriously lurking one from the Volcano Ruins. He is delighted that Hero has recovered the 3-ringed Artefact. But ha! It’s a trap!

Having found the Ancient Evil incarnate, Hero has no option but to chew on the poisoned berries she traded for her innocence, anoint her sword with the resulting potion, and smite the evil ones. But now the residual poison is affecting her, fatally it seems – until someone remembers the ‘Extremely Useful Potion’! It serves as a timely antidote.

The prophecy has come to pass, Hero has saved them all – and her helpers are now dubbed Winfriend Friend, Wingfriend Friend Friend, Wingfriend Friend Friend Friend … etc.

Although it has played out at a very steady pace, It’s Dangerous to Go Alone has proven to be an ingeniously improvised show.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer