Passing Through
Red Door Theatre, 95 Atawhai Drive, Nelson
10/03/2025 - 11/03/2025
Production Details
Alison Cowan – Playwright, Director and Producer
A play with a waiting room, an administrator and a group of people. The problem is, they are all dead – whatever that means.
A light-hearted and thoughtful look at Life and After Life. This short play was first performed in the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2021. With strong story telling elements, and a cheeky sense of humour, the author asks: if life is a school – what have we learnt? And once we leave school – what comes next?
Venue: Red Door Theatre, 95 Atawhai Drive, Nelson
Dates: 10th and 11th March 2025,
7:30 pm
Price: $18 + 50c booking fee
Bookings can be made through www.trybooking.com/nz/eventlist/nelsonfringe
https://www.facebook.com/flyingtigerenterprises
The original short script was developed by Alison who was chosen to be one of three playwrights mentored by the Ōtepoti Theatre Lab Emerging Playwright Programme 2021.
Further development and refinements have been made since. Passing Through had five performances in the Dunedin Fringe Festival 2021, and, after further tweaks, is now being presented with a new local cast, at the Nelson Fringe Festival 2025.
Allison Cormack (Amy)
Kerry Jimson (George)
Mynx Bunting (Caro)
Nick Gastrell (Larz)
Theatre ,
approx 45 mins
Light humour well woven into the story telling
Review by Trish Sullivan 11th Mar 2025
An interesting premise – the waiting room after death. Does the next stage depend on how well we lived our life? Or is it all predetermined?
This lovely short play by Alison Cowan illustrates the musings of three charming characters as they evaluate their lives in front of the zen waiting room administrator Larz (Nick Gastrell) who seems to have all the answers on his iPad.
George (Kerry Jimson) wonders why his superiority in the coat hanger industry doesn’t afford him the elite highway to heaven. Caro (Mynx Bunting) who just wants to save the whales, surely gets a pass? And delightfully humble Amy (Allison Cormack) as the long-suffering wife, mother and peace keeper who just wants to get away from it all.
The audience enjoy seeing the characters being summoned from the audience, in a kind of bingo style announcement, and then introducing themselves from the floor. The basic staging of just four chairs is fitting for the ‘other worldliness’ of the offering.
This is the second iteration of Passing Through, its first as part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2021. The writing is good and the characters are well defined. The light humour is well woven into the story telling. There is room for a little more poignancy, perhaps from the least expected character.
I thoroughly enjoy this well-cast local production. Cowan clearly knows her way around a script and I look forward to more of her work.
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