The lead up to this year’s general election has been quite extraordinary and like no other in the way that various political parties have divested themselves of their senior politicians, changing the political landscape.

This also provides more than enough material for the No Fefe Collective to put together another one of its Public Service Announcements, this time aptly called Stranger Politics.

First there is Gareth Morgan (Michael Trigg) trying to put across his No Policies policies, eventually being distracted by meowing cats then Bill English (Patrick Davies) and his team trying to deal with an agitated Paula Bennett (Bronwyn Turei), obsessed with roads and thinking they will be the significant game breaker. [More]

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Topical political satire is a risky business at the best (and worst) of times. In the month before the 2014 elections, Public Service Announcements ELECTION SPECIAL was somewhat hijacked – as was the whole election agenda – by Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics.

This year The No Fefe Collective offered PSA Election Night in May, four months ahead of the elections, and even then I was critical of their choosing not to pick up on the hot political topic of the day. The political landscape has since undergone a seismic shift with a leadership change for Labour, and the resignations of a Greens co-leader and the United Future leader – and ‘the Jacinda effect’ is dominating the conversation. Although these are gifts for the intrepid writers of Public Service Announcements STRANGER POLITICS, Thom Adams and James Nokise, the risk of more unexpected jolts remains.

As I head for BATS Theatre – less than two weeks before this year’s elections and the day after early voting opened – the just-announced Newshub poll has National 10 points ahead of Labour, with just enough to govern alone, the Greens just under the 5% threshold (without an electorate seat) and NZ First at 6% but not needed. This poll was taken on 6 September, two days after Steven Joyce asserted there was an $11.7b hole in Labour’s fiscal plan and the day before it became well known that all leading economists refuted that claim.

As I head home, after the premiere of Public Service Announcements STRANGER POLITICS, RNZ’s ‘mini Poll of Polls’ (collated 12 September) has National and Labour virtually neck-and-neck, the Greens just over the line and NZ First in king/queen maker position once more, with the Māori Party and ACT possibly holding on to electorate seats.

This time, then – with a PSA show predicated once more on a very close race – fate is smiling on the writers and cast. Oh, and given I noted the absence of spokesman-for-everything Steven Joyce in previous PSAs, I should add that his absence this time is judiciously explained by his being down a hole of his own making.

Yes, I’m showing my own bias there but the No Fefe Collective prides itself on creating non-partisan equal-opportunity political satire that sends up everyone. Their target audience is public servants, who must also be ‘apolitical’ in public, and these are the people who pack the auditorium on opening night.  

This cast of nine is significantly better than some in previous line-ups at capturing some essence of each character they play, in the tradition of good caricature. Unlike previous shows, however, it is not quite clear where each scene in the sequence sits on the election timeline. Nevertheless, as always, we are being made privy to how they carry on out of the public gaze, within their own enclaves – and director Isobel MacKinnon keeps the pace cracking along, challenging some of the cast to add ‘quick change artist’ to their skill-set.

The show is book-ended by Gareth Morgan (Michael Trigg). He hijacks his opening opportunity to promulgate his policies by complaining about TOP’s exclusion from media debates. A theatrical in-joke has TOP deputy co-leader Geoff Simmonds (Hayden Frost), well-known as an improviser at BATS, diverting attention with audience ‘ask-fors’, which – like many election promises – go nowhere. I cannot reveal how Morgan ends the show. Suffice to say there is more that one way to take off and rise above the morass, even if … [spoiler averted].

In the National Party team, while Judith Collins (Frost) lurks malevolently in the shadows, a timid Nikki Kaye (Hannah Clarke) and aggressive Paula Bennett (Bronwyn Turei) join their compulsively smiling leader, Bill English (Patrick Davies) in his walk-run routine.

A burst of ‘I See Red’ announces the Labour Party where Annette King (Clarke) still wields power, calling the ever-amiable Grant Robertson (Salesi Le’ota), in a bear-suit, “Little Lange”. Kelvin Davis (Matthew Staijen-Leach) wields his impressive mana, and a transgressive Phil Twyford (Trigg) and Stuart Nash (Allan Henry) also make brief appearances. Jacinda Ardern (Heather O’Carroll) gets an appropriate big entrance and I’m guessing her Queenly status and incisive ruthlessness is referencing Game of Thrones.  

The Green Party appeals to pagan gods to restore their electoral appeal. James Shaw (Trigg) is missing Meteria but more strong women surround him: Marama Davidson (Turei), Chloe Swarbrick (Frost), and Julie Ann Genter (Henry). Gareth Hughes (Davies) gets one energetic cameo.

For me the stand-out performance is Bronwyn Turei’s total embodiment of Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox, capped by her resounding rendition of ‘Suddenly Seymour’ – referring to the lonely but ever-bright ACT Party leader, David Seymour (Frost). Marama’s co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell (Staijen-Leach) is quietly introspective by comparison.

Also lonely but loud and potty-mouthed is Mana’s Hone Harawira, nicely nailed by Allan Henry – who remains the crowd favourite as New Zealand First’s whisky-wielding Winston Peters. Revelling in his assumed power, he lords it over a dressing gown-clad Shane Jones (Turei) while Tracey Martin (Davies) and Richard Prosser (Clarke) are occasionally glimpsed in his wake.

The media is represented by John Campbell (Trigg) and Lisa Owen (O’Carroll), who has a decisive way of punishing JC for talking over her. Both impersonations are especially good. It is they who remind us there’s a bigger world out there, being put at risk by a couple a man-boys with their big war toys.

The row of silver chalices Winston employs by way of anointing the chosen one is a striking image, enhanced by the mysterious cloaked and hooded figure who lurks in the shadows. How does it play out? That’d be telling. Suffice to say the play does not end with a whimper.

It’s fascinating to compare this latest in a long line of PSAs with the first Public Service Announcements in May 2011, when Jacinda Ardern was unknown but noticed and Winston Peters was playing exactly the same game. From a performance perspective, Public Service Announcements STRANGER POLITICS is tighter and the cast is far more prepared and polished.   

If you need some levity to alleviate the intensity of the current campaign, book now (there are only seats available for the 9.30 show on Friday and Saturday). 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer