Outfit Theatre has established a strong reputation for edgy, high-energy, ensemble work usually performed in studio-style venues. Stepping up to a full-length show at Q’s Rangatira auditorium highlights the strengths and exposes the pitfalls of the company’s method of devising drama from actors’ improvisations.

The talented cast of 14 throw themselves into the enterprise with plenty of verve and emotional honesty and there is a wildly anarchic quality to a storyline that throws up a menagerie of quirky characters. But without the guiding hand of a writer, the show lacks a clear sense of purpose and struggles to find a resolution as it stretches towards a running time of 2 hours 40 minutes (including an interval). [More]

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In a secular society, what does it mean to sin? When you are encouraged to take whatever you want, who decides mortal morality? If there’s no-one there to judge you, who is there to stop you? In Outfit Theatre Company’s devised show around the seven deadly sins, what is striking is that religion plays no part in the lives of the contemporary Aucklanders that make up the characters. Sure, Ryan Dulieu stalks the stage, clutching an apple, like some sort of tempter-serpent figure, but at rarely do the characters stop and think about any of the big questions of right and wrong. If these are sins, who is counting?

Outfit Theatre Company have been absent from Auckland’s stage since a massive year in 2012 (with just one kids show in 2013), as the company took stock and worked on that most vexing of questions: how to make their ensemble model sustainable? Sin returns the company to what they are most well-known for, like The Sex Show, a large ensemble cast, contemporary (mostly) 20-30 something characters, and a show devised around a sexy topic. This time it is the seven deadly sins, devised by directors Sarah Graham and assistant Andrew Ford and the cast using material through both anonymous surveys and face to face interviews. It’s a well-trodden theme (Vice in April played in similar territory), but while Aucklanders flirting with their dark sides holds much fascination, Outfit bring little new to the table. [More] 
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It’s an ambitious undertaking: more than two hours of theatre with many cast members and an unusual, and at times difficult, ‘stage’ on which they play. Director Sarah Graham and Assistant Director Andrew Ford have worked with the seating arrangement to make a gladiatorial spectacle of the players: we surround them on four sides. 

Boxing ring or lion’s den, take your pick. If you are hard of hearing, make sure you get as close to the front as possible – there are many times when the actors will be facing away from you and lines get lost.   

A vigorous interpretive dance begins with lust and ends with the promise of violence. Damian’s riddle like opening (Ryan Dulieu) makes way for myriad introductions to the various characters. Damian lurks on the outskirts of the action, occasionally makes commentary, and then even appears to be ‘a real person’ when interacting with Nathan Purdy (Brad Johnson). Nathan is a cheerful young man but as the story unfolds we see that he’s having a schizophrenic or bi-polar episode. Johnson has captured the hope, anxiety and frustration of his situation; it is as if he is trapped within himself and trying to break free.

The episode Nathan is experiencing coincides with the coming storm, and here to keep us up to date with the weather is Evelyn Pope! Evelyn (Kate Vox) beams and delivers in the affected style of breakfast and evening news shows. She’s worked hard and had the luck to be in the right place at the right time (if it bleeds it leads) in order to get where she is in media, and yet she’s not so sure she wants to commit to her relationship with the same level of passion. 

But I’m racing ahead here: it’s Martin Reid (Chris Tempest) who sets the mood for a show inspired by the seven deadly sins. His shallow and vile character certainly makes me believe that the wages of sin are death; he is a smart-arsed cadaver, free of soul or any authentic freedoms. He can only attempt to purchase what he cannot find within himself. He pursues money, casual sex and cocaine. He lets his great body, floppy hair and money stand in for a personality, and the kind of girl who finds this appealing is Bella (Nicole Jorgensen).

Jorgensen gets a lot of laughs because Bella is so awful and recognisable. 25 years ago New Zealand may not have imagined that we would end up with our very own brand of ‘Valley Girl’, but here she is in all her selfish and shallow glory. Despite this, she is ignorant enough for us to find her sympathetic. She isn’t going out of her way to hurt anyone. She doesn’t even notice. 

In the first part of the show it feels fractured and confusing; so many characters to keep track of and no idea how they connect with each other. Fortunately this becomes clear during a pivotal dinner party scene thrown by Gregory Pryce (Paul Lewis) and his shark-like Real Estate wife. The disgusting Martin attempts to charm Evelyn and torments Lucille (Gypsy Kauta). 

Brother to Gregory, Virgil (Arlo MacDiarmid) and wife Lucille are a playful couple who are serious about saving the world. I absolutely love the way they bounce off each other, their humour and intimacy invites us to a lightness of heart. As this lightness gives way to the darkness of the coming storm, tragedy seems to be inevitable. From the dinner party scene onward I am truly intrigued.

Confused Mo Luxton (Amanda Tito) asks for love and then doesn’t know what to do with it. Although the relationships become clearer and the performances are good, it still feels like there is a little room for the show to be more concise, or to perhaps have Damian repeat important phrases for people (like me) who keep turning to their friend and asking, “What did they say?”.

Damian closes the show and leaves us asking who he might be? Death or the Devil himself? Human Collective Consciousness?  And what then, is sin?

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