Take every stereotype about the Western genre, squeeze it into 55 minutes and you have The Last Saloon. The programme handed at the door (love you Bats) by a saloon wench and a howdy maam sets the scene, aided by the on-stage musician playing the guitar on entry. Excellent.

At first it seem a bit like I’m watching the head prefects in an end of School Year Production.  You know the kind, where a single mistake has it all falling apart.  But, no this is the Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT), the professionals at managing things falling apart as they seamlessly pull it together on stage in front of you.

After some help from the audience, the story kicks off with a bang as we are introduced to each character (whose names I can’t quite recall; they are not on the programme and they weren’t said enough during the performance) through each performer. 

We are looking at a typical Western township cast. The big-hearted whore, sheriff, cowboys, saloon bar-keep, love interest and a bad-ass who may or may not love the big-hearted whore or the love interest.   Ok, where is the sheriff? Who’s the bad-ass?  Who’s the love interest? Ok, here’s an Indian.  Still, no Sheriff.  Surely, the Indian isn’t the bad-ass?

At one stage I think, they have hit on something here maybe a live on-stage New Zealand version of A Prairie Home Companion.  In fact one of the performers is starting to look a little like Garrison Keillor (Anton Van Helden).  He’s the one who gets the most laughs from the audience.

Yet, it’s Jed (Geoff Simmons) who’s the lynchpin.  He introduces the piece and the story seems to switch up whenever he’s on stage, as it does too with Nicola Pauling’s character. But to be fair the ensemble are all able, capable and confident performers (there are no William Shatner stage-hoggers here) and better yet, they all seem like they are having a good time. 

That includes the very obvious, not-in-costume stagehand running out with various props from behind a curtain, who seems to be having as much fun as the performers are. And it’s largely because of that, you want to have a good time with them. And you do.  That’s all in spite of the uneven pace and the wondering 35 minutes in where-is-this- going? But five minutes later it’s all clear.  It’s heading up the pathway of Western stereotype heaven, which is all good.

It is quite something to pull together nine people on stage at the same time and maintain chemistry, yet they play off against each other comfortably. Perhaps a little too much at times when obvious offers are missed. But that’s nothing that can’t be fixed as they settle into the performance and the piece.

It’s the music that could really turn this production into something more if it was more closely aligned with the storytelling rather than as background accompaniment.  Nevertheless, respect to Simon Burgess (his two guitars and banjo) and the WIT crew, for acknowledging the significance music plays in setting tone and story in Westerns. 

The audience is good-natured (someone was particularly impressive at sound effects) and is involved from the outset.  The fourth wall is prodded.  Personally, I would have liked to have seen this played out a bit more, with sharper pacing; to see WIT really stretch that acting muscle and show the improvisation they can obviously bring.

The accents, the costuming, the props, the lighting all reflect the obvious time that’s gone into this.  It may not have the grit that’s promised in the programme but seriously, it’s fun. 

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