THE LISTIES DO COMPOOTERS
Concert Chamber - Town Hall, THE EDGE, Auckland
04/10/2012 - 09/10/2012
Production Details
October School Holidays
Thursday 4 – Tuesday 9 October, at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall
“If your kids have never been to the theatre before, do them a favour and make this their first experience. It’s something they will never forget.” Scotsman.
***** Edinburgh Festival
Cyberspace, that interweb thingo and fart-ificial intelligence…
Direct from Australia, award-winning duo The Listies crash through all things sensible, with a mad take on the brave new world of cyberspace, that interweb thingo and fart-ificial intelligence in their latest award winning kids show The Listies Do Compooters.
Deliberately raucous, rude and very, very funny, The Listies are Matt Kelly and Richard Higgins, a duo who make and perform comedy for kidults (kids and their adults).
“We are the exact opposite of The Wiggles. No-one sings a happy song about a fluffy dinosaur that is your friend. If there was a dinosaur in our show it would eat your head off then poo it out and then eat its own poo.” – The Listies
If you are looking for fairies or clowns, then The Listies are not for you, but if you want to meet a ninja Nan, ward off an alien attack or just ROFLSHABOWLO (Roll On The Floor Laughing So Hard A Little Bit Of Wee Comes Out) then these are the guys for the job.
“That was the best show I have ever seen” said my 11 year old. So, said I – 5 stars? ‘No,10!’ She said.” – Families Edinburgh
As well as mastering the art of comedy for kids, Richard and Matt started out making comedy shows for adults, (also winning a bunch of awards). It had lots of lists so they called themselves the List Operators.
“…if the Young Ones ever hosted Playschool, it would resemble The List Operators” – The Age (2011)
They debuted their first children’s show More Fun Than a Wii (because it actually is more fun than a Wii) in September 2009 as The Listies and have quickly become one of the most sought after children’s performers in Australia. More Fun Than a Wii went on to be the first show aimed at kids ever to be nominated for the prestigious Melbourne International Comedy Festival best show award (the Barry) and has since played all over the world receiving 5 star reviews.
In 2011 The Listies made a new show all about Compooters, it was supposed to be performed inside a brand new computer but Matt broke it. He put a slice of cheese in the DVD drive because he thought the mouse was hungry. The Listies Do Compooters once again put The Listies at the top of the list receiving awards, widespread critical acclaim, and more five star reviews.
“This manic Australian double act know all the right buttons to push to make children shriek with laughter” Guardian
The Listies are changing the face of children’s entertainment. How could you not spend an hour with The Listies? Your kids will love you for it and you might just have a great time too.
“Take every child you know. If you don’t know any – kidnap some” AussieTheatre.com
The Listies Do Compooters
Thursday 4 – Tuesday 9 October,
at 11.00am and 1.30pm
at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall.
All tickets only $15 plus service fees
available from the Aotea Centre box office
or 0800BUYTICKETS or online at www.buytickets.co.nz
Recommended for children from 5 – 10 years old.
Running Time is approximately 50 minutes.
This event is General Admission and seating is a combination of chairs and floor space.
For more information about The Listies visit www.thelisties.com
Laugh, squirm, gasp, duck, giggle and scream
Review by Nik Smythe 04th Oct 2012
A raised stage in a ¾ round seating arrangement contains a giant-sized computer monitor upstage, a USB drive (Uninteresting Stuff & Bits), and a pink recycle bin bottom right for authenticity. Already I can see how this play from across the ditch may serve as an ideal gateway to get any chronically square-eyed children interested in live theatre.
The Listies are Rich the serious nerd and Matt the playful idiot. Besides Rich being kind of serious and nerdy whereas Matt is more playful and idiotic, you can also tell them apart by their ‘Rr’ and ‘Mm’ t-shirts.
As the show’s title suggests, they are list operators who work extensively with computer programs and electronic media, and as the hidden pun suggests, they are stunted juveniles with a penchant for scatological humour.
Rich has painstakingly assembled this computer to serve as a visual aid in their hour-long tutorial on, you guessed it, computers. Matt meanwhile seems determined, perhaps subconsciously, to undermine all Rich’s carefully prepared lessons, as is most poignantly evident when he mishears “instructions” as “destructions”.
The Listies take any and every opportunity to make clever or terrible (or most commonly both) jokes about all manner of IT jargon such as PowerPoint, Bluetooth and nano-technology, and internet fads and favourites like Facebook and planking.
There are also plenty of gags for the adults that the kids don’t guess, though there will probably be some awkward conversations to be had as kids innocently enquire what Rich meant when he said about 60% of the internet is prawns…
Audience participation is a major element throughout. There’s an onstage game of classic Pong (the worlds oldest computer game, and smell) played between an adorable little girl and someone’s dad (me, as it happens. I lost). We’re also instrumental in making key decisions in the would-be classic ‘World of Wool-craft’ adventure.
All this and so much more happens in another outstanding piece of original holiday entertainment which neither lectures nor patronises, just makes the children and their parents laugh, squirm, gasp, duck, giggle and scream.
It’s these brazen Aussie lads’ first time in New Zealand; I hope they enjoy us as much as we have them, so that we get to see more in future. And if the kids behave they can come too.
Find out more at http://thelisties.com/imagegallery.html
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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