THERAPY: A Musical Comedy

BATS Theatre, The Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington

25/02/2025 - 01/03/2025

Dunedin Fringe Festival 2024

NZ Fringe Festival 2025

Production Details


Script by Chelsea McRae
Music by Mario Sadra-de Jong
Directed by Dr Marea Colombo

Good for Her Productions


A one (and a half) woman musical following a woman’s visits to therapy with the hope of a quick fix for dizzy-spells. Instead, she spends a few sessions avoiding serious questions, laughing about being human, and finally addressing something from her past she’s ignored for too long.

THERAPY is based on real events, with script and score by Chelsea McRae and Mario Sadra de-Jong with support from the University of Otago School of Performing Arts. The show discusses mental illness, suicide, sexual assault, and uses strong language.

“Amazingly raw and personal, without being self-indulgent or off-put-y.” – Dunedin Fringe Audience
“It is incredibly funny. Both for people who have been on a mental health journey and those who have not.” – Dunedin Fringe Audience
“The audience’s laughter made it clear we had all put our foot in our mouths before.” – Broadway World
“THERAPY celebrates the messy parts of personhood, holding space for the non-linearity of trauma and healing.” – Theatreview

2025 season

BATS Theatre,
Tuesday 25 February to Saturday 1 March 2025
8pm
Tickets $20 – $30
R13 (Adult themes)
https://bats.co.nz/whats-on/therapy-a-musical-comedy/

Aubyn Live Theatre, Hastings 05/03/2025 to 06/03/2025
The Globe Theatre, Palmerston North 07/03/2025 to 08/03/2025

2024 season

8pm, Thursday 21 March – Saturday 23 March – New Athenaeum Theatre, Dunedin,

8.30pm, Friday 31 May – Saturday 1 June – Little Andromeda, Christchurch
Tickets from $18


Performed by Chelsea McRae and Mario Sadra-de Jong

Dramaturged by Amanda Martin
Lighting and Sound by Cody McRae
Technical Manager Cody McRae
Marketing Chelsea McRae and Mario Sadra de Jong


Musical , Theatre , Comedy ,


60 minutes

A refreshingly insightful, charming, spellbinding comedy

Review by John Smythe 26th Feb 2025

Back when I was young enough to think I knew it all, I thought therapy had no place in theatre. Maybe I’d seen something that was introspective and private, and only of value to its creator/performer. Later I realised almost all theatre genres, done well, are therapeutic at some level for their audiences.  

THERAPY: A Musical Comedy, written and performed by Chelsea McRae, and based on real events, brilliantly avoids introspection by publicly sharing her therapy sessions and interspersing them with her original songs, scored by Mario Sadra de-Jong who performs his music live. Directed by Dr Marea Colombo, it treats us to a spell-binding hour that distils many hours and reveals a whole lifetime to date.

Bright, lively and personable Chelsea just pops into her therapist for a quick catch up and to get a prescription for the medication she believes she needs because of her dizzy spells. Wonderfully articulate and witty with it, she seems to be in full control of her life despite having had two fathers and two husbands, one current and apparently very supportive …  

I’ll reveal no more because the way her story emerges through a sequence of visits, punctuated with texts from her boss, and phone calls from her husband and another man (either her ex or the therapist, not sure), is – along with the songs – part of the charm.

Although we are ‘cast’ as the therapist Chelsea is chatting to, the therapeutic advice she receives is implied through her reactions and responses. Meanwhile we cannot help but analyse her chat and ask ourselves where the truth lies (I do love the oxymoronic ambiguity of that phrase). Is this all, is it all resolved or is she in denial, is there something else even she has not confronted …?

For anyone engaged by all that – as I and my companion are – this is emotionally interactive theatre at a very human level. Whether or not you identify with specific events, circumstances or conditions, you will doubtless recognise the syndromes and either share certain feelings or question them.

Chelsea and Mario are delightfully talented. Cody McCrae’s lighting of the very simple set – a chaise and a keyboard – is unobtrusively effective. THERAPY: A Musical Comedy is, for me at least, a refreshingly insightful comedy.

Duty-of-care footnote:
While I believe we can rest assured that our witnessing THERAPY: A Musical Comedy testifies to Chelsea’s wellbeing right now, she does traverse some territory that may be discomfiting for some – though not in a way that would be triggering, as I see it anyway. Yes, there was trauma but it’s not recreated in performance. The show is built on a foundation of care and compassion. Nevertheless, the programme does list contact details for a range of support services. Tautoko to that.

[Link to the review of the 2024 season in Dunedin, when the title was THERAPY.]

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