Bethany Miller and Logan Hunt bring silly and self-reflective shenanigans to Te Auaha’s little downstairs gallery space, supported by guest musician Emma Salzano. It’s a fine space for intimate, gently interactive musical theatre.

Anyone who has taken a running leap of faith in the direction of community activism only to feel overwhelmed by all the bad news in the world will sympathise with Bono and Betty, Miller and Hunt’s alter egos. The pair know how to dress like stereotypical environmental activists outside of work hours, but they are struggling to define their ideals and put them into practice. Touch Grass‘s narrative is all about trial, error and wry self-deprecation as our well-meaning activists try to get over their own inertia.

Hunt’s songwriting veers between trenchant cynicism and big-hearted sincerity. Sweet two- and three-part harmonies, usually sung with the performers’ head voices, show Bono and Betty’s innocence. This allows for drops into a more grounded cadence where a comic beat needs to land.

Hunt delivers an excellent rap segment with easy fluidity and plenty of self-deprecating stings in the tail. Miller’s pleasant soprano would benefit from a Lavalier (lapel) mic – she is wonderfully mobile through the show, romping around the stage and clowning with the audience, but her standing mic hampers lyrical delivery and can make some of the fast-paced and witty dialogue hard to understand.

An honourable mention goes to Salzano for her cameo as a slinky and elusive feral cat. If she decides to transition from guest performer to co-star and join the show as a full-fledged character, she has the potential to be an excellent foil for Bono and Betty. Both Salzano and the sound tech deliver comedy gold with tiny comments or bombastic side-eye at just the right moments, which also encourages the audience to get in on the silliness. At one point, Miller comes around with some potted grass so that we, too, can touch a little greenery. It’s an oddly soothing moment.

It has taken a great deal of effort to make the set-dressing seem less than effortful. Bono and Betty decorate the stage with their ‘plant friends’ – orphaned clumps of grass which have been endowed with glorious and pun-filled names. The wilting grass feels like another sign that the pair’s grandiose vision of a revolution “with vibes just like Laneway [Festival]” might be too much for them to pull off alone.

The show features plenty of topical Aotearoa-centric references – a skit about rogue cycle lanes, native bird names and even a rugby joke. The allure of online discussions and doom scrolling, always one tap of a phone away for our ‘grassroots’ duo, is a more global issue. The most cynical lyrics are also the most globalist, name-dropping overseas pop stars and mentioning overseas crises. Betty and Bono are more endearing when their thoughts steer closer to home. Their own back yard is a humble place where the pair can start a more hopeful journey, “one step after the other.”

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