• theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  • theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  Art Murmurs - Wellington Reviews

Reviews

The Shit Kid

24/2/2022

Comments

 

Jenny Nimon

Picture
Sarah Harpur (writer and performer) and Carrie Green’s (director) The Shit Kid describes itself as ‘a one-person play about a mediocre person’. It boasts all the things you’d want to boast about: sexy horses, Mark Todd fever dreams, your brother being a four-time Olympic gold medallist instead of you. This show is light and funny, and it will hit home for anyone who has ever felt exactly adequate. 

Before I start, it’s worth noting that this is a development season of the show, and the team have plans to ‘really push the boat out’ for Comedy Fest.

The set design matches the show’s flavour of mediocrity, in a good way. It has the vibe of having been thrown together; it’s all crates and pallets and bin bags and a hand-written sign reading ‘Pony Poo $2’. It’s pretty simple, but in a way that feels intentional. I can believe that in the world of this play, the mediocre central character has pulled the set together herself. The tech (Leki Lyons) is fun and playful but could use some tightening up. The show makes use of audio well, though. I am a big fan of the commentary-style voiceover that is used to open the play, and there are some nice audio moments throughout (one that springs to mind is the sound of a doorbell at a local dairy). Personally, I always feel that audio flourishes are kind of a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘need to have’, so when they are not that well executed they can feel a bit unnecessary and drag the pacing of the show. At this particular showing there are some audio delays that make the whole thing a bit stilted, but on the opening night of a development season I think this is forgivable. With some sharpening up, they could be quite effective.

The Shit Kid is a well-written play. It’s quippy and fun, and it deals with the insecurities we all feel about whether the lives we lead actually live up to people’s expectations. Harpur plays grown-up bogan teen mum Sharni, who is the sister of an Olympic gold medallist. It explores her feelings of mediocrity from the years between her teen pregnancy and her late 30s, when she is stuck teaching the rich kids from the farm next door to ride horses while she can’t even afford her own horse. You can tell that the show is Harpur’s own; she is a good fit for performing the character she has written. But my thoughts on the performance largely line up with my thoughts on the audio. In the show’s current form, I’m left thinking that it’s ‘good’ but maybe not ‘great’ or especially memorable. It needs some polishing up. The script has a lot of potential, but I want more oomph in the delivery of it, more energy. If, in the formal season for Comedy Fest, Harpur really commits to her character’s rage and envy and snark and takes the delivery just 10 percent further, it could shape up to be a pretty impressive show. 

As it’s a show about a largely rural experience, I’m not sure that Wellington offers the ideal audience, but I can see The Shit Kid doing well somewhere like Christchurch or in smaller towns around the country.

The Shit Kid is showing at the Fringe Bar at 6pm until Saturday, 26 February as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival. To book tickets, visit the Fringe Website.

Comments

    Local Honest Reviews

    At Art Murmurs, our aim is to provide honest and constructive art reviews to the Wellington community.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    All Age Appropriate
    Art
    BATS
    Beauty Standards
    Black Comedy
    Body Positive
    Circa
    Circus
    Comedy
    Comedy Festival 2018
    Comedy Festival 2019
    Comedy Gala 2022
    Community Theatre
    Dance
    Devised
    Documentary
    Drag
    Drama
    Emerging Artist
    Exhibition
    Experimental
    Female Artists
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Festival
    For Kids
    Fringe
    Fun
    Gallery
    Gryphon Theatre
    Hannah Playhouse
    Heart + Music
    History
    Improv
    Interactive
    International
    Interview
    Ivy
    Lighting
    Local
    Mental Health
    Monologue
    Music
    Musical
    New Writing
    New Zealand
    NZ Comedy
    NZ Fringe
    NZIF
    On Tour
    Performance Poetry
    Photography
    Photospace Gallery
    Physical Theatre
    Political
    Politics
    Premiere
    Pyramid Club
    Queer
    Race
    Roxy LIVE
    Science
    Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre
    Sexual Violence
    Shakespeare
    Site Specific
    Site-specific
    Sketch
    Solo Show
    Song
    Spoken Word
    Stagecraft
    Storytelling
    Tahi Festival
    Te Auaha
    Theatre
    Thought Provoking
    Thought-provoking
    Thriller
    Toi Poneke Gallery
    Verbatim
    Victoria University
    Violence
    Virtual Theatre
    Weekly
    Wellington
    Wellington Footlights
    Wellington Repertory