Laughter and loss well balanced

ANYONE who saw Hudson and Halls at the Fortune Theatre last year knows that Anya TateManning has fantastic energy on stage.

Her comic timing is perfect and is used to great effect in My Best Dead Friend.

This show brings a story about friendship and loss in chalk and song and jokes to the Regent Theatre stage.

It was a wise decision to put the audience on the stage with TateManning. It creates the sense of intimacy and connection that is essential for this show.

TateManning herself has no trouble setting up an immediate relationship with the audience, helped possibly by the fact that this is her home town.

The audience is at home in this narrative, as we have all walked the places it describes many times.

It is the tale of a group of John Greenesque friends in a tiny house in Ravensbourne spouting poetry and politics.

It is also the story of the loss of one of these friends.

You would think that this would make it a tragedy, but we are laughing far more than we are serious.

TateManning is expert at both the creation and timing of mood and atmosphere on stage and flicks us effortlessly between the hilarious and the pensive.

This performance is directed by Isobel MacKinnon and she has done a fine job, particularly with the composition of the technical aspects of the show.

The digital projections are very entertaining and everyone my age is immediately thrown into nostalgia with the Backstreet Boys playing in the background.

Everyone in Dunedin will connect with this performance in some way. This is recommended Arts Festival viewing.