No Post delivers on depth and fun

No Post On Sunday, Devised by the cast and directed by Isobel MacKinnon Circa Theatre, Wellington, until September 10

After a very successful production last year of Wake Up Tomorrow in Wellington’s Fringe Festival, which was an Everybody Cool Lives Here production in collaboration with Active (an IDEA Service’s group for youths with intellectual disabilities), artistic director Rose Kirkup and play director Isobel MacKinnon have come up with another just as exciting and innovative production for the group.

While No Post On Sunday, their current production, is more structured, with a definite storyline and uses less people on stage than their previous work, it is still based on the group’s concept of collective writing by the whole cast, using a process of group storytelling and improvisation.

And what they have come up with is an original and fascinating story around neighbourhoods and communities.

At the beginning of the show, the voice of PK (Nicholas Smith), the local TV reporter, explains that this community is called Smithville and on Meg Rollandi’s busy but creative set, the audience is taken around the various streets and houses meeting a number of the residents.

Included in this is writer Wendy Martin (Nicholas Smith), David (Duncan Armstrong), who manages the local Post Shop and Harry (Jacob Dombroski), the postie.

There are also various other characters around town, like Eco Bill and the residents of an apartment block, all played by Andrew Gunn and Barnaby Smith.

A bit of a prankster, David likes playing tricks on people and so, when the mail goes missing, everyone thinks it is just another one of his tricks.

But then Harry soon realises that David has been kidnapped and rounds up all the locals to find him which they do in a rather unexpected place.

There is also a love interest of David with Wendy ending in a very delightful wedding ceremony.

Full of quirky humour, the main players of Armstrong and Dombroski have a natural talent for comedy and play many of their scenes with comic actions, rather than words.

Smith also does well as the roving reporter investigating what is going on.

The simple but affecting story is not all humour though, as Armstrong’s portrayal of being rejected by his love interest creates a real moment of pathos that is very moving and gives the production depth and a sense of reality, along with all the fun, which makes it very entertaining. – Ewen Coleman