Satirical twist to Covid comedy show

A comedy showdescribing itself as an adult puppet play, performed entirely in ultraviolet light, is promising a satirical look at the country’s Covid response.

Written and directed bywade Jackson, the founder of the Covert

Theatre (an 86-seat venue) and The

Improv Bandits, it stars puppets of

Jacinda Ardern, Chris

Hipkins, Christopher

Luxon, Mike Hosking,

Richie Mccaw, Rachel

Hunter, Peter Jackson,

Brian Tamaki and more.

The puppets are made by creative designer Sarah Burren and performed by comedic actors Adam

Pereira, Amy Bird, Edith Fumarola and Roger Smith, who perform regularly at the Covert Theatre.

Jackson says it is set in February 2021 and looks at a little-known government response – sending a team of NZ heroes to fight Covid.

‘‘It’s a political satirical Lord of the Rings-esque adventure,’’ says Jackson, whowas inspired by Sarah Burren to write the play when she said she’d love to do a puppet comedy showin UV lights.

‘‘A team is put together to try and conquer Covid-19 but not everyone is wanting them to succeed. With a cast of 30 characters and only four actors, who are dressed in complete black, wearing masks, so they won’t be seen, it’s been quite a challenge like no other to stage.’’

The Covid Response Team was supposed to premiere in the NZ Comedy Festival but with that cancelled the team at the Covert has decided to push on and stage it regardless.

‘‘People are desperate to laugh,’’ says Edith Fumarola, theatre manager of the Covert and cast member.

‘‘To laugh is to heal, and we’re seeing lots of newpeople coming to the Covert for the first time and forgetting their troubles for an hour or two as they laugh with us.’’

The Covert Theatre’s purpose is to enhance human connection through play and with the mental health crisis that sees New Zealand as having one of the worst youth suicide rates in the OECD, it’s imperative that we have a safe space for people to have courage to self-create, selfdiscover, and self-express, she says.

The Covert Theatre runs a number of life skills programmes in its Improv School that develop resilience, emotional intelligence and build confidence in young people so that they may thrive, on top of producing all its own shows a week (six shows aweek Thursday to Sunday) all year round.

With 90 adult members and 14 juniormembers and growing, the Covert is a breeding ground of Kiwi talent.

It was originally founded in 2001 based in K’ Road for four years butwas homeless until it opened its own venue in 2020.