Tales of bras and the exiled

Charmian Hughes – Bra Trek, Created and performed by Charmian Hughes; The Race, The Hobson Street Theatre Company, directors Bronwyn Bent and Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwhaho NZ Fringe Festival, Bats Theatre.

Another stand-up comedian, Charmian Hughes, performed at Bats this week, fortunately somewhat unique and different from the normal run-of-the mill comedians usually seen on stage these days.

Having successfully entertained Wellington audiences last year with Charmian Hughes – Soixante Mirth, her return show this year – Bra Trek – continued with witty, insightful stories about herself that also shone a light on many social issues of today.

Beginning with reference to our own iconic fence of bras in Cardrona, Hughes continued on a trek of how we as humans are having more and more trouble ‘‘fitting in’’ and, on a personal level, finding a bra that fits.

She then proceeded to relate stories about herself growing up, dealing with family and friends, not too dissimilar to her stories last year, yet from completely different angles.

And the uniqueness of her stories is that they offer intelligent, pithy comments that often have an underlying ring of truth to them, but always with a very funny, upbeat, punchline.

A confident performer, Hughes worked her audience with ease, and was well worth watching.

Something quite different, yet totally unique in its own way, was The Race, by the Hobson Street Theatre Company, which works in association with the Auckland City Mission

The group of performers presented a fascinating piece of theatre, specific to New Zealand, that went against nearly all the accepted norms of conventional theatre, but which worked a treat.

In a Maori language class, six performers – five male and one female – discussed numerous aspects of racism as they worked through the basics of learning Te Reo.

But those on stage were not actors, as such.

They had come together through the Auckland City Mission and, with the assistance of directors Bronwyn Bent and Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwhaho, had devised The Race using their own experiences.

Many of them came from the perspective of homelessness, and expressed their ideas in their own way.

The courage of this group and the honesty they had in putting themselves out on stage and portraying what they felt and thought was awesome.

Often funny, particularly the scene-changes, but also heartfelt and poignant, the unpretentiousness and rawness of the presentation was refreshingly wonderful to see. – Ewen Coleman