Following on the heels of a sell-out show at the Jam Factory, the Honest Liars had a booking at the Waihi Theatre and, true to form, excitement swelled as the time got closer.

The first order of business was to meet at the local Kebab eatery for some smashing food and a plan of action before heading off to the theatre.

For a couple of the players, it was a bit of a time warp as they had been known to tread the boards on more than one occasion in this theatre.

No time for faffing about though as there were banners to put up, lighting instructions to give and warm up to be played.

In no time at all, it was showtime!

The irrepressible emcee Melissa began warming up the crowd getting them to a full crescendo of applause as the players tumbled out onto the stage. And the games began.

‘Scenes from a Hat’ gave all the players a chance to warm up the crowd with their disrespectful answers and statements to subjects such as ‘the world’s worst nun’ and ‘what you shouldn’t say on a first date’. The mention of Trump in that first game was the kicker for the audience to fall about laughing.

‘Four ways to die’ saw death by suffocation, out of a window, stabbed and crushed with the story set in the mine pit. This was followed by ‘Pocket note’ a game in which the audience gave sentences which were written on paper then incorporated into the game. Of course, the players had left the stage in order not to hear. Naturally, the innuendos flourished making for brilliant comedy.

‘Party quirks’ saw some extremely odd guests arriving including Quasimodo and a gentleman who could turn chairs into humans!!

At the end of the first half, a couple of audience members came on stage and helped with the ‘Change game’. This meant tapping the player’s shoulder, saying “Change” and changing the context of the scene. It is always a thrill to have brave people join in and share the fun on stage.

A bit of a twist came at the beginning of the second half when the audience was asked to participate in sending a “happy birthday” to one of the player’s son. A very quick video recorded as the camera was raised to take in all the Honest Liars and the audience as everyone shouted out the birthday message. (Needless to say, it was well-received by the birthday boy).

Cracking on with the second half the audience by now was well and truly into calling out suggestions, some great, some okay and some definitely R18. But the games continued, and once more two audience members were called upon to participate in the game ‘Puppets’. They quickly took control of the players in a scene held in a ballet studio.

It seemed like just a blink of the eye, and it was over. The Honest Liars mingled with the crowd as they were leaving the theatre and encouraged them to come back to the next performance to be held on August 29th. The players then packed up and went off to Waihi Beach pub for a celebratory drink before heading to their digs for the night to debrief and relive an exceptional night.

Thanks to all the players

Next show is on August 2nd so save the date!

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts:  7 p.m.

Another great show saw the Honest Liars jammin’ at the factory this time bringing audience members onto the stage!

Seven players took to the stage on Sunday evening to another full house entertaining a mixed-aged audience. Students from the Mount College drama arrived full of enthusiasm and expecting a good night’s entertainment. They weren’t disappointed.

Of course, a load of preparation went into the show hours before the stage lights came on.

The players had arrived and began the task of setting out the chairs. Would there be a full house again? Or would there be lots of vacant chairs with no bums to fill them?

Positivity is always the order of the day when it comes to the Honest Liars, so chairs filled the space and the players were not disappointed.

Then the ‘crew’ arrived, and the signs went up, front desk organised and a crash course with the sound system.

During the tech run-through, it was discovered that the stage could be lit up with coloured lights. It certainly made a difference to the ambience of what was to come. If you look closely at the images further down, you’ll see the wonderful rainbow of colours that, in some cases, enhanced the players’ characters.

Time for a snack, a toilet stop and into the warming up.

That flew by! Next thing the players knew it was SHOWTIME!

The first thing to do is warm up both the audience and players with a game that is a tried and tested winner – World’s Worst.

A new game was up next, which saw Kelly and Fee getting a new inmate into their jail cell. They were not impressed when Kim arrived because (from audience suggestions) she and Donald Trump had stolen all the presents under Santa’s Christmas tree. It was up to the two old prisoners to give the newbie enough clues so she could guess what crime she’d committed. And she did a stellar job!

The Dating Game, another favourite, had a military “G.I. Jane” Kathy as the bachelorette trying to decide who to date – Kevin with a foot fetish, Kelly who had a fear of potatoes or Jon a spy (I’m not Dimitri from Moscow). She decided in the end that fear of potatoes was not going to be as much trouble as a spy or a fanatical foot man.

Drew and Grace from the Mount College Drama volunteered (with some persuading) to join Fee and Kim on stage and quickly got involved with the Change game as they tapped the shoulders of the players, yelling “Change” to change the course of the game. A sinking ship ended with the words called out from the bridge “Up periscope!” to signify the ship had gone down.

Then it was the Pocket Note game, and the audience came up with some pearlers for the notes.

Melissa, Kim and Fee were triplets who had the weird hobby of collecting insects. The title of the game was called out by a switched-on audience member – “Insect City”, and it was voted as being the best one-liner of the whole show.

The highlight of the night though had to go to the very last game ‘Puppets’. This game needed two members from the audience to be the puppet masters and take the puppets, Kathy and Kevin, along a hilarious journey by moving arms, legs, head, hands around.

Nate and Catalina had the players in somewhat awkward positions, but that didn’t stop them from delivering some cracker lines going along the theme of a married couple having an argument. It seemed Kevin brought the foot fetish he had in the Dating game into the mix as he wanted Kathy to try out his ‘dirty feet’. Mind you the puppet master did have trouble getting Kathy’s head at the right angle … was it his feet she was looking at?

As the audience left the show with the laughing still ringing, a few decided to sign up to the Taster Workshop and try their hand at Improv.

All players agree – it’s the best fun a person can have – either in it or watching it.

Thanks to all the players and crew – you were all brilliant:

NEXT SHOW:

Save the date:

Sunday 5th April
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

An early start at the theatre for a warm-up meant that the Improv players were definitely on their game.

A team of seven players arrived at the Jam Factory nice and early so they could do a bit of a warm-up before the evening’s show.

Tickets had sold briskly this time, no doubt because of the stellar job Melissa, Jon and Fee had done in the studio with Mark from The Breeze.
Well, that’s what the Honest Liars unanimously agreed with and, as there was no-one to argue to the contrary, it was put up as a post in the secret Facebook group but you can listen to it here: Famous on the Breeze

People began arriving around 6.30 and were all seated ready for the show to begin and what a beginning it was.
The World’s Worst showed such skill as the players stepped forward with their ideas of the worst Parent – Accountant – Criminal – Tour Guide and a few other delightful professions.
But Melissa stole the game with her worst ever Telemarketer when she stepped forward, put her hand up to her ear to mime a phone and began heavy breathing.

Jon and Kristina tackled the Alphabet game with great enthusiasm and too much hilarity from the audience as letters got muddled or missed altogether. It only made the game funnier, besides everyone was swept up in the story of the lifeguards – one who had no togs on at all!

Next Show: Sunday 1st March 2020 7 pm

A traffic jam was the subject for the Scene 3-ways game, and it found a distressed Melissa about to give birth in the car trying to get her man, played by Kim to get to the hospital on time. Suddenly they see a very fancy car beside them and decide to highjack it. A baseball bat was used on Brett, who was the unsuspecting victim. However, when the genre was changed to Western-style and everyone on horseback. Brett had the upper-hand when he declared that he’d been able to hear every word they had said which gave the scene an excellent twist. From Western to Horror, the story went to a whole new level!

The Press Conference game had Jon and Brett from Fonterra having to face up to the fact that they had been milking camels. The Honest Liars Press in the audience gave very probing questions, and the response from both delegates at the podium was totally outrageous, and ambiguity reigned supreme. The hints were just enough for Jon to nail it in the end, much to the delight of the audience.

The Pocket Note game had Sally, Kim and Kelly standing around a cauldron discussing Father Michael. As the game unfolded, it became clear that the priest was the reason they had all left the nunnery. Some of the audience suggestions on the notes slotted right into the scene as if they had been scripted.

And speaking of audience participation, the suggestions that had been fired out to the players were brilliant. They ranged from a Rubik cube to a chainsaw and lifeguards to nuns. The final Emotional Symphony with everyone on stage and in seats rocked the Jam Factory walls and sent everyone home with a smile on their face.

Thanks to all the players – you were all brilliant:

NEXT SHOW:

Save the date:

Sunday 1st March
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.