The 1^st show of 2025 and the Honest Liars were back in fine form.

The players were just a fraction concerned as very few tickets had been sold. But, all was not lost as the waifs and strays wandered in and, in fact, made up for 60% of the audience. The lack of ticket sales had been blamed on the Buskers’ festival and music evening which was also happening on the same day.

However, as extra chairs were needed as the crowd continued to walk in, the players relaxed and were eager to perform.

The MC, Jon introduced the players and quickly got into the first game of ‘Categories’. The suggestions ranged from Stallone movies, dinosaurs to things you’d find in a dairy the latter producing such quips as “irate cashiers” and “ram raiders”.

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ came next, producing excellent, so-so and downright rotten advice to a problem. For example. What to do about blisters on my feet.

• The good advice offered by Steve was to get some good cream from the pharmacy.
• The so-so advice from Mark was to use some good, strong sandpaper
• Then the worst advice from Gala was to get someone to carry you everywhere!

From there it was on to ‘Pocket Note’ a crowd favourite. There were some wonderful notes suggested from the audience:

• Drink less whiskey
• Sip the cool-aid
• The rollercoaster starts here
• I’m trying to get to my mother’s funeral
• Try to rub it less
• How very dare you
• I am a vegan
• It’s clean sheet day.

Of course each of these suggestions has to be worked seamlessly (cough, cough) into the story as the players pick them up and say them as part of ‘the script’.

This time, Sally and Ian were working at a sewage treatment plant, complaining about the smell and all the dirty nappies and wet wipes that had clogged up the system. Jon wandered in thinking the place was an art installation and got all enthused over what he was seeing.

Sally was digging away and found something unusual, Ian saw it was a jumper and read the label which said ‘I am a vegan’. This, of course, changed the direction slightly even when it was discovered there was a body that went with the jersey.

Jon thought the whole thing was marvellous and said he knew of many artists who would jump at the chance to exhibit in this installation, and they could call it ‘The rollercoaster starts here’ (very apt title!). He would bring artists from all over the world, and they could all ‘sip the cool-aid’

Once they all realised there was money to be made, the vile sewage treatment plant took on a whole new look.

The chairs were then set out for ‘The Dating Game’. Mark was the bachelor who left the theatre while the audience suggested the individual quirks. Gala was a wig maker, Sally collected wet leaves, and Sue was to morph into an octopus.
Mark returned as the game began with the 70’s dating theme music and was introduced as Pete, who packed peanuts in Pak n’ Sav. After questioning the contestants, Mark guessed all their quirks and decided to go out with the octopus (mainly because she alluded to what she could do with her eight tentacles!).

The games continued, and after the intermission, Fee got up on behalf of the Honest Liars to recognise Natalie, the daughter of one of the players. She had come and taken some fantastic photos of the players which you can see the new pics all over this website and on our social media. Thanks, Natalie for an excellent job…. you should go professional!

The games continued with ‘Sex with Me’ followed by a fun ‘Returns Desk’, which saw Sue returning a packet of crisps possessed by Ghandi’s spirit. Mark brought back a vase of rotting flowers that smelled like rotting flesh, and Gala pulled in a cement truck that produced unicorns rather than cement. Sue’s classic first line of “this ruined my pelvic floor” erupted the audience into peels of laughter – let’s face it, the imagery alone is mind-boggling.

‘The Cube’ also produced four great stories as Jon, Steve, Sue, and Ian rotated, developing the stories with each turn. These stories included a large penguin couple whose egg hatched into a polar bear, a morgue attendant bringing in weirdly killed bodies, an ice cream attendant in a rat suit and bizarre date locations where one on the date kept losing limbs.

Ian volunteered to be the ‘Twitch’ interviewer, and as he saw the different applicants for the bus driver position, the twitches had him blowing kisses, tooting a train horn, and yelling watch out.

Needless to say, he was exhausted when he finally offered the job to the last candidate, Jon.

The first show of 2025 was a success and the players and audience alike had a lot of laughs and a few surprises!

Thanks to players

Jon & MC Steve Sue Sally

Gala Mark Ian

Thanks to
Admin: Kelly and Fee
Sound engineer: Anthony.

Book your tickets for the next show and join the players for loads of laughs.

1^st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.