Whoo Hoo – The First Show!

A trip around the Saturday farmer’s market was the go-to for three trusty players promoting the Honest Liars first show at The Jam Factory.

With funny hats and afro wigs, they descended upon the unsuspecting crowd loaded up with pamphlets and a few two for one tickets.

Suddenly Melissa spied a sign that could not be passed up as a classic improv moment:

LOCALLY LAID
(Of course, this was in reference to eggs- but the Honest Liars aren’t fussy when it comes to an opportunity for comedy)

At the bottom of the sign:

FREE RANGE.

In her loudest voice, she called out to Neil, “Hey, Neil, you can get laid locally here!”

That statement began a dialogue that certainly made the crowd stop and wonder what on earth was going on.

Neil yelled back “What?? Awesome- I’m in!”
Kathy jumped in and yelled out “I’ve been laid all over the world but not locally!”
The crowd started laughing and watching.
Melissa continued “It sounds HOT – it’s not in the bedroom it’s on the range! Kinky! And it’s FREE!”

This little stunt achieved its purpose – dozens of flyers were passed out, and people were very enthused about the show.

By that night, however, it was anxious times. Some of the players even having a bit of a sleepless night. Sugar-plums and fairies were not dancing in their dreams; rather there were empty chairs and unopened bottles of sparkling wine.

Storms were forecasted, but – wait – this is Tauranga, the home of ‘the weatherman is always wrong’ attitude.

Sure enough, the day dawned with the sun making a valiant attempt to push through. And what rain there was certainly didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit.

5 p.m. was the time for the players to meet at The Jam Factory. Get familiar with the stage, set out the chairs and have a proper warm-up.

Didn’t entirely go as planned though! Some players arrived earlier and started putting up the signs, others came a bit later, but soon all were there. Time to go to Subway. Time to have a couple of toilet stops. Time to set out the chairs. Time to start pouring the champers. Time to……. ran out of time!

Doors were to open at 6.30 p.m. with the show at 7 p.m. But you can always count on people trotting up early – and so they did. In fact, it wasn’t long before four became six and six became 10, and 10 became 20, and so it continued. By opening, it was a full house with only one or two random chairs empty.

Eagerly stunned at the incredible response, the players poured out onto the stage to the sounds of thunderous applause. (Applause thunderous due to Melissa warming up the audience with a game.)

The Questions game rolled into Experts with both games used as a warm-up for players and audience alike.

Then the games got into full swing with Space Jump having mid-wife Fee attempting to birth a baby and Kathy playing the slot machines and not sharing the winnings.

The Clap game had the audience in fits as Melissa was Donald Trump and Kathy was his hairpiece. This was a scene that had the potential to go on for so much longer, but the other teams kept clapping and pinching the lines as they were pearls of comedy.

Hunny Bunny, a sassy gal from Texas, arrived in the ‘studio’ for The Dating Game and she had a choice between Brett, a naked hula-hoop champion, Kay, a Tourette sufferer with an eye twitch or Fee who was constantly hot and clapped. Honey Bear did confuse Fee’s interpretation with a woman who had hot flushes and THE clap, but her perception was a winner with the audience.

Finally, the show ended, and the players took their bow to the applause of the wonderful crowd who had offered brilliant suggestions for the games. As the audience piled out of the theatre, many of them declared that they would be back and bringing friends.

The players set about packing up the chairs and straightening up as well as having the last of the champers (couldn’t let it go to waste!), then it was off to the pub for a de-brief and a sigh of relief that the first show went so well. Next show is Feb 9th 2020.

And, in case you’re wondering, half the audience came from the farmer’s market. Guess, getting laid for free worked!

Thanks to all the players – you were all brilliant:

• Neil
• Fee
• Melissa
• Kathy
• Kay
• Kelly O
• Brett

p.s. Speaking of first shows. The intrepid emcees Melissa and Neil run an improv class for tweens and teenagers who had their very first show the next evening. A few Honest Liars went along and were heartened with the comedy genius of the ‘Little Liars’. Definitely some budding improvers to swell the Honest Liars Improv pool.