Newcomer to the Comedy Festival Kura Forrester hit the stage on her opening night with an intimate telling of the classic Kiwi OE.
Forrester greeted the small, but almost sold out, crowd in the Cellar at Q Theatre on Saturday as though we were old friends catching up over a drink.
She set the scene early on, describing the typical décor of a tour bus as she took us on a "metaphorical journey in our minds" through Europe.
The thick Aussie accent of the overbearing tour guide, Brits, is the first we hear of a rag-tag cast of characters Forrester portrays during the hour-long show.
After instructions from bubbly Brits we meet the second character Carl Jr, not the burger, who hails from Alabama and is seeking to experience the famed promiscuous wonders of tour buses.
We also meet a Hungarian woman who tells hilarious anecdotes in broken English, and Bronson, a Porirua dump worker/youth worker, travelling with his son.
Forrester also introduces herself into the cast alongside a devoutly Christian Samoan girl born in south Auckland who is having problems with her betrothed.
Moving seamlessly between the characters without the need for props or costumes, Forrester uses a simple change in voice and mannerisms to re-enact the hilarity of her travels.
Her journey through Europe, although geographically inaccurate, makes a few pit stops on the way, with a hilarious recount of an incident at a "sparty" (a party in a spa, not the Auckland swingers club) in Budapest.
There were some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, but it wasn't wet-your-pants funny.
The brief but entertaining show was nicely rounded off with a farewell waiata from Bronson. Forrester heavily utilises the Kiwi sense of comedy, but the downside to this is many of the great laughs may fly over the heads of foreigners.
Forrester wanted us all to leave at the end of the show as friends, and she achieved just that. I left the tiny theatre feeling as though I had just had a good laugh with a long-lost friend.
From what I have seen in Tiki Tour, Forrester thrives in an intimate setting and her act might not translate well onto a bigger stage.
However, I think Forrester has an immense amount of potential and I can’t wait to see where her talents take her in the future.
3 News
source: newshub archive
