BATS Get You Laughing

Oh the comedy! BATS has a busy week lined up for you with five fabulous shows as part of the ODDFELLOWS NZ International Comedy Festival.

Opening on Tuesday at BATS we have *Heritage 101* starring Michele A'Court, followed by* Jo Randerson’s Skazzle Dazzle* on Wednesday. Then Sam Wills arrives from Auckland for *Dance Monkey Dance* opening Thursday and *Taika’s Incrediblerer Show* storms BATS on Friday. Also *Sorry I’m Out But I Can Be Booked* continues its hit season until Saturday. Please note Taika’s show is sold out with full waiting lists.

Next week at BATS – The Untouchables present *The Lambuji and Tinguji Show*, *Love Possibly* – an improvised chick flic, and Charlie Pickering in *Betterman. *Check out the rest of our fab comedy season at www.bats.co.nz.
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*To book for any performance at BATS simply email _book@bats.co.nz_ with your name, number of tickets and date you wish to attend. We will reply to confirm your booking and you can pay when you come to the show.

Love the BATS Crew x

*Heritage 101
*Season: Tuesday 3 – Wednesday 4 May
Time: 6.30pm and 8pm Tuesday, 6.30pm only on Wednesday
Tickets: $18 full/$12 concession and groups 10+

Don Brash and Tariana Turia have inspired one of NZ's top comics to produce her first solo show, with its premiere at BATS. Michele A'Court says "Heritage 101" is a needs-based rather than race-based show - a comedic lecture about what it means to be a New Zealander, who belongs here, and how we define ourselves.

Michele describes herself as the quintessential child of our 1960s Baby Boom, and the Pakeha mother of a Maori daughter. The NZ Herald describes her as "sassy, confident, snide, outrageous and probably libellous". Both of them may be right. She has won the NZ Comedy Guild Award for Best Female Comedian for the past three years.

*Jo Randerson’s Skazzle Dazzle *Presented by Barbarian Productions
Season: Wednesday 4 – Saturday 7 May
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $16 full/$12 concession

Jo Randerson, Multi-Award-Winner and 2001 Robert Burns Fellow, returns to the BATS stage with 55 minutes of all new non-stop variety-style theatre-comedy. “I present my show for you, my people.” Featuring stand-up, song, dance, puppetry and wig-work. RANDERSON is the only female ODDFELLOWS 2005 Billy T Finalist and says her show is suitable for misfits and rejects, as well as confident, balanced individuals. Catch RANDERSON live on stage before Barbarian Productions hoof it off to Prague with their award-winning ‘ Cracks In The Garden’ (also starring Gentiane Lupi).

‘...intelligent, disturbing, character-based comedy...works brilliantly.’ The Age, Melbourne

*Dance Monkey Dance
*Season: Thursday 5 – Saturday 7 May
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: $16 full/$12 concession and groups 8+

Evolution: First man stood up, then created the wheel, then climbed through tennis racket to celebrate.
Sam Wills; highly evolved, self-proclaimed freak of New Zealand comedy, brings gut wrenching laughs and often shocked screams from young, single professional girls. From blindingly deft circus skills to oddities including a power drill up his nose, audiences agree this is the man with something for everyone and if you’re not laughing, you’re probably dead. Sam’s unique and high energy style is irresistibly captivating to say the least, actually no, to say the least would be; SamWills, funny, go.

*Taika’s Incrediblerer Show
*Season: Friday 6 – Saturday 7 May
Time: 11pm
Tickets: $16 full/$12 concession

This show is sold out – sorry.

*Sorry I’m Out But I Can Be Booked
*Season: Until Sat 7 May
Time: 9.30pm
Tickets: $15 full/$12 concession and groups 8+

“I have seen so many movies that I no longer know if my childhood memories were actual experience or VHS.”

Ever wanted to know what your partner has previously rented? Ever wondered what’s behind the Adult room door? Take a closer look at life behind the counter at your local video store. /Sorry I'm Out But I Can Be Booked/ follows a disgruntled video store employee's trials and tribulations in the world of customer service, from candid confessions in the Adult room, to finding love in the aisles between Comedy and Drama. This fictitious account of behind-the-counter culture is inspired by a true story.

*James Ashcroft* is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. He was the first New Zealander to be accepted as an intern with the prestigious Wooster Group Theatre Company in New York whose members include Willem Dafoe and Steve Buscemi. /Sorry I’m Out/ is devised in collaboration with director/devisers *Andrew Foster* (/A Clockwork Orange, /Silo Theatre, AKO5 Festival), and *Leo Gene Peters* (/Shifting, /SEEyD Theatre; MTA graduate Toi Whakaari 2004). Scored by Chapman Tripp Award winning composer *Steve Gallagher* (TV3’s/ The Strip/), this production promises to be an original and highly innovative piece of new New Zealand theatre.

ENDS

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