Icky/ Woodwork

Oh That Theatre Company is doing a double whammy at Fringe 2024 and we need YOUR help to bring these two solo-shows to the stage.

Icky

In the stomach of the icky and yucky process that is grief, Icky is a dramedy about a struggling university student processing their father’s death. They retell moments, thoughts and stories throughout their life, however they realise that there's a more sinister truth they have yet to process.

This is a brand new work by award winning Oh That Theatre Company, written by Viki Moananu (The Ghost Show, Beard) and directed by Lizzy Burton-Wood (The Ghost Show, Knights of the Table, Five Words or Less).

Icky is the Winner of Best Pasifika Play for the Adams NZ Play Award 2023, as well as shortlisted in Playmarket’s Playwrights B425 competition. Icky is a story that finds our protagonist reevaluating life in the most reasonable way possible. By blowing it up. 

Best Play by a Pasifika Playwright was won by Samoan playwright Viki Moananu for their play Icky, a dramedy about a struggling university student processing their father’s death. This dark yet humorous play was described by the judges as ‘a breath of fresh air’ and ‘a wild little ride.’

Icky will be running from the 20th to the 24th of October at BATS Theatre.

Woodwork

A cockroach. A detective. A lumberjack. A solo play in three parts about what it feels like to splinter, and what comes out of the woodwork.

Woodwork is a new solo play, written and directed by Lizzy Burton-Wood, and premiering at Fringe 2024. Woodwork explores a part of mental health recovery that Burton-Wood has found difficult to describe but has always wanted to talk about: doing ‘The Work’. The phrase is tossed around a lot, and what it means is unique to each person's recovery journey, but is often a complex, unnerving, and occasionally hilarious season of life. It requires one to dig into themselves and their experiences, and what comes out is rarely shared. Woodwork allows Burton-Wood to share her experience through 3 characters—a cockroach, a detective, and a lumberjack—in a rapid-fire solo format ranging from comedy to atmospheric surrealism. By sharing it, Burton-Wood and the Woodwork team hope to give a little visibility to the internal one-man-circus-act of ‘doing the work’ that many of us go through at some point in our lives.

Woodwork will be running from the 5th to the 9th of March at Te Auaha.

THE TEAM

• Writer and Performer for Icky, and Production Assistant for Woodwork: Viki Moananu is a writer, producer and director based in Wellington. He was part of the 2021 TAHI Festival as a performer for the HATCH initiative. As well as co-director for The Ghost Show where he won a Fringe award for “Most Promising Pasifika Artist”. He was also part of a writing development programme last year for Centrepoint theatre where his queer christmas play Beard was staged. Viki was named as the Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence at Victoria University in 2023.

• Director for Icky and Woodwork: Lizzy Burton-Wood is a writer, director, musician and cardboard enthusiast from Pōneke. She has written and directed two shows for Oh That Theatre Company—Knights of the Table (2023) and 5 Words or Less (2023)—as well as co-writing and performing in the The Ghost Show (2022). As part of musical duo Comet and Creature, Lizzy has also co-written the scores for these three projects.

• Lighting Designer for Icky, and Producer for Woodwork: Angela Pelham (she/her) is a Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington graduate and Pōneke-based creative. She works as a performer (The Princess & The Knight V1 and V2), producer (Hell School: The Musical, Fatal Fame), stage manager (Timelines, Hausdown, The Lobster), tech crew (5 Words or Less, Dr Drama Makes a Musical, HATCH 2022) and intimacy director (Knights of the Table, Top Girls, Abandonment, Hausdown, The Lobster, blackpill). Angela takes a human-first approach to her creative mahi; she values creativity, collaboration, authenticity, inclusivity, and compassionate accountability.

• Performer for Woodwork: Joey Sheppard is a multidisciplinary artist born in Christchurch and raised in the deep south of Waihopai.Emerging into this year's Wellington theatre scene in TAHI festivals’ HATCH programme and performances at 121 Festival. Graduating from Toi Whakaari with a Bachelors in Performing arts (Acting) she seeks to shed light on stories of wāhine in Aotearoa paired with all that is funny, weird, and just plain strange.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We are seeking $1,200 to cover the base costs of our production. This includes venue hire, publicity costs, APRA costs, as well as set, prop, and costume materials—with two life-sized costumes in the making (a Tartare Sauce bottle for Icky and a Cockroach for Woodwork), both these shows are costume heavy. Additional contributions to the campaign will go towards paying our artists.

As a young theatre company, it would be impossible for us to create and perform without your financial support, so any donation—big or small—will make a world of difference. Thank you for supporting us as emerging artists!