The Play That Gets Louder

The Play That Gets Louder (TPTGL) is a new and original play playing at the Basement Theatre Auckland, from 8-12 April 2025.

Set in a crumbling hospital ward amidst a retrofuturistic war, a wounded soldier is confronted by three others. As they bond over memories of their mothers, his search for a lost axe—and its deadly legacy—ultimately leads to a tragic end.

Kia ora! My name is Theo Shakes and not that long ago I came up with this rad, slightly mad idea. I’m excited to be bringing this play to the Basement Theatre to share a love for storytelling in an exciting new way. 

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Meet my team: 

Producer Keven Souza 

Director  Logan Cole

Dramaturg Dione Joseph 

Producer Mentor Sananda Chatterjee

Cast Theo Shakes & Callum Hibbert (and we’re in audition process!)

Meet my Exec Producers: 

Black Creatives Aotearoa (BCA) is committed to celebrating Black creative genius across all it’s platforms and modalities and over the past seven years has dedicated effort, energy and resource to amplifying the brilliance of our Afro-Kiwi community in Aotearoa. BCA is delighted to support the emergence of Booth Box Banter to develop and present original high-production value work that centres new talent and and prioritises the diverse community of makers and shakers we have here in Tamaki Makaurau. 

The money raised will go towards paying the performers a fair wage for their mahi (work) in this production. This $11,111 accounts for:

 X4 actors working across four weeks and a five days season in the Basement Theatre. 

This funding creates a professional standard for our actors to achieve the working with the best support possible. It will give them the flexibility to do their mahi at the highest level.  

Any New Zealand based donation is eligible for 33% tax back on their generous contribution.

The amount looks strange because it includes the fee we need to pay Boosted for their services.

This play looks at complexities of brotherhood in a high-stakes scenrio. Who are young men when they end up in a war and what is actually happening to the person, not just the soldier. Thematically, the play explores friendships and how they often form out of pure randomness and evolve into life changing relationships. On the other end, they can yank apart from conflict or fizzle out without rhyme or reason. What do we share with strangers, and what do we hide? Is curiosity the killer of trust or is it its superpower. Why and when do we decide if a stranger is to be an enemy or a friend? A lot of questions huh...Time to explore.

We want to invite audiences to experience, in-realtime, an intimate journey testing new and immersive ways of storytelling through the use of sound. You could call this the Dolby digital experience but for theatre. This story’s also set in an alternative timeline, which will make you question how we live today and chuckle at the crossovers of our very own trying world versus the plays. TPTGL will ask you to lean in close to discover its secrets and nuance.

Centering BIPOC voices, and specifically Black/African voices is a clear mandate for BCA. We have a track record of developing playwrights and we are so excited to see a young, male Black playwright take centre stage in this production, bringing his dreams to the stage both as a writer and performer.  In doing so Theo has created opportunities for other creatives, audiences, community, fans, friends and families to connect with themes that unite us all as individuals and members of a community.

Supporting an emerging Black creative to take these steps is essential to ensuring the arts ecosystem continues to remains dynamic, but also accessible, open and authentic to the communities we serve. We need these changes and we need your support to ensure that we can actively create these spaces for these stories to be heard. 

The directors visions, simply put:

TPTGL is an invitation into the brokenness of a fractured world that oppresses the characters to battle against the imminence of war.

The playwright's vision: 

I feel as a 23 year old that there's a lot of static and chaos around us. In fact, it's hard to miss these days. We're fed so much right now that it's often devices and at many times polarising. In this chaos, everyday decisions have to be made. That's not easy.  I wrote this play to remind myself and us all to take a breath against the ever-growing noise and embrace small steps of compassion rather than bulldozing at each other with conflict.

TPTGL gives room to reflect on our young men and check in with their voices. We encourage young men from the community to be in on this conversation by watching magical LIVE work. Nothing beats being in the theatre, and walking away having something click inside of you. If anything, we'll gift you an hour of rawness you won't forget. 

As for the creatives on this production...the impact of telling this story at its full potential allows us to discover new levels of artistry and help build sustainable careers from the drop.