Theatre Militia are at it again. Playing that is. Well, putting on a play. A morality play about the pitfalls of materialism and mediocrity…
With more coming out of the closet than just Queens and their public wigs, Sensible Susan and the Queen's Merkin is a hilarious musical take on children's literature - with a moral that's anything but expected.
Openly-gay playwright and actor Felix Preval says Sensible Susan is kind-of based on Susan from the Narnia series. "It's Susan when she's grown up," he tells GayNZ.com. "We're setting out to redeem the most boring and beige and frigid character of all - you know the one, she never explores caves, opts to stay home and not go on adventures, she's, well, sensible. The Wardrobe comes back to haunt her. The Merkin takes her on a quest to save her kidnapped husband, Simon Simple, from Hades."
So Susan must venture into the depths of the underworld to bring him back. "She goes on this exploration of the underworld, only to discover that the lesson she has to learn is not about her husband - and needing a man - but about who she is as a woman herself."
Felix also plays Queen Elizabeth in the gender-bending production. "We have a chorus of men who represent the old English morality play. They think they're telling a story to the audience about how women need men - they represent the old truths of the patriarchy. And so we've got a woman in that chorus who has a moustache and plays a man," he laughs.
"Instead of the seven deadly sins, we have the seven 'Dead Sins'. They used to be sins, but are no longer sins - like 'Homosex' and 'Out-Spoken Women'."
With puppetry, mask, song and rhyming couplets, a world of fantasy spills - literally - out of the closet at Sensible Susan's quest continues.
The show - affectionately known is 'The Minge of the Fringe' - was a sell-out at Wellington's Fringe '08 Festival, so it was picked along with just two other productions for a return season at the Downstage Theatre from tonight until Saturday 10 May.
Theatre Militia's Sensible Susan and the Queen's Merkin
8pm, 6-10 May 2008, at the Downstage Theatre, Wellington
Book at the Downstage Theatre or phone (04) 801 6946.