Scoop Review: Like Poking Fun At Aucklander

What: Foibles

Actor/Script Writer: Tim Bray
Director: Amanda Rees
Where: Herald Theatre, Aotea Square
When: 8pm, 1-11 September

If you like poking fun at Aucklanders, then you will like Foibles. Actor Tim Bray shifts between 15 quirky characters in a high-energy solo performance that runs for just over an hour.

A business man who plays the property boom like a game of monopoly; a vain, self-obsessed celebrity complaining about his lack of privacy to the magazine photographer he is posing for; a BCom graduate trying desperately to inspire his creativity yet never actually getting down to the business of writing; a socially-awkward party goer who can’t remember who anyone is… so the list goes on. What all the characters have in common, is that they are urban, modern, and mildly ridiculous.

Bray switches smoothly between his roles, and each vinaigrette is an insightful exploration of that particular character. At times, their lives overlap in some way or there is an interaction, such as when the flaky wannabe writer agrees to take a product survey on ‘personal paper products’ from camp call centre employee Scott, as yet another way to avoid getting around to writing.

The humour lies in the recognition of traits that we are familiar with on an everyday basis, and Bray plays up peoples’ eccentricities and peculiarities, lightly poking fun at them. Although satirical, Bray’s portrayal of his characters is not overly critical, and there is even a sense of fondness for them in his performance. Foibles encourages its audience to take a step back from everyday life and to see the humour intrinsic to the people around us, and in ourselves.

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