Mystery. Crime. Intrigue. Drama?

Tempest Theatre Co is proud to present DETECTED! for the New Zealand Fringe Festival 2021.

Do you want to know the secrets of Queens Wharf? Have you spotted a ghost in the rafters of a local shop? And, most importantly, can you solve the mystery before we do?

Deep in the heart of 1920s Wellington City, there’s crimes to solve. Mysteries to unravel. Bad puns to be made. Join a cast of colourful and definitely not archetypal characters for this series of half-hour site-specific mystery shows. Mostly-improvised, somewhat-structured, slightly-scholarly - it's like Cluedo, except not copyrighted.

“DETECTED! is a labour of love for me.” Director Emma Maguire says, “I love those silly archetypal murder mysteries, and I wanted to give that concept a bit of a modern twist. The audience chooses the victim, chooses the murder weapon, gives us a silly location, and then we make the story up.”

Following the triumphant run of their show Declarations of Love (and Other Useless Things) in the New Zealand Fringe Festival 2020, Tempest is bringing back one of the themes of their previous work - esoteric mystery - and splashing it onto the streets of Wellington City. Across the duration of the Fringe this year they will be performing twelve shows in public around Wellington - from Cuba St to Island Bay - with the aim of bringing quality improvised performance to those who mightn’t usually get to see it.

“I always wanted this show to be accessible to anyone who wanted to see it,” Maguire continues. “Bringing it out onto the street, to the suburbs, for free or koha, making it family-friendly. Yeah, it’s a mystery show, but it’s silly. There’s a lot of comedy in it. I want people to be able to show up to the performance, without the monetary pressure of buying tickets or having to step into a theatre, or the fear that the show will be too dark or triggering for them. Removing those boundaries, making it accessible, making it easy to see.”

Mystery. Crime. Intrigue. Drama. Have you seen our detective?

DETECTED! is an unticketed event. Details as to the locations of our twelve show season are available on fringe.co.nz. The show runs from the 26th of February till the 20th of March, at approximately 30 minutes long. Barring a couple of the shows - which are in bars and thus 18+, the show is family-friendly, though does contain non-graphic violence, so is not recommended for very young children.

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