Award-Winning Verbatim Theatre Show Over And Out Coming to Wellington and Auckland

May 6

Award-winning verbatim theatre show Over and Out is a funny, heartfelt solo work created and performed by Jackson Burling, and directed by Simon Leary. It plays for one night only at Hannah Playhouse, Wellington, before heading to Auckland’s Q Theatre from 4 to 8 August.  

A young Jackson took his father’s sage advice and avoided the fork in the road: never become a truck driver! Years later, after a long and gruelling stretch in the arts industry, he finds himself circling back to the question he never quite shook: why not?

Enter Murphy. A diehard, long-haul kiwi truck driver with grit, charm and a lifetime of stories. After a session with Murphy, Jackson is left wondering if he made the right decision and what it means if something is in your blood?

In just fifty minutes, Over and Out brings that tension to the stage. One actor. One voice. A single story that moves between two worlds, the cab of a truck and the space of the theatre, tracing the distance between where you come from and where you end up.

Following its 2025 premiere in Pōneke, Over and Out earned Jackson Actor of the Year and Most Promising Newcomer at the Wellington Theatre Awards, alongside nominations for Production of the Year and New Aotearoa Play of the Year, including another eight nominations for creatives across the team.  

Having grown up around the trucking world, Jackson returns to it here not to resolve it, but to sit inside its contradictions. The result is a portrait of one of Aotearoa’s essential workers, and a reflection on identity, work, and the choices that shape a life.

“This show is for people who come from that world, for people in the arts, and for anyone who loves a good story, It’s about the space between those worlds and realising there’s actually not much difference.” says Jackson

Raw, grounded, and quietly disarming, Over and Out asks what it means to step away from something and what it means to look back.

Buckle up. This is top-notch verbatim theatre with serious mileage.

Over and Out
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
Saturday 30 May

Q Theatre, Auckland
4 – 8 August

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