Watch

BATS Theatre is a Wellington Institution, established in the 70’s as a venue for new and young writers.  Alumni include Taika Waititi and Flight Of The Conchords. In 2011 the owner decided to sell the building, leaving the theatre with no alternative but to leave its home on Kent Terrace and find temporary lodgings elsewhere.

For a small theatre company like BATS, this caused quite a problem. Fortunately, Peter Jackson came to their rescue, buying and refurbishing the building and renting it back to them at the previous rent. They have just moved back in to the refurbished building, and Watch is the first production there. Having seen some of their works (including Benedict Cumberbatch Must Die) whilst they’ve been away from home, and contributed to their “Fly BATS Home” fund, we thought we’d better go and see what our investment had produced!

The theme of Watch is, predictably, government spying and surveillance. An inexperienced operative is set up in a flat and sent to spy on a couple downstairs, under the wing of an older agent. The stage is set with TV screens all round, which show what’s happening in the flat below. We see everything that’s going on, and as the play progresses the spies form a relationship with the spied-upon. Just before the interval, there is a climactic scene in which the relationship between the spied-upon and the spies is suddenly thrown into a state of chaos.

After the interval, we move to a different location: on the upper storey of the theatre is an additional performance space, the Dome Gallery. In here, the interrogation of the suspect and the debriefs of all the agents involved takes place. We learn a lot more about the individual characters and their motivations, as well as the purpose of the surveillance.

It was very well done, and (presumably) purposely designed to make use of both rooms to show off the new theatre to the paying public. I’m looking forward to seeing more shows there.