Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Review: Comedy pokes borax at political correctness

By Nicki Harper
Hawkes Bay Today·
1 Jul, 2016 01:25 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

From left Owen Potter, Tom Wilson and Lucy Mavin go head to head in the upcoming play Kings of the Gym.

From left Owen Potter, Tom Wilson and Lucy Mavin go head to head in the upcoming play Kings of the Gym.

Kings of the Gym
By Dave Armstrong
Directed by Lindsey Bishop
Produced by Waipukurau
Little Theatre
Reviewed by Nicki Harper

If you've got anything against sexism, racism, religious intolerance, you name it, you'd better leave such baggage at the door if you're planning to go to the Waipukurau Little Theatre's latest production of Kings of the Gym.

Not that you should let such trifles put you off going to this play, because it's quite fun to be whacked around the head with shockingly un-PC one-liners that cause your wine to spray out your mouth.

Written by Dave Armstrong, this production has been one of the most popular Kiwi comedies of the last 10 years as it pits the political correctness of modern educational reforms against the old-school style of teaching.

Set in the gym office of Hautapu High School, director Lindsey Bishop's set looks grimy and run-down - a dour, slightly dated battlefield for the conflict that takes place between a politically correct principal with a mandate for change against two lazy, unfit PE teachers who spend their days gambling and watching television.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Laurie Connor is the head of the PE department of the school, played by Owen Potter, who, when he hits full obnoxious mode is superb as he drops multiple clangers, both comic and cringeworthy.

He's a lazy teacher, whose educational input seems to mainly involve sticking his head out the window and yelling at the kids, but for all that he's liked by the students (even "Chopstick" - yep, you got it, that's the Asian student).

Laurie's sidekick is Pat Kennedy, played by Tom Wilson. He's younger and has potential, but he's comfortable to hang out with Laurie.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The bane of their lives is new-age, progressive principal Viv Cleaver (Madeleine Howard) - she's controlling, and driven to be seen as doing the "right thing", an effective conduit for some eye-rolling "typical PC brigade" humour.

What really stirs up the nest, however, is the introduction of Annie Tupua (Lucy Mavin), a young, enthusiastic, Christian fundamentalist student teacher who challenges the status-quo and ends up giving the other characters a lesson in tolerance.

Surprisingly, among the shock-jock jokes and cheap laughs, some reasonably heavy themes around the likes of modern day educational reforms and abortion are treated seriously and sensitively, adding welcome depth to what could have been a one-dimensional treatment of the subject matter.

Performance times:

* 7.30pm tomorrow; matinee 2pm Sunday; 7.30pm Tuesday, July 5 to Saturday, July 9.

* Tickets available from Colourplus, Waipukurau, phone 06 858 7116.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

In the palm of his hand – the rise of a third top NZ men's shotputter

Hawkes Bay Today

'I feel aggrieved': 92-year-old online shopper's warning after supermarket meat purchase

Hawkes Bay Today

How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Premium
In the palm of his hand – the rise of a third top NZ men's shotputter
Hawkes Bay Today

In the palm of his hand – the rise of a third top NZ men's shotputter

You know Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill, but a third Kiwi could join them at the world champs.

16 Jul 06:00 PM
'I feel aggrieved': 92-year-old online shopper's warning after supermarket meat purchase
Hawkes Bay Today

'I feel aggrieved': 92-year-old online shopper's warning after supermarket meat purchase

16 Jul 06:00 PM
How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer
Hawkes Bay Today

How new speed limits are making Hastings schools safer

16 Jul 03:49 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP