Within four years in action, The Outfit Theatre Company is proving a welcome addition to the Auckland theatre scene.
Formed in 2007, the ensemble recently launched its 2011 season with the smash hit The Sex Show, which picked up the STAMP Award at this year's Auckland Fringe Festival.
Now The Outfit isback with the New Zealand premiere of Howard Korder's Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, Boys' Life.
Producer Ema Barton says the philosophy of the company is particularly community-driven. "The Outfit Theatre Company is an Auckland-based, resident-ensemble theatre company made up of over 25 professional actors who produce audacious, entertaining and accessible theatre.
"We have produced nine successful shows to date and our mission is to be a 'loyal ensemble that forge explosive theatre for hungry audiences'. We love creating 'communities on stage'."
The Outfit hopes to open theatre up to people who may not be regular theatregoers."It's all about putting on fresh, entertaining works - the type of stuff that audiences are really hungry for," says Joel Herbert, The Outfit's co-artistic director, who also performs in the play.
Herbert is just one of The Outfit's rising stars - he and fellow co-artistic director Sarah Graham were featured in a list of rising talents by the Dominion Post in 2009; now, two years on, they have well and proven themselves.
Boys' Life also stars Andrew Ford (The History Boys, The Idea of America), Pete Coates (The Sex Show, Pear Shaped), Jacqui Nauman (Go Girls, The Sex Show), Toni Rowe (The Sex Show, The Suburban Murder), Nicole Jorgensen (Little White Men, The Suburban Murder) and Ema Barton (The Sex Show, The Suburban Murder).
Boys' Life could succinctly be described as the male Sex in the City, playing out through the beer-tinted eyes of three young urban men who refuse to grow up.
The New Yorker called Boys' Life "the most balanced and intelligent comment on the battle of the sexes I've seen in a long time".
Boys' Life by Howard Korder
April 13-23
The Basement Theatre
Lower Greys Ave, Auckland CBD
Tickets: Full price $25, concession $20 for Community Service Card holders, students with ID and Equity Card holders)
Bookings: www.iticket.co.nz or ph 361 1000.
