Ava Diakhaby, left, Brynley Stent, back, and Bryony Skillington star in Le Basement XXXmas Cabaret Show. Photo / Supplied
Ava Diakhaby, left, Brynley Stent, back, and Bryony Skillington star in Le Basement XXXmas Cabaret Show. Photo / Supplied
Covid-19 has taken its toll on many Christmas traditions this year – kids won't be sitting on Santa's lap at the mall, the Franklin Road lights have been switched off for 2020 – but theatre fans can rest assured that one highlight of the holiday season is going ahead.
Aftershutting their doors for half the year, Basement Theatre is ending the year on a high with the return of their annual Christmas show, this year taking the form of Le Basement XXXmas Cabaret.
And anyone wanting a 90 minute respite from the pandemic, writers Hayley Sproull (Golden Boy, Have You Been Paying Attention) and Kura Forrester (Shortland Street, Educators) are keeping their show a Covid-free zone.
"We figured people have spoken about and thought about Covid enough this year," Sproull says. "The whole purpose of the Christmas show every year is to have fun and bring joy, so we have decided to keep it the eff away from our fun show."
Hayley Sproull hosts Have You Been Paying Attention. Photo / Supplied
The musical showcase only vaguely touches on the pandemic; it follows the 'Le Basement Cabaret Club' as it faces closure, putting on one final show that they hope will save their club.
It's a familiar situation that many theatres around the world have faced this year, but Sproull and Forrester have opted for a "cabaret romp" that combines singing, dancing and comedy to serve as a perfect distraction from the year that's been.
And it's one Christmas event this year that's reserved entirely for adults.
"It's been a really horrid year and that really falls on a lot of parents and workers," Sproull says, "so we wanted that feeling of giving yourself a naughty night out, leave your kids at home and just make it raunchy."
The cast is made up of Sproull and Forrester's Golden Boy co-star Brynley Stent alongside Ava Diakhaby and Bryony Skillington. They will be joined by a different guest performer each night – a long running Basement Christmas show tradition, but this year it will spotlight musicians over comedians.
The likes of Tina Cross, Julia Deans, Megan Alatini, Nathan King and Liam Finn will be showing up, bringing one of their hits with them as well as working with whatever improv the actors throw at them.
Kura Forrester stars in Educators on TVNZ On Demand. Photo / Supplied
The improvised nature of the guest role has led to mixed results in past years, something that the writers aimed to avoid.
"We've both been in lots of Christmas shows now, we understand how those hit and miss moments can happen," Forrester says. "We really worked hard and spoke at length about how we can we help this guest character to have the best time."
"No one wants to watch some poor musician drowning on stage," Sproull adds.
Alongside the guest musician's performance, Le Basement XXXmas Cabaret will feature 10 original songs, which Sproull promises will be stuck in your head all Christmas long. Carols will be amongst the numbers, one of the few Christmas traditions to make it into the show.
"We did worry sometimes when we were writing that it wasn't Christmas-y enough, but then we went 'f*** it'," Forrester laughs.
The two say that they wanted to avoid bogging it down with Christmas tropes, which people are slapped in the face with enough throughout December.
However, amidst all the raunchy jokes and comedic hits, Sproull says that the spirit of Christmas will be at the heart of the plot.
"Christmas is the time where you stop and think about what's truly important in your life, and that's what these people are doing – which is 'is it the club, or is it us'?"
