WINE LIPS RETURNS FOR THREE READINGS LOOKING BACK AT BASEMENT THEATRE’S ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PAST

Photo credit Tom Neunzerling
Presented by Smoke Labours Productions

Nine years after it first debuted, Sam Brooks’ critically acclaimed play Wine Lips returns to Basement Theatre's green room, from May 30 - June 1. 

The short season of readings, Wine Lips x 3, looks back at the venue’s past and opens up the play to the future - complete with three completely different casts.

“Backstage at his new show, Scotty has invited actor and ex-girlfriend Brit to share a bottle of wine with him. She brings the wine, he brings the unpleasant memories. They both bring the quarter life crisis.”
 
The play was originally written in 2014 spoke to the venue’s rough, grassroots nature and to the existential angst of the artists that performed in it at the time.
 
In the near decade since Wine Lips’ debut, Basement Theatre has transformed from a hub of Auckland’s most exciting theatre to a hub for all live performance, with a clear vision to bring the many disparate communities of Auckland together, and to platform and support diverse voices and talent. These readings of this play honour the theatre’s storied past, while pointing towards its exciting future.
 
Once again, the play will be performed in the Basement Theatre green room, bringing audiences behind the scenes of a theatre that has launched the careers of many actors, playwrights, dancers, comedians, and artists from almost every possible artform. Wine Lipsrepresents just one of the many stories that have launched from that green room.
 
The first reading on May 30 will see POC actors in the lead roles for the first time, starring Marianne Infante (Shortland Street) and Ravi Gurunathan (The Life of Galileo), and supported by current Actor’s Program student Angus Stevens (The Justice of Bunny King).
 
The second reading on May 30 will unite upcoming actors and Basement regulars Brit O’Rourke (Chrome Dome and Schizo, One Lane Bridge) and Michael Hockey (To be Frank, Bullrush) in the lead roles, as a nod back to the play’s roots as a showcase for Basement mainstays Chelsea McEwan Millar and Nic Sampson, supported by current Actor’s Program student Rainton Oneroa.
 
The third and final reading on June 1 will bring one of the play’s originators, Chelsea McEwan Millar (Bright) back to the show, supported by Jack Buchanan (The Trojan War) and Petmal Petelo (The Savage Colonizer Show). It will be Brooks’ and McEwan Millar’s farewell to the show, and a tribute to the long gone, rock’n’roll era of Basement Theatre.
 
Since Wine Lips debuted, Brooks’ playwriting career has shot up. That year, he was named by Metro as Auckland’s Most Exciting Playwright, and just two years later he won the Bruce Mason Playwrighting Award. He has also had critical acclaim and sell-out seasons for his works, Burn Her and Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys. He recently won an the Dean Parker award for Em, his queer adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, at the Adam Awards.
 
Since 2017, he has been a writer for The Spinoff, becoming a noted cultural commentator and force for arts coverage in a fraught landscape. This work recently saw him win the prize for “voice of reason” at the Wellington Theatre Awards, and a nomination for a Voyager Media Award for best reporter (arts and culture).

Wine Lips x 3
Basement Theatre
May 30, May 31 and June 1, 8pm
Tickets available through iTicket