The Rebel Alliance presents
Back to Square One?
By Anders Falstie-Jensen
BATS
February 25 – 26, 9pm
Tickets: $18 - $40
Book at BATS
It’s theatre, but only just!
The Rebel Alliance is delighted to have the Wellington premiere of their new show Back to Square One? at BATS as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival!
Originally made to be performed in parks and driveways in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 lockdowns Back to Square One? invites audiences into 95 year old Inga's living room in Denmark as she reaches out through space and time to her grandson in New Zealand.
Inga has seen world wars, cold wars, civil wars. In real life and on TV. And when you’re close to 100 you know a thing or two about a thing or two. Featuring lots of chalk and a cameo by a Viking God Back to Square One? is the remarkable story of unremarkable lives and the (sometimes) misdirected urgency that drives us all.
“I can’t remember the last time I left a theatre with such a lightness of heart.”
Back to Square One? was made for Falstie-Jensen’s West Auckland driveway as a way to bring his neighbours together in the aftermath of the 2020 lockdown. It was created to be ultra flexible and easily stageable in any environment for large or tiny audiences. Since its premiere it has been performed by Alison Bruce, Margaret-Mary Hollins, Phil Vaughan, Salesi Le’ota, Ngahiriwa Rauhina and Anders Falstie-Jensen in a multitude of settings ranging from backyards, alleyways to theatres and driveways.
By working with a range of actors that aren’t based in the same city The Rebel Alliance has managed to roll with the covid punches in 2021 and tour Back to Square One? to Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Havelock North, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.
Falstie-Jensen based Back to Square One? on conversations with his grandmother in Denmark who was isolated for months in her small apartment and interviews with his neighbours about their experiences of the 2020 lockdown. Says Falstie-Jensen:
“During the first lockdown the physical world suddenly got very small while we in a weird way also had a global shared experience with people in far away countries. For me, I also experienced time in a different way. I had time to be with my family, time to get to know my neighbours and time to talk to my grandmother. Time I didn’t normally have because I was so busy at work. For a brief time. family and community took priority in a way it hadn’t done before.”
Back to Square One? was shortlisted for the 2020 Adam award for ‘Best new New Zealand play’
