The Butler - must see circus theatre show at The Loons

When: 18 & 19 June, 8pm

Where: The Loons, 16 Canterbury Street.

How much: $29/$24

Bookings: essential! 328 8230 or www.theloons.co.nz

More information: www.thebutlershow.com

See Lyttelton’s homegrown theatre circus work, The Butler, before it heads to London! It’s sexy, it’s stunning to look at and it’s very very funny. It’s The Butler. Where circus meets theatre and satire holds the mirror up to the middle classes. Critics have called it Cirque du Soleil for grown-ups and Pinter on stilts.  It’s the must-see show of 2010.

The Butler The central character of The Butler presides over a dinner party. He stands apart from the action having seen and heard it all before. His introductory and closing asides reverberate with literary allusions -- drawing on Eliot, Larkin, Shakespeare, Glover, MacNeice, a ragbag of pensees from the heritage of English-speaking civilization. Thus he sets the whole event within both a cultural milieu and a bleak universe.

In counterpoint to the butler's gloom, the dinner party guests are all exuberance. Brittle as biscuits, they wind every social convention up to the pitch of parody and beyond. Their dialogue consists of snippets, expressive of the shallowness of behaviour, of the skull beneath the flesh. Every trivial event -- the taking of hats and coats, the saying of grace, the polite chit-chat, the serving of hors-d'oeuvres, expands by natural progression into grotesque and outrageous circus antics.

The resulting action is chaotic and delightful, but underlain with an emptiness that the characters must defy. Here is froth and bubble above the dark and the stark. It's like nothing seen before but it is instantly recognisable.

For more information about the show, reviews and video clips visit www.thebutlershow.com

To find out more about The Butler tour to London 2010 visit www.thebutlershow.com

To book for The Butler GALA Performance at the James Hay Theatre on Wed 9th June visit www.ticketek.co.nz or phone 0800TICKETEK

Show starts 8pm - duration approx 2 hours, including a 20 min interval. Adult themes and content.

Please arrive 15 mins prior to the performance. NOTE: Latecomers will not be admitted to the performance.

Doors open 1 hour before the show.

Tickets $29 each.
 Concessions for those with Student ID, Super Gold Card or Community Services Card $24 each.