It’s that time of year again. Critic Te Ārohi joined around 200 (that’s double last year's opening! Wow!) students, parents, and grandparents on opening night for the annual Capping Show. The night was complete with sex jokes, singing, dancing, mimes, free juice, and even more sex jokes.
One of the actors, Jasper, described the show as “exciting and orgasmic,” before adding: “I need to change my underwear.” Speaking of orgasms, Linea, a third-year audience member and undercover Critic informant, counted “49 assorted sex, dick and tit jokes not counting the songs.”
The plot followed the Back to the Future plot with some Rick and Mortyisms as they traveled back in time to the ‘70s using a glorified “cum holder” to stop “Listopher Cuckson” from becoming leader of the National Party. You know the one. But in traditional Capping fashion, the plot was subsidiary to the main show: the sketches. Capping director Ra told Critic Te Ārohi that the sketches start with a funny idea “and then we work out how to make that punchline work.”
One such sketch followed the journey of a road cone, from dutiful public (road) servant to Castle Street resident. If cone theft sounds familiar, you’d be right. Check out Critic’s cone content here. Critic Te Ārohi wasted no time in accusing the Capping Show directors of cone content theft. But Mila assured a concerned Critic that there was no conespiracy; apparently, while the timing was “perfect”, it was completely unintentional. Almost too perfect, some might say...
Capping Show was not without its fair share of drama. A source on the inside who wishes to remain anonymous divulged to Critic Te Ārohi that a lot of sketches had been cut. “OUSA wanted to shorten the show, which is kinda fair,” they said, but “this should have been said at auditions from the outset and not after we had finished our writing period.” Allegedly the cast was told about some of the changes the morning of show night. The source continued: “this is the most drama we’ve ever had… we’re close to a strike”. Maybe Capping cast and TEU will join forces against cuts. Dane Oates, Producer of Capping Show, said, “It’s always hard to know how the show is going to land until we see a full dress rehearsal in action, so last minute adjustments do sometimes happen.”
Ultimately, whether you like sex jokes, cones or music about sex, there’s “something for everyone” at Capping Show. What's more, if you come to the finale, things are really changed up. “It's notorious and infamous for having some changes,” said actor Ariana. Just what those changes are, you’ll have to go and find out.