Two shows and 496 tickets later, Law Revue has wrapped for 2024. A high spirited audience kept the humour afloat over the two shows of the annual law student production on August 29-30th. This year’s theme was ‘Lawrat’ – a parody of Sacha Baron Cohen's ‘Borat’ if that went over your head. The cast and crew of 30 law students told the story of Aucklander ‘Lawrat’, a man on a mission trying to get that sweet, sweet second-year law school position.
Following hot on the heels of their nemesis (med students) revue, Critic sent the very same reporter to gauge the vibes.
While Med Revue avoided the drama with a show so accessible it was like they were trying to break the insular accusations (hell, they even had a jargon 101 Kahoot) Law Review did not hold back. Whether you’re in Medicine, Physio, or Ski Club (particularly Ski Club) you were not safe. But they kept it light enough to make it feel tongue in cheek. I was almost sad that BA students weren’t bothered with a mention.
Critic Te Ārohi’s personal favourite sketch was the one poking fun at Ignite consultants. The scene depicted Otago University turning to the volunteer student consultant group for advice during their budget crisis. Alongside a myriad of silly suggestions, the team humorously called for the Uni to replace all male staff with females so they can "pay them half the price." Good one!
Fresh off the after party, Critic Te Ārohi managed to sit down with the directing duo Jack Evans (who you might recognise from his appearance as Ken in this year’s Capping Show Beezie) and Charlie Butler. The pair dustily revealed the secrets behind their success – one being learning what not to do based on their experience at ‘Medagascar’ Med Revue earlier this month. Shots fired.
After attending the three hour Med Revue, Jack said his only thought was: "Fuck that was long." The directing team then proceeded to hack down the script for ‘Lawrat’ and limit the number of scenes. With the fried attention spans of an audience of doom scrollers, this may well have been a good call. The final run-time of the show was a digestible one and a half hours (I still checked my phone regularly throughout).
Pols Rep Liam was also in the crowd on the night. "It was fantastic. Honestly I didn’t realise how good of a Borat impression Jasper could do,” said an ever-chipper Liam. The directing team kept the Borat parody plot scenes short and sweet. Though the plot wasn't as fully fleshed out as it could have been, each scene managed to progress the story while remaining funny and unique. Yet it was in the skits where the heart of the show could be felt.
Jack told Critic that they aimed to "make it so you could kind of understand the punchline" for every skit (I still don’t know what "bona fide purchaser for valuer without notice" means). This meant that even skits which were more obviously ‘law-esque’ could be laughed at by everyone. In all honesty, it felt like half the skits weren't actually law-related. Jack also happily claimed to be the mastermind behind the David Seymour centred skit called ‘The Homeless Games’.
There was "significant crossover with the Politics department" according to Jack, with many law students taking Politics as a double major. "I think we might look into the future of capitalising on that," said Jack, cheekily hinting towards adding a sprinkle of politics to the Law Revue down the road. The jury’s out on what that would entail, but Critic is willing to bet there’ll be bald caps involved.