Actors do a table read for the 2024 Capping Show, which is on from May 16-24.
The Capping Show will celebrate its 130th anniversary this year with a show jampacked with singing, dancing and joke cracking, topped off with a zeitgeisty spoof of mega blockbuster Barbie. So, what goes into putting it all together and how can the enduring popularity of the show be explained? Laura Hewson finds out.
Step aside Barbie and Ken, it’s time for Beezie and Ben – the stars of this year’s Capping Show.
Barbie-spoof Beezie will be the main sketch in the 2024 show next month. It follows Otago students Beezie and Ben as they go out into the ‘real world’ and end up on an epic journey to save Scarfieland from predatory landlords.
It’s classic Capping Show, OUSA Event Coordinator Dane Oates says.
“It’s sharing student stories and highlighting student issues in a way that only a cast and crew of students is able to do.
“We always have a hard time picking the main sketch, but we decided this concept would have the most resonance given the themes it touches on and the massive popularity of the Barbie film.”
Beezie was written by Rāhiri Wharerau, Bronson Toghill and Mila McHardy, three recent Otago graduates who have a history with the show. Bronson was one of the leads in the 2023 show and Mila & Rāhiri were part of the core crew. The main Beezie and Ben roles will be played by AJ Keable, who is in her 4th year of a BA in Psychology, and Jack Evans, a 3rd-year student doing an LLB and a BA majoring in Politics.
They’re part of the team of 60-80 students who work to put on the show, whether they be performers, actors, writers or crew.
“Our actors and writers are always current students of Otago University or Polytechnic, and the core crew are either current students or recent graduates, with the exception of myself. We also take on a number of volunteers for the band, backstage crew, spotlighters, and front of house crew, who are usually students.”
One of the great things about the Capping Show – and one of the reasons it scored a 93 per cent satisfaction rating in an OUSA student survey last year – is that it has a bit of something for everyone, Dane says.
As well as Beezie, the audience can expect comedy side sketches and performances by the Selwyn Ballet, the Sextet – a group of students in clown costumes who have been singing parody songs since the early 1900’s – and the Sexytet, which started in 2001 as a female counterpart.
For Dane, the side sketches are the highlight of the show. The more bizarre the better.
“There’s something about a group of actors bursting onto the stage and playing out a 30-second sketch with a stupid punchline and no relation to the rest of the show that just really gets me,” he says.
OUSA Promotions Coordinator and actor Kate Lewis promotes "Beezie", the main sketch for the 2024 Capping Show, which is sponsored by Wests.
OUSA Promotions Coordinator Kate Lewis, who is in the third year of her BA majoring in Psychology with a minor in Theatre Studies, will play Med Beezie in Beezie, as well as several characters in side sketches.
“[Expect] the kind of jokes that are shared between friends at the end of a drunken night on the floor of a friend’s bedroom … at least that’s how some of the sketches are made.” – Kate Lewis
Being involved in the show is a chance to be part of tradition, make new friends, and learn how to write and perform comedy, she says.
“It’s awesome to be a part of a cast and crew that’s so talented, genuine and kind. There’s nothing like making a whole crowd laugh or even just hearing them laugh to themselves.”
Capping Show audiences can expect some easy laughs, an affordable night out and the kind of jokes that don’t normally get played out on stage, she says.
“The kind of jokes that are shared between friends at the end of a drunken night on the floor of a friend’s bedroom … at least that’s how some of the sketches are made.”
Dane and Kate encourage everyone to come along and support the show.
“It’s not easy for a theatre show to stay financially viable in 2024 so if we want to see the Capping Show continue for another 130 years, we really need community buy in. We have such an incredible crew of students and recent grads working very hard on this production, and it means a lot to have the support of the community,” Dane says.
- The 2024 Capping Show will be held at the College of Education Auditorium over 8 nights between May 16 and 24.
130 years of clowning around
2024 marks 130 years of the Capping Show but its origin story isn’t completely clearcut, OUSA Event Coordinator Dane Oates says.
“The official line is that the Capping Show was founded in 1894, but I’ve seen stories that reference an informal and unrehearsed precursor to the show as far back as the 1889 graduation ceremony. Even back then it was very tongue in cheek, poking fun at the University authorities in the same way Capping continues to do today.
“It seems to have been pretty poorly thought of by the University back then and was banned from the graduation ceremony a few years later, at which point it was taken over by OUSA and crystallised into the annual revue show we know today.”
"We’re the oldest continuously running student comedy show in the world. That’s really special and I think makes Capping Show an important part of the cultural history of Dunedin." – Dane Oates
Over the years the show has moved from the St James Theatre to His Majesty’s Theatre (which later became Sammy’s Nightclub), to the Mayfair, Regent, Town Hall and even Castle Lecture Theatre before finding its recent home at the College of Education Auditorium.
To celebrate 130 years is a huge milestone for any institution, but especially so for a student comedy show, Dane says.
“It definitely brings a sense of pride to the cast and crew to be a part of that long tradition. We’re the oldest continuously running student comedy show in the world. That’s really special and I think makes Capping Show an important part of the cultural history of Dunedin.
“Before the critics come in to say that Cambridge Footlights started 11 years before us, I’ll politely point out that whilst Cambridge took a break for the world wars, Otago powered on through.”
While stories about past Capping Shows tell of actors swinging from the rafters and crates of beer being delivered to rehearsals, there’s now a focus on putting together the best possible show. Being part of the show has also been the starting point for a lot of successful entertainers, directors and writers, Dane says.
“That’s one of the things I love most about the show. It’s not just a fun experience for the crew who put it together, it also represents a genuine stepping stone into the creative arts. Some of our more notable alumni include legendary New Zealand Playwright Roger Hall, comedian and television writer Sam Smith, and two Dunedin Mayors (Aaron Hawkins and Peter Chin).”
The Capping Show audience is made up of around 80 per cent students, but there’s also a strong contingent of non-students who come every year, many of them former “Cappers”, or people in the wider University orbit.
“Basically, people like to laugh and above all else the Capping Show is extremely funny.”
