Set in a pie shop, Mr Red Light will serve kooky humour "with a Kiwi twist" when it opens at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre tonight. Think a touch of absurdism with “Buster Keaton-esque clowning”, says the show's co-director, Ben Crowder.

And it's only fitting that, as the national tour comes to Wollongong, residents are prepping for heavy rain and flash flooding.

“Mr Red Light is a show about a man who has very bad luck, so that seems highly appropriate,” says Ben, who runs award-winning New Zealand theatre company Nightsong with playwright Carl Bland.

Carl wrote and stars in Mr Red Light, playing Trevor (“probably the world's worst hostage negotiator”) and the Ant, a hugely symbolic little insect. Ben's co-director is also the inspiration behind the title.

“Mr Red Light is actually the name Carl is called by his family – because Carl is a very unlucky man,” Ben says. “He drives from red light to red light, he never gets a green light. And it is true. I hate to say it, when I'm in a car with Carl, we never get a park.”

The first red light

Launched in Auckland in late 2019, the debut stage show delighted audiences with its absurdly funny tale of a bumbling gunman, plus mime, music and exciting fight scenes. The NZ Herald described it as “one of the most surreal, beautiful, hysterical and outrageously original shows” and a national tour followed.

Unluckily, Covid put a stop to that.

“While everyone else was running to get toilet paper, I went and picked the costumes up from the stage manager, and then the show ended up in a container ever since,” Ben says.

Mr Red Light has been rebooted for 2025, with a fresh cast of five – including three recent graduates of Toi Whakaari national drama school – and a theme now more relevant than ever.

“It is a play that highlights the importance of human connection,” Ben says.

“It is very much about a whole lot of people who are living slightly small or broken lives, and they end up finding the most important thing is the connection with each other, which potentially, thematically, probably has strengthened over Covid, that idea of actual human connection.

“It does champion the outsider.”

World of talent

The show’s creators are hybrids of local and international influences: Ben was born in the UK and trained at Melbourne’s John Bolton Theatre School in the 90s; Carl is the son of New Zealand poet Peter Bland but trained as an actor and visual artist in London.

“The play, as far as I'm concerned, is about outsiders who don't quite fit, and that's possibly Carl and I – we’ve been here a while, but we don't quite fit as people,” Ben says.

“It’s slightly funny, slightly philosophical, slightly odd. It's a slightly kooky hostage drama in a pie shop, where everything goes a bit wrong for most people, but also then ends up where they all join forces and become more of a community together – they’re all odd balls, but they find a little connection.”

The second red light

Life continues to imitate art on Mr Red Light’s 2025 Australian tour, which kicked off on the Gold Coast last week, but only after the cast had their flights from New Zealand cancelled due to a sudden staff shortage. Now heavy rain could, unfortunately, put a damper on opening night.

But it’s not all washed up: Mr Red Light is stopping at IPAC for four nights, with a Q&A planned after Thursday evening’s performance and a matinee on Saturday.

“Audiences can expect a good time,” says Ben, who has watched the show about 100 times and will be in the audience tonight.

“It's fun, it's fast, it's slick, but I think underneath, it's actually a very beautiful and moving show.

“There is a little bit of slapstick in there, which has a sort of Buster Keaton-esque clowning … there's definitely that quality, which is quite visual and kinetic.

"The set is very dynamic, as in things fly out and things burst through walls. It's a visually exciting environment that they're in. But then there's some absurdism in there as well.”

Amid the laughter, Mr Red Light is also “rich and poetic”, with nods to philosophy that may put “a wry smile on your face”.

It’s recommended for ages 15+, mainly due to strong language, Ben says. "But my son, who's now 14, first saw it when he was eight, and has always liked it from our shows that I've made – it's one of his favourites because it's got action in it and some silly moments as well.”

For those still in two minds about heading out into the cold, Ben has some advice.

“There's hardly any seats left. I literally think we're down to about the last 50 … don't miss out, because it was a quite a big effort to come – the set came in a 20-foot container, we’re not going to come back next week. So now or never.”

Mr Red Light is in Wollongong from 2-5 July, tickets via the Merrigong website