Skyduck: A Chinese Spy Comedy – Auckland Arts Festival 2023

Skyduck: A Chinese Spy Comedy

Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre 14–19 March 2023

WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY SAM WANG DIRECTED BY AILEEN HUYNH

Skyduck: A Chinese Spy Comedy

Ten years after emerging out of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School as a 20-minute graduation showing, the fully fledged Skyduck: A Chinese Comedy makes a spectacular homecoming. Auckland Arts Festival is proud to finally present the Aotearoa premiere of Sam Wang’s bilingual action spy comedy.

A quirky and irrelevant parody of China’s top secret agents trying to steal America’s top-secret fighter jet software in the early 1990s – all while Australia was busy preparing for the Sydney Olympics – Skyduck tracks China’s ambitious, ‘fictional’ attempt to steal America’s most prized flight simulation software via their brightest secret agents, Captain Yan and Agent Change. After launching an audacious hack into the Royal Australian Aerobatic Squadron, they find themselves trapped by a hotshot NSA agent, Commander Kendrick. His plan? To destroy China’s military ambition once and for all… through Inception.

Creator Sam Wang plays seven hilarious characters from a lovestruck Chinese secret agent to a dazzling J-Pop starlet to a foulmouthed Australian aeronautic choreographer – and performs the story in both English and Mandarin (with surtitles).

“The show is basically an excuse to create a low-fi, Top Gun dogfight on stage with cheesy ‘Boom, Boom! Bang, Bang!’ acting,”

says Wang. “Like, literally going ‘Boom, Boom! Bang, Bang!’ and pretending to be in a fighter jet… that’s the level of this show!”

Featuring an outrageous mix of AV, puppets and musical numbers, Skyduck hysterically recreates the action genre on stage utilising every DIY theatre trick in the book. Wang calls it “a love letter to the action spy movies I grew up with, in an East meets West mash-up that celebrates everything theatre can achieve. And some things it can’t.”

Directed by Australian actor and creator Aileen Huynh, Skyduck premiered at Sydney’s acclaimed Belvoir St Theatre to rave reviews as part of their independent 25A Season in 2019. It was mentioned in Timeout and Audrey Journal as one of Sydney’s best stage shows of 2019 and earnt Wang a nomination for “Best Lead Actor in an Independent Production” at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2019.

“One of the most satisfying feedback we’ve consistently received from the show is that it’s just as funny for Mandarin and non-Mandarin speaking audiences alike,’ say director Huynh.

“And that and it’s utterly original and bonkers without being alienating, elitist or dumbed down.”

Writer / Performer / Producer

Sam Wang

Director / Co-producer

Aileen Huynh

Production Manager

Andrew Potvin

Lighting Designer

Kelsey Lee

Technical Systems Coordinator & Operator

Sam Mence

Surtitles

Amanda Grace Hsu Hsien Leo

1hr no interval

Suitable for ages 13+

Contains occasional strong language, strobe lighting and smoke/haze effects

World Premiere: 11 July 2019, Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, Australia

SKYDUCK HAS RECEIVED DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT FROM Crack Festival, National Theatre of Parramatta, 25A at Belvoir St Theatre and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School

SKYDUCK AT AAF

WITH SUPPORT FROM

SAM WANG was born in Wuhan, China before moving to Australia at the age of six. He studied filmmaking and law at the University of Technology, Sydney before training as an actor at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School.

His screen credits include New Gold Mountain (SBS), Life is Easy (TVNZ on Demand), Hope & Wire (TVNZ) and Runaway Millionaires (TVNZ). Theatre credits include The Chairs (Rui Taitea Creative), The Mooncake & The Kūmara (Oryza and Betsy & Mana; Auckland Arts Festival 2015) and Down Beneath Below (Java Dance Company).

In addition to his nomination for Best Lead Actor in an Independent Production at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2019, Wang rounded off the year off by winning South Pacific Picture’s Big Pitch Competition at SPADA 2019 for his half-hour TV comedy, Homebound 3.0

Developed by Kevin & Co and funded by NZ On Air, Homebound 3.0 is an eight-episode comedy about about a 30-something single and struggling writer, Henry (played by Wang), who moves back in with his Chinese parents. When extended family members play matchmaker, he makes a pact with Melissa, his match, and the pair embark on a fake relationship to keep their respective parents happy. Also starring Michelle Ang and Kimberley Crossman, Homebound is scheduled to premiere on Three in March 2023.

Wang has also practiced law for several years and holds a Master of Commerce (Finance) from the University of New South Wales.

AILEEN HUYNH is a director, content creator and actor. She is a graduate from The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), and also holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Performance from The University of Wollongong.

In 2019, she made her theatrical directorial debut with Skyduck: A Chinese Spy Comedy. As a content creator, she has worked independently on comedy skit videos and was nominated for the 2014 Australian Online Video Award. Her current content work is on YouTube under her alter ego Mad Doctor.

Huynh made her acting debut in SBS’ critically acclaimed mini-series Better Man opposite Bryan Brown and David Wenham. Her other screen credits include Neighbours, Black Comedy 3, The Commons, Spin Out and series one and two of ABC’s Cleverman

Huynh is also a regular in Australian theatres. Credits include David Williamson’s The Big Time at Ensemble Theatre, Branden JacobJenkins’ Gloria at Melbourne Theatre Company, and Flight Paths for National Theatre of Parramatta. She has done national tours of Critical Stages’ 4000 Miles and Performing Lines’ Hello Goodbye & Happy Birthday, which received a Helpmann nomination.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ANDREW POTVIN is the Director of Andrew Potvin Designs Ltd, specialising in tour and production management, ticketing services and lighting design. He holds a MFA in Tourism Management (AUT, 2014) and a BFA in Design and Production for CalArts (2009).

His events portfolio spans 20 years across the globe, from his native United States of America to his adopted homelands of New Zealand/Australia. Notable collaborations include Indian Ink Theatre Company (Paradise or the Impermanence of Ice Cream, Mrs Krishnan’s Party, The Pickle King), Sau e Siva Creative (Alatini), Turning Tide Theatre Co (Rangitoto), Auckland Music Theatre Inc (That Bloody Woman, Carrie, Sweeney Todd, Spring Awakening, Chess, The Last Five Years, Next to Normal), Auckland Theatre Company (Guys and Dolls, Lollywitch of Mumuland) and served as Producer of Technical & Logistics with PANNZ/Tourmakers (2015–18). Potvin is thrilled to be collaborating with the fabulous Skyduck team. When not working on theatrical productions you can find him at iTICKET. @dapotvin (Instagram)

KELSEY LEE is a lighting, set and costume designer for theatre and film. Lee’s recent projects include lighting designer for Sex Magick (Griffin Theatre Company) and associate lighting designer for Blue (Belvoir St Theatre). Last year, Lee was co-lighting designer with Katie Sfetkidis for Whitefella Yella Tree (Griffin Theatre Company); set and costume designer for A Practical Guide to Self Defence (NTofP); lighting designer for The Comedy of Errors (Bell Shakespeare); and set designer for Nothing (NTofP). She was associate lighting designer for At What Cost? (Belvoir St Theatre) and previously designed the lighting for A Room of One’s Own. She was the co-production designer with Grace Deacon and lighting designer for Destroy, She Said for Belvoir’s 25A. They won Best Set Design for an Independent Production at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2022. Previously for 25A, Lee designed the lighting for Extinction of the Learned Response, Skyduck and Kasama Kita. She designed the lighting, set and costumes for Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge (ACO), which won Best Production for Children at the 2021 Sydney Theatre Awards. Lee previously collaborated with the ACO in 2019 on There’s a Sea in My Bedroom. Other credits include A Letter For Molly, Unqualified 2: Still Unqualified, Outdated, Killing Katie (Ensemble Theatre), Queen Fatima (NToP and Sydney Festival), Jali (Aya Productions, Griffin Theatre Company), A Is for Apple (Griffin Lookout), I’m With Her (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), April Aardvark (ATYP), Good Dog, If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You (Greendoor Theatre Company) and Lulu: A Modern Sex Tragedy (NIDA). Her film credits include production assistant on Long Story Short (See Pictures) and was in the set decorating department for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel Studios).

SAM MENCE is an Auckland-based technician and designer specialising in musical theatre. He has a strong background in all things electrical, as well as extensive experience in most aspects of theatrical productions which sees a comprehensive complement of production credits to his name across a variety of key production roles and in a variety of genres. He believes in Art through Physics and bringing magic to a show through full cooperation of the departments.

Mence started Creative Ambiance in 2013 as an expansion of his freelance career.

AMANDA GRACE

HSU HSIEN LEO (梁宿娴) is an Aotearoa-born Singaporean actor, jazz singer and facepainter. Leo spent her early school years training in devising in Singapore under Noorlinah Mohamed before going on to receive her First Class Honours in Dramaturgy at the University of Auckland, where she briefly studied clown under Master Clown Dr. Ira Seidenstein.

Her most notable roles include Proudly Asian Theatre’s Call of the Sparrows (2016) and the Auckland Fringe one-woman multilingual debut of Oliver Chong’s ROOTS (2018). She also works closely with Oriental Maidens and Yellow Peril Productions, starring in their two seasons of Nathan Joe’s I Am Rachel Chu and most recently in the acclaimed Scenes From a Yellow Peril (Auckland Theatre Company, 2022). Her voice credits include the role of Nai Nai (Grandma) in Becky Kuek’s Tales of Nai Nai. By day, Leo is a tarot reader under her brand Grace&Tarot and runs a facepainting company called Face Fatale Ltd. Leo is proudly represented by Gail Cowan Management.

Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki / Auckland Arts Festival (AAF) champions change-making, the environment, ambitious ideas, powerful voices and unique experiences that open our eyes, our hearts and our minds.

The Festival takes place each March in New Zealand’s largest city, and reflects its contemporary, multicultural nature.

AAF challenges its community to be courageous, to be bold, and to explore new ways of reflecting the world around us.

Through the incredible work of artists here in Aotearoa and across the globe, we aim to unify, uplift and inspire our audiences – the people of Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa and all who visit.

Board of Trustees /

Te Poari Kaitiaki

John Judge (Chair)

Angela Clatworthy

Evan Davies

Eleshea D’Souza

Sarah Judkins

Graham Tipene

Fred Ward

Angela Watson

Chief Executive /

Kaiwhakahaere Matua