It’s 2017. The final year of Stage Challenge. I never took part, but I know many who did. I have major FOMO for that dorky dance competition that could make a five-minute hip-hop routine about climate change feel like a military exercise. It began in 1992 and it was kept alive over the decades by little bands of theatre kids, self-directing and self-policing their way to modest victory.
Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat, being set only eight years ago, makes it the funniest kind of period piece. It’s a comedy about a group of plucky teens rehearsing for a big event. This kind of story is close to my heart, and I bet it’s close to yours, too. Sing Street and Theater Camp were memorable, though School of Rock remains the gold standard. So what’s the point of difference for Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat?
It’s a good one: it’s performed solo. It’s an ensemble show where the ensemble is one energetic actor in a Sue Sylvester tracksuit. You should be snapping up your tickets based on that premise alone.
The writer and star is Rachel Brebner, who warms the audience up with great crowdwork as Ms Price. They spend the rest of the show flitting between the Stage Challenge participants: control freak Katie, dudebro Nathan, troubled Ash, and exchange student Paris. The ‘missing teacher’ conceit is a clever one. It keeps the world of the show contained and distinctly adolescent. The dance routine starts out as a muddled social issues mash-up; eventually, it finds its voice as a musical biography of Jacinda Ardern.
This Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat season closely follows the release of Prime Minister, the doco which has solidified Ardern’s legacy as New Zealand’s most beloved PM not named Norman Kirk. Her tenure feels distant now. 2025 has been the most turbulent political year in recent memory; the 2017 girlbossification of Jacinda Ardern is adorably quaint in retrospect. 2017 is a comfy place to be. I loved spending an hour there.
Brebner switches between characters with remarkable ease. As the Stage Challenge performance nears, the switches get closer and closer together—they start to happen mid-sentence, then mid-word. During one crucial group discussion, Brebner embodies four characters speaking at once. Then there’s the challenge of doing a kissing scene by yourself. Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat is a terrific acting portfolio.
Brebner is particularly adept at vocal characterisations. Katie’s anxiety is palpable in her strained, high-pitched pleasantries. Ash speaks with a calmer, flatter tone, even when explaining her tragic backstory. Paris’s inscrutable accent gives Brebner many opportunities to mix it up with her delivery, especially in Paris’s scenes with Kiwi himbo Nathan.
The physical characterisations are nicely detailed. After a few minutes getting to know the cast during their cheesy icebreakers, it’s easy to tell them apart by sight. To be extremely nitpicky, though, I think their stances could be fine-tuned. For instance, based on their personalities, I believe Nathan would stand taller than Katie. An acted height difference could add in another contrast with the perpetually hunching Paris.
But that’s a nitpick. Brebner’s character work is astounding. Also worthy of acknowledgement is her fantastic use of AV. The slides are operated by Simon, a shrinking violet “on the ODP”. I didn’t catch the actor’s name, but they never miss a beat. Brebner uses each slide to full effect. There’s a moment where I suspect they’re going to use the slides to take a few seconds’ break. Instead, they start running in circles to the Love Actually soundtrack. Theatre magic. I can’t emphasise enough how much I laughed during this show.
The AV also lets the audience in on the subtlety of Brebner’s character work. When he isn’t busy with changing slides, Simon vlogs the team during the rehearsal process. What he films is projected behind them in real time. This allows for some deeper motivations to rise to the surface. There’s a mockumentary quality to these talking heads—widening eyes, a faltering smile, the twitch of a brow.
Extreme close-ups are becoming more popular in drama. I’m thinking mainly of Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard revival, where the actors’ fury and despair are captured live on camera and projected behind them. Brebner proves this can work well in comedic theatre, too. There’s a moment where Katie gets some encouragement and tucks a lock of wig hair behind her ear. The extreme close-up makes Brebner look like a post-murder Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures. Pure camp.
As you might expect, Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat is one for the drama kids, with plenty of in-jokes for the Aotearoa theatre folks who populate the opening night audience. But the jokes are funny even if you’ve never set foot inside a high school auditorium or an InterCity bus. I encourage you to go see it anyway and to laugh your head off at how Paris pronounces “The Conjuring”.
Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat could, and maybe should, be adapted into a terrific comedy film. A producer would want a full cast, like how Fleabag started as a one-woman play and became an ensemble comedy series. But there’s just no beating Brebner’s take on these characters. Silliness with skill.
