High Rise

Meet Henry Lewis. Everything he touches turns to SOLD!

The year is 1986. Auckland. New Zealand. Muldoon is out. Rogernomics is in. There is one word to describe this decade: excess...

Deregulation has created the now-famous word ‘yuppie’, and kiwis are enjoying this era of wealth and high disposable incomes as a result of financial markets flourishing.

Greed is good. It is time to be a ‘somebody’.

HIGH RISE follows the (true) journey of one mans ambition to make a name for himself. Henry Lewis finds property is his way to the top, and quickly becomes immersed in a game in which house always wins. After becoming the number one real estate agent in Auckland, Henry develops NZ’s first residential High Rise, Shangri La, cementing his legacy, and his status as a ‘somebody’.

But October 1987 would reduce kings and kingdoms to rubble, as the world watches the worst financial crash since the Great Depression.

What’s do we value, when what we value, no longer holds any value?

We all have a dream. But what will we do in order to get there? And once we get there, where do we go?

Using elements of clown, mask and physical theatre grounded in realism, this is a story of greed, legacy, capitalism, ambition, the snowball effects of success, and of flying too close to the sun.

Coming off of sold-out shows and standing ovations at the Hawkes Bay Arts Festival. Winner of the Better Lemons Audience Choice award, and Encore Producer Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.