The Barden Party Presents: Cocktales

Have you ever wanted to have a cocktail party with your favourite literary heroes? William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe are here to ruin that dream for you.

Brought to you by the award-winning Barden Party who presented summer garden shows of Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream across all of Aotearoa for the past two years, 'Cocktales' is the company's first winter offering. We will transform The Monkey House Lounge & Cabaret in Whitianga into an Enlightenment-era salon - full of grand ideas, humour, poise, song and whimsy. William Shakespeare, himself, is here to ensure that. The only problem is, his literary bff, Edgar Allan Poe, complete with his famed Gothic texts, has never been to such a party before and seems deadset on making Bill's life as difficult as possible. Doors open at 7.30 for cocktail hour when Shakespeare and Poe will be behind the bar making your drinks with the Monkey House's staff. Show starts promptly at 8.30pm. Ticket price also includes a signature cocktail on entry (or non-alcoholic beverage of your choice).

At 8.30pm the shenanigans will begin. Over the course of an hour, immerse yourselves in the worlds of two of the English-language's most underrated larrikins as they try to impress you with their particular command of language, music, cocktail making skills and insight into the human condition. Or they might just forget about that and have a raucous night. You will too! And you never know, some other great minds of history might attend as surprise guests too! Tickets limited to 50 to maximise the interactions between the salon patrons & the literati!!