Tickets are now on sale for OUSA’s 2025 Capping Show, which runs from 10-23 May. Pictured are the show’s four directors, from top, Hunter Jolly, Jessica Shoemark, Annabelle Fenn and Sam Allred.
The creative minds behind OUSA’s 2025 Capping Show have been busy pitching ideas, writing sketches, and generally cracking themselves up as they prepare for opening night. Laura Hewson talks to two of the directors about what kind of chaos audiences can expect and why the show – now in its 131st year – never gets old.
What do you get when you take a family friendly film franchise and give it an Otago spin?
You get How to Train Your Fresher, the main sketch for this year’s Capping Show.
Inspired by the upcoming live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, the sketch follows the adventures of F***up, a “hapless young breather struggling to meet the expectations of the scarfie elite”.
Kind of, sort of, like in the movie, he finds an unlikely ally in Useless, a fresher he was supposed to haze. Together, they uncover the truth about freshers, and learn that there is more to their Castle Street chaos than meets the eye.
The lead actors for the Capping Show’s main sketch – How to Train Your Fresher – are second year student Isobel Anderson and third year student Heath Giles.
Video Director Hunter Jolly – who is in his fourth year of a BA majoring in film and media and English – says the idea stood out immediately during Theme Night, when groups pitched upwards of 50 ideas for the main sketch of the show.
“It was one of those ones where as soon as it was pitched, we could see several different ways that you could go about it. Being topical is a big part of it. You don't want to pick something that's completely irrelevant.
“But we also chose it for how nostalgic it will be for a lot of people in our sort of age demographic. And maybe you don't even like How to Train Your Dragon but just even knowing about it and trying to imagine how a flying dragon could be translated in our Otago context is quite intriguing. We have some pretty outlandish stuff.”
For Stage Director Annabelle Fenn – who is finishing an honours degree in psychology this year – the main sketch is pivotal for promoting the show.
“Last year was such a buzzy theme [Beezie based on Barbie] so we’re just hoping to kind of keep riding that success.
“Also, I think we just found this idea so inherently funny. This idea of comparing freshers to, like, these little dragons that are really feral and unhinged.”
So, is it okay to compare first years to dragons?
Yes, yes it is, Annabelle says. So long as it’s done the right way.
“We don’t want to jam a moral down anyone’s throat – nobody comes to Capping for that. But we’ve considered cultural safety and I don't think anyone would come to the show and feel upset.”
Creating something funny from potentially sensitive topics is a Capping Show specialty, she says.
“We can’t be afraid to push boundaries without crossing them. We might create some content that's pretty marginal but it’s really important that we consider directionality in everything we do.
“Who are we making fun of and why? What is the joke really saying that's important? That's something we consider throughout the entire process.”
"Capping Show is by students for students so it's funny to hopefully everyone, but particularly the students.” – Stage Director Annabelle Fenn
In Capping tradition, as well as the main sketch there will be side sketches, the Selwyn Ballet, the Sextet, Sexytet, and a live band.
For first-time audience members the structure can feel unusual, Annabelle says.
“It takes them a minute to work out what's going on. It’s like true revue style, which can be a bit bitsy to certain people that aren't used to it, but it’s actually quite nice and fresh.”
As well as being unhinged and hilarious, they say.
“Capping Show is by students for students so it's funny to hopefully everyone, but particularly the students,” Annabelle says.
“It's really fun being part of a university like Otago, where everyone kind of lives in the same area and we have such a strong culture. And the Capping Show is a part of that.”
The show has four directors, all students, who are responsible for overseeing the creative direction of the show. The stage directors are Annabelle and Jessica Shoemark (in her fifth year studying law and psychology) and the video directors are Hunter and Sam Allred (in his fourth year studying environmental management and geography).
This is Annabelle’s first year as a stage director but her fourth year with the show.
“I saw it in 2021 for the first time and thought ‘This is amazing. I have to be part of this’.
“I then acted in it through all of my undergrad pretty much, so I think it's kind of fair to say this was my University experience and it was an incredible amount of fun. This year I was ready for a new challenge and to hopefully create that experience for someone else.”
She’s learned a lot from being part of the show, she says.
“I have so many skills now that I never would have had without it. My confidence kind of skyrocketed and I'm unafraid of embarrassing myself now, which is incredibly useful.
“My writing skills are also so much better. And I realized I could be funny, which I never knew before I started doing this.”
While Annabelle is a Capping veteran, Hunter’s experience with the show is non-existent, he says.
“This is actually my first Capping Show. I’ve never even been before. But I know how much of a big deal it is to the student culture, and I thought, well, that's just a tremendous opportunity.
“At the end of the day, you have this product that's going to be immortalised in video and so many people are going to see it. I think it's one of those opportunities that maybe later in life you don't get.” – Video Director Hunter Jolly
“At the end of the day, you have this product that's going to be immortalised in video and so many people are going to see it. I think it's one of those opportunities that maybe later in life you don't get.”
OUSA Event Coordinator Dane Oates says the show has been steadily regaining momentum after Covid affected audience numbers.
“It was pretty difficult at the time because actually getting people to go to events was obviously very challenging.
“It also had an impact on knowledge transfer. There were a couple of years where a lot of students weren't even on campus, and the ones who were weren't able to socialise and share information in the same way they had in the past. So that sort of awareness really dropped off.”
Efforts to educate people about what the Capping Show is have been really successful, he says.
“We had a big growth in ticket sales last year and the year before that. So we’re steadily climbing back from the setback that Covid had on us.
“Last year was the first year, at least in recent years, that Capping Show has been the most popular OUSA event, with a 93 per cent approval rating. We finally overtook Hyde Street. I'm confident that we’ll continue growing as the show continues to get better and audiences continue to recognise the value that it has.”
Four shows were sold out last year, leading to the decision to add an extra show this year, Dane says.
“Last year was our 130th and we were really stoked with the support that we had from the community. It was pretty awesome seeing massive lines of people outside of the auditorium for the last four nights.”
For Annabelle, who was involved in the show during some of those leaner years, it’s exciting seeing the crowds return.
“We just kind of want to keep that momentum going. It can be hard to get people to come to live theatre these days, but it will be easier and easier to get people to come as we kind of bring it back to the forefront of student culture.
“I've never heard of anyone that regretted going to the Capping Show. I promise we're actually funny. Like, you’ll actually enjoy it.”
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