The placard outside the BATS Theatre in Wellington reads: "Bouncing With Billie, must see theatre, standing ovation opening night”. The avalanche of audience appreciation for this unique show has continued since. Based on the life of deaf gay Wellington artist Fergus Collinson, Bouncing with Billie celebrates the love between two men, Fergus and his partner Brian McGregor, at the height of the AIDS crisis in New Zealand with lashings of poetry, paint, and jazz music. "The show has been very well received; I've heard lots of "amazing" and "whoa" from audience members," says Hannah Clarke of the Theatre Militia company, who put the show together. "People who know Fergus and knew McGregor have been hugely complimentary on how incredibly well the actors have captured the men's characters – we find this especially complimentary considering none of us ever had the pleasure of meeting Brian McGregor." Through the story of these two men, audiences are given an opportunity to reflect on the progress of the gay movement in New Zealand, exposing the absurdity and irrationality of homophobia and the continuing need to support the fight for equality. "The blatancy of prejudice against gays serves as a perfect analogy for human rights violations everywhere," says director Rachel Lenart. The political struggle involved for equality is best illustrated in a popular scene that re-enacts the homosexual law reform debate in Parliament from 1986, using actual transcripts. "The scene really seems to strike a chord with the audience as every night thus far we've had laughter and clapping and even the occasional heckle," says Clarke. "It also does a great job of highlighting just how recently this happened and how extreme and divided the opinons of homosexuality were (and to a certain extent still are) in our own country, something many younger people seem unaware of." Contributing to the multimedia nature of the show, a projection runs concurrently with this scene, charting a Brief History of Queer New Zealand. Starting with "1893 NZ Criminal Code adds crime of 'indecent assault on male' – adds flogging and whipping to hard labour as penalties" through to “2005 Civil Union Bill and Relationships Act passed bringing legal recognition to same sex couples” we can see how we have come. Even tough regular theatre-goers have been moved by the play, says Clarke, with plenty of laughter and tears generated from the well-attended show. Positive word of mouth has seen an increase in bookings over the show's run, which ends this Saturday.