Howick Little Theatre 2011 Season
Howick Little Theatre’s line-up for the past five years has had at least one New Zealand play a year. These are the plays that have had the strongest emotional impact on audiences: Home Land, King and Country and The Raft. There's another New Zealand story, Carl Nixon's The Birthday Boy, in the theatre's 2011 line-up. The other plays are comedies from France, Britain and America and a US drama. Three are period pieces.
First up is the Auckland premiere of the wickedly funny The Birthday Boy, which covers 25 years of family, friendship, careers and comic complications. Parenthood and friendship collide in this contemporary comedy from Kiwi playwright Carl Nixon, whose drama The Raft was performed here this year. What happens to friends when life takes them in different directions? When Stuart and Elizabeth meet their oldest friends, David and Kathy, to celebrate David's 40th birthday, they're not expecting the surprise announcement that changes all their lives. This play premiered at Christchurch’s Court Theatre in 2008 to great reviews, and a month-long season opened at Wellington’s Circa Theatre last week.
SEASON: March 5-26
The second play, Ice Glen, is a New Zealand premiere. Set in rural Massachusetts in 1919, this character comedy by Joan Ackermann brings the editor of the Atlantic Monthly to a faded mansion, where he hopes to find Sarah Harding, the author of the most amazing poems he has ever read. Here he meets an eccentric household that includes an amorous widow, her Irish housekeeper, her special-needs companion, a kindly butler/chaffeur, and the young poet – who refuses his attention. As their true passions are revealed, these six characters in search of love and acceptance discover that awkwardness and anger are merely way stations on the road to happiness. “Funny, moving and witty,” said one reviewer of this play, which was written in 2003. “It will melt your heart.”
Season: May 7-28
The third play, Some Girls(), is the story of a thirtysomething man whose career as a writer is flourishing. He also has a beautiful fiancée waiting to get married and rush him off on a romantic honeymoon. So, why the hold-up? Well, he gets nervous and starts calling up old girlfriends. And so begins this single man's odyssey in search of the perfect woman (with whom he's already broken up). One guy, four exes, four cities … it's one hell of a trip. Playwright Neil LaBute shines a light on a typical guy as he wanders through the heart of darkness that is himself.
Season: July 9-30.
The fourth play is set in France in 1959. In what will be the Auckland premiere, Gustave, Henri and Philippe pass their days sitting on the terrace musing on conditions in their veterans’ home, engaging in verbal battles and plotting their escape to Indochina – or at least to the poplars at the top of the hill. With gammy legs and agoraphobia, these cantankerous comrades may not get very far, but their journey is whimsical and touching. Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Gérald Sibleyras’s Le Vent de Peupliers (The Wind in the Poplars) is a seductive fusion of the comic, the sad and the absurd.
Season: September 3-24
The final play for the year was a box-office smash for Christchurch’s Court Theatre when it made its international premiere late last year. In fact, it was so successful that they extended the season, which also sold out. Set in the US in 1939, Backstage, by Roy Smiles, follows the antics of Hanna and Herb Leibman, a husband-and-wife vaudeville act who have been touring the country for 20 years with their son Danny and daughter Ruth. Their dresser, confidante and peacemaker is Maria. However, Hanna and Herb’s marriage is rapidly disintegrating as a result of Herb’s philandering and Hanna’s egomania. Family tensions erupt in a fast-paced, furiously funny behind-the-scenes comedy. It’s a veritable can of kerosene just waiting for that vital spark to set things off.
Season: November 12-December 3.
For further information see www.hlt.org.nz or call the theatre, 534-1406.
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Howick Little TheatreFounded in 1954 by leading professional actress Alma Woods, Howick Little Theatre is an award-winning Auckland community theatre with a reputation for quality productions and a penchant for dynamic, contemporary plays, including new New Zealand work such as King and Country (Dave Armstrong), Home Land (Gary Henderson) and Tzigane (John Vakidis). In 2010 the theatre staged the Auckland premiere of Carl Nixon's powerful and evocative West Coast family drama The Raft. In 2011, audiences saw the first Auckland production of Nixon's The Birthday Boy, which came close to selling out. 2012 started with the UK hit comedy The Priory by Michael Wynne, directed by Adey Ramsel.
The rest of the 2012 season is:
As You Like It
A comedy by William Shakespeare ~ Directed by Judy Rankin
Exiled from home and forced to wander the forest with a clown … what’s a girl to do? How about fool everyone by dressing like a guy. Setting his play against a backdrop of sibling rivalry and political intrigue, the Bard draws on his signature themes of disguise, misplaced affections and pastoral passion to create this enchanting tale in which Rosalind and a merry band of wanderers find adventure and love in the Forest of Arden. As You Like It is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies.
Season: May 12 to June 2, 8pm. Matinees: May 13 & 20, 6pmEntertaining Angels
A comedy by Richard Everett ~ Directed by Peter Meikle
“Funny, touching and genuinely thought-provoking comedy.” – Daily Telegraph As a clergy wife, Grace has spent a lifetime on her best behaviour. But now, newly widowed, she is enjoying the new-found freedom to say and do exactly what she likes. However, a visit from her eccentric missionary sister and some extraordinary revelations bring Grace back to her earthly senses. With its sharp-edged comedy and probing wit, this acclaimed play has been described as “a surefire hit”. “The laughter constantly bubbles to the surface.” – British Theatre Guide. The New Zealand premiere.
Season: July 14 to August 4, 8pm. Matinees: July 15 & 22, 6pmPeninsula
A drama by Gary Henderson ~ Directed by Terry Hooper
“Peninsula makes the ordinary universal, timeless and extraordinary.” – NBR.
Michael Hope is 10 and sleeps on a volcano. It is the 1960s, and he lives at the edge of the ancient flooded crater now known as Akaroa Harbour on Banks Peninsula. Inspired by a new year and a new teacher, Michael sets out to map his home ground, charting his history in the sheltering hills and bush. But not all volcanoes are extinct. Rumblings in the adult world encroach into Michael’s life, throwing his universe into chaos. A feast for the imagination, Peninsula fuses light, sound, space and language into story magic. The Auckland premiere of a play that has wowed audiences and critics at this year's NZ International Festival of the Arts.
Season: September 8 to 29, 8pm. Matinees: September 9 & 16, 6pmLadies For Hire
A comedy by Alison Quigan ~ Directed by Rae McGregor
“Laced with quick, earthy and ironic wit.” – Manawatu Standard.
Christenings, weddings, funerals – these women have sung at them all. But when a young parish priest arrives who’s determined to impress the Bishop, the first thing he does is sack the choir, striking more than a few sour notes. It’s drama on the high Cs! The choir try to stay together, booking themselves out as entertainment for stag parties and gorilla-grams, but it doesn’t make for harmonious relationships. Can they get back in tune in time for the festive season? The Auckland premiere.
Season: Nov 10 to Dec 1, 8pm. Matinees: Nov 11 & 18, 6pmIf you don't want to miss out on plays at HLT, why not buy a subscription? The benefits are cheaper tickets and preferential bookings. For details see: www.hlt.org.nz
The theatre’s commitment to innovation means young people are encouraged to get involved and HLT offers opportunities for first-time directors, as well as training for backstage personnel. Several members, for example, got a technical grounding at HLT then went on to professional careers.
In the past 13 years, those interested in acting, directing, vocal training, lighting and set design have had the opportunity to attend workshops with leading New Zealand theatre professionals, and there are more happening for 2011. Tutors have included Christian Penny, Justin Lewis, Bryan Caldwell, Tracy Grant, Oliver Driver, Cameron Rhodes and Jonathon Hendry. In 2009 Miranda Harcourt, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Stuart Devenie and the Head of Voice at Unitec, Kirstie O'Sullivan, took workshops for actors. In 2011 we held a Shakespeare workshop with Michael Hurst, and an acting workshop with Jennifer Ward-Lealand. A set design workshop with John Parker is in the planning stages for this year. Nik Janiurek will be doing a lighting design course, Robert Hunte a sound design course, and Jennifer Ward-Lealand will be turning her attention to helping actors develop their skills. Stuart Devenie will be taking a weekend course on accents for actors. Keep an eye on: http://www.hlt.org.nz/channels.php/services/workshops/ for details when they're posted.
A number of well-known thespians, including Kerry Smith and Donna Akersten, and Melbourne Theatre Company's former Artistic Director Simon Phillips started out at HLT, and the theatre's drama classes have provided the stepping stone to professional careers over the years. Ben Crowder teaches the senior teens and adult classes on Monday nights. There are also classes available for children from aged six upwards.
In July 2009, the theatre, a first-time entrant, was named a finalist in the Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality category of the WESTPAC MANUKAU BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS. It was the first time in the history of the awards that a theatre had been selected as a finalist.
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