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Ladies' Day

5/10/2022

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Written by Amanda Whittington
Directed by Marilyn Ollett

Work, love, and life are just one long, hard slog for the fish-filleting foursome Pearl, Jan, Shelley, and Linda. But their fortunes are set to change when Linda finds tickets to Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot.

​Out go the hairnets and overalls as the four ditch work, do themselves up, and head off for a drink, a flirt, and a flutter.


Cast:
Claire Bruce as Pearl
Lesley Long as Jan
June Pfister as Linda
Ashlyn Morriss as Shelley
Mark Reid as Joe/Jim
Scott Morrow as Fred/Kevin/Barry
Brock Cottrell as Patrick
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God of Carnage

14/7/2022

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Written by Yasmina Reza
​Directed by Garry Thomas

Winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, God of Carnage tells of two married couples who meet for the first time shortly after their respective sons have a schoolyard fight. Michael and Veronica, whose son’s teeth were knocked out, invite Alan and Annette, whose son did the knocking, to their home to settle matters such as who will pay for new teeth. But any attempt at having a civilised discussion as to whose child is responsible for the fight, and how the parents may have influenced such destructive behaviour, quickly devolves into finger-pointing, name-calling, stomping around and throwing things. And that’s before they break out the alcohol! 
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Cast:
Wesley van Gelderen as Michael Novak
Sarah Coursey as Veronice Novak
Caroline Baker as Annette Raleigh
Paul Johnson as Alan Raleigh
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Silly Cow

28/4/2022

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Written by Ben Elton
Directed by Jon Amesbury

Doris Wallace, bitchy queen of the tabloid press, is on the verge of a glorious venture in TV. She's not going to let anything get in her way, not even the silly cow suing her for libel. Any skeletons she may have in her cupboard are, like her bondage gear, firmly locked up - or so she thinks.

Cast:
Nikki Conyers as Doris
Helen Fahy as Peggy
John Ashton as Sidney
Ian Lester as Douglas
Wesley Van Gelderen as Eduardo
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Bugsy Malone

20/1/2022

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Hudson and Halls Live

14/7/2021

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Onstage 14-21 July
Written by Kip Chapman, with Todd Emmerson and Sophie Roberts
​Directed by Tom Vavasour
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Waiting For God

30/9/2020

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Written by Michael Aitkens
Directed by Barry Grant

Cast:
​Diana - Marilyn Ollett
Tom - Roderick Turner
Jane - Marcella Herrera
Harvey - Braydon Priest
Sarah - Sylvia Barnes
Geoffrey - Matthew Holland
Reverend Denise/Doctor - Pat Hannah
Milly / Doctor - Melanie Turner
Basil / Undertaker - Ian Beswick


Reviewed by Sophie Ricketts for Backstage Christchurch

Waiting For God is a British sitcom that ran from 1990 to 1994 concerning Tom and Diana, two spirited residents of a retirement home in Bournemouth who spend their time together trying to wreak polite havoc on members of the management, while waxing lyrical about their approaching mortality. It was written by Michael Aitkens, and he adapted his work into a play in 2005.

This buddy comedy rests firmly on the shoulders of its two most central characters: Tom and Diana. As sneering sceptic Diana, Marilyn Ollett was perfectly sarcastic, snarky and sharp. Despite her character finding the misery in almost any situation I would place my bet that Marilyn was probably having the most fun out of the entire cast! Her dialogue hit the majority of the comic bullseyes. Her affable and rather innocent foil Tom was charmingly portrayed by Roderick Turner. He brought an innocence to the role which I found cute and cuddly.

As the pious and pitiful Jane, Marcella Herrera was suitably mousey. It was refreshing to see her character’s confidence grow across the arc of the play. Braydon Priest played an easily detestable Harvey, his delivery acerbic and his swagger nauseatingly unwarranted.

I felt the show took a little while to hit its stride, I’m hoping that was merely a reflection of some first night jitters. By act two we were humming along at a much smoother pace, with better voice projection.

If you’re an existing fan of the TV series you’ll enjoy this production for trying to remain as faithful as possible to the existing characterisations of the Bayview residents. The play showcases memorable moments and highlights from each of the five seasons. For those who haven’t seen it before, or simply can’t remember, you’ll enjoy chuckling away at the comical situations and occasionally poignant observations being delivered by some of these scrappy seniors. You don’t need to have a pre-existing knowledge of the series or characters to have a laugh with them, or at their expense.

The director’s note in the programme makes mention of the fact that since this is a play adapted from screen one of the challenges is that TV shows live in small moments, with many short scenes. What this translates to is more scene changes that I cared to count; though each one was handled with swift and measured choreography by an impressive stage crew of six, and underscored with peppy instrumental music to try and keep some momentum going. However, at least half of them felt completely unnecessary. Given how large the stage area is I wondered why they didn’t leave some set pieces on display permanently and merely address the changes by lighting different areas of the stage to mark these transitions. I’m presuming costume changes might have been part of the equation.

There were a couple of really stand out details I’d love to mention. Firstly, I absolutely detest stage productions which try and sidestep the use of real food and drink so it was such a joy to see real food and drink on stage during the scenes which called for it; especially the dining room scene during which it needed to look terribly unappetising, which it did. Hats off to properties manager Sally Wilson. I also thought the costuming was extremely well executed; each character had a distinctive personality which was accentuated by their style of dress, and made the passage of time noticeable too. My thanks to Sarah Cassidy for her attention to detail; the wedding dress alone was a real over the top treat and I felt it was “very Jane”.
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At its heart this production is about dignity, respect for the elderly, and allowing them to have a voice even after they move past the point of independence. The TV series did a marvellous job of raising these voices to the forefront and Elmwood Players have remained true to that purpose with this production.

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Is The Real You Really You?

8/8/2019

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Written by John Tobias
Directed by Libby Wilson

Performances:
  • Thursday 8th August 2019 7:30pm.
  • Friday 9th August 2019 7:30pm.
  • Saturday 10th August 2019 7:30pm.
  • Thursday 15th August 2019 7:30pm.
  • Friday 16th August 2019 7:30pm.
  • Saturday 17th August 2019 7:30pm.

Prices:
  • $25 Waged.
  • $22 Unwaged.

Cast:
  • Honey - Sophie Noreen
  • Harold - Pete Bucher
  • Henry - Noam Wegner
  • Gloria - Ellissa Roch
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Calendar Girls

17/4/2019

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Performances:
  • Wednesday April 17 7:30 pm
  • Thursday April 18 7:30 pm
  • Friday April 19 7:30 pm
  • Saturday April 20 2:00 pm
  • Saturday April 20 7:30 pm
  • Sunday April 21 2:00 pm
  • Wednesday April 24 7:30 pm
  • Thursday April 25 7:30 pm
  • Friday April 26 7:30 pm
  • Saturday April 27 7:30 pm

Prices:
  • $25 Waged
  • $22 Unwaged
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The "Calendar Girls" cast has been announced.

Watch our gorgeous Calendar Girls talk about why they're OK stripping off for this poignant, funny, heart warming production.
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Breath of Spring

3/10/2018

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"Breath of Spring"
​by Peter Coke


Director: Steve Millar
Prdn Mgr: Garry Thomas
Stage Manager: Sonya Cameron
Technical: TBA
Properties: Sonya Cameron
Costumes: TBA

On stage 3rd – 6th and 10th – 13th October

Dame Beatrice houses a collection of middle-aged 'guests', plus Lily her maid. To repay Dame Beatrice for giving her a job despite her criminal past, Lily presents her with a mink stole stolen from the next flat. The Brigadier deploys his 'troops' to return the fur. The whole campaign is so invigorating that they decide to retain this excitement in their lives by pinching furs and giving the proceeds to charities.

~ A jolly good show indeed ~
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~ A laugh out loud English comedy ~

​Cast:
Nan - Melanie Turner

Brigadier - Ian Lester
Lilly - Libby Wilson
Alice - Jane Rollings
Dame Bee - Joanna Browne
Hattie - Leeann Apps
Det Sgt Pape - Scott Morrow
PC Kemp - Ray Mainprize
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Watch director Steve Millar discussing the play with an appearance from a special "guest":
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Always a Bridesmaid

18/4/2018

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Cast confirmed
Kari - Stella Cheersmith
Deedra - Vicky Hunwick
Monette - Marcella Herrera
Libby Ruth - Amanda Shields
Charlie - Helen Fahy
Sedalia - Sally Willcox

Elmwood Players are excited to present the NZ Premiere of “Always A Bridesmaid” this April. Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, collectively known as Jones Hope Wooten, enjoy the reputation of being three of the most popular and widely-produced playwrights in the United States. They specialize in writing laugh-out-loud comedies and creating vivid strong roles for women. Between them, they've written classic television, hit movies, Off Broadway comedy and plays such as “Dearly Beloved”, “The Red Velvet Cake War” and “Always A Bridesmaid”.
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“Always A Bridesmaid” director Sonya Cameron and Elmwood Players President, Garry Thomas, met with the Jones, Hope, Wooten writing team when they were in Christchurch late last year.
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The "Always a Bridesmaid" cast.
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