KEY POINTS:
Mark Hadlow didn't lose any sleep over characterisation or costumes when he was asked to play a giant baby; his main concern was getting the right co-star. Hadlow plays Baby P in the Plunket tribute show Who Needs Sleep Anyway? by Roger Hall and his playwright daughter, Pip.
The role takes Hadlow from the age of 80 to zero in less than 12 months. Last year, he was a curmudgeonly rest-home resident in the Hall comedy Who Wants to be 100?; now he ages from newborn to 5 years old in Who Needs Sleep Anyway?
But his Baby P (P for Plunket) is not your average newborn. Rather than a crooning and crying baby bundle, he's a narrator in nappies - sort of. While Hadlow was willing to don a giant nappy held together with super-sized safety pins, costume designers decided on a red stretch 'n' grow instead.
Baby P is one half of the show's narrating duo; a Plunket nurse who struggles to contain the precocious P is the other. Hadlow told Auckland Theatre Company artistic director Colin McColl he wanted only Kate Louise Elliott as his co-star.
"Obviously I was thinking, 'Okay, how exactly will this work?' but I immediately rang up Colin and said, 'I won't do it if Kate is not in it. The relationship between my character and the Plunket nurse is pivotal to the success of this show' ... so I wanted to ensure she was played by someone I could work easily with.
"Kate and I [are] on the same page and can just get on with things."
Elliott agrees: "It's like singing in harmony."
The two appeared together in Who Wants to be 100? where Elliott showed her versatility by playing a chillingly sadistic nurse and a terminally chirpy exercise therapist.
Who Needs Sleep Anyway? takes the duo to the other end of the life-cycle in a very different type of show from those written previously by Hall. It was conceived after Pip Hall suggested to Plunket that the not-for-profit society commission a play for its centenary celebrations last year.
Plunket asked father and daughter to work together on the script. Hall Snr concentrated on the history of Plunket while Pip, mum to two pre-schoolers, focused on the parents' stories.
The result is a series of humorous vignettes, linked by the two narrators, which simultaneously tell the story of Plunket's first 100 years and examine the fun and frustrations of modern parenting.
As well as being a seasoned performer, Elliott has apt qualifications for the role. She works between acting gigs as a relieving teacher at Talented Tots in Glen Eden and is soon to receive a post-graduate diploma in early childhood education.
But, just two weeks ago, it looked as if Hadlow might be left holding the baby, so to speak, when Elliott kicked a piece of scenery and shattered her toe. Elliott, known for roles on Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune, carried on with rehearsals but when her toe turned black, which started spreading along her foot and ankle, she had to go to the nearest Accident & Emergency waiting room.
"One lady was surprised that I would have to wait and wondered why I hadn't gone to the Shortland Street clinic or one of the doctors there instead. I said I would prefer it to be a storyline accident but, unfortunately, it was real. You don't realise how much you use your toes until they hurt."
This accident is not the first time Elliott has taken the "break a leg" wish a little too literally. She broke her ankle and performed her graduating piece from the New Zealand Drama School in a cast. Elliott expects a mixture of adrenaline and nerves will have her full-flight by opening night when she will be expected to catch the newborn Baby P as he makes his grand entrance into the world.
The script has been tweaked slightly to work around the accident but Hadlow and Elliott say changes have already been made to maximise its humour. While characters have been reduced, the cast has increased from six to eight, with Johnny Bright, Stephen Butterworth, Hera Dunleavy, Nicola Flynn, Adam Gardiner and Sophie Henderson.
What: Who Needs Sleep Anyway?
Where and when: SkyCity Theatre, June 5-28
