KEY POINTS:
Decadence
Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre Season ends: July 21
On the web: www.maidment.auckland.ac.nz
British playwright Steven Berkoff is always a merciless - and amusing - dissector of the English class system, and in 1994 starred in a film of this play with Joan Collins, both of them playing dual roles. Berkoff devotees, actor Michael Lawrence and director Paul Gittins, have staged his plays in Auckland regularly over the past decade. Lawrence takes to the stage once more in this production as Steve/Les, with Jennifer Ward-Lealand outglamming Joan herself in the delicious role(s) of Helen/Sybil.
Says Berkoff: "Decadence is a study of the English upper classes, so called by virtue of strangulated vowel sounds rather than any real achievement. They achieve pleasures very often in direct relation to the pain they cause in achieving it. They cause intolerable suffering to achieve exquisite pates, boiling lobsters alive and hunting down defenceless animals to give [the hunters] a sense of purpose on Sundays."
Others
Bedroom Farce
Torbay Theatre, Torbay Community Hall, Jun 29-Jul 7, ph 479 1518
Who Wants to be 100?
Anyone Who's 99 - SkyCity Theatre, Hobson St, to Jun 30, tickets at Ticketek
Theft
Stables Theatre, cnr Main Hwy and Arthur St, Ellerslie, to Jun 30, ph 525 3336
Motel Nights
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, to Jun 30, tickets at Ticketek
A Rise in the Market
Dolphin Theatre, 12 Spring St, Onehunga, to Jul 7, ph 636 7322
Lobby Hero
Silo Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, to Jul 21, tickets at Ticketmaster
The Amorous Ambassador
Playhouse Theatre, Glen Eden, Jun 27-Jul 7, tickets at iTicket
The Hamelin Incident
Mairangi Players (Theatreworks), Birkenhead, Jun 29-Jul 7, ph 419 0415
Pippi Longstocking
The PumpHouse, Takapuna, Jul 2-14, ph 489 8360
The Crucible
Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred St, Jul 5-28, ph 308 2383
Three Days of Rain
Silo Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Jul 28-Aug 25, tickets at Ticketmaster
Daughters of Heaven
Rose Centre, Belmont, Jul 28-Aug 11, ph 445 6447
Who Wants to be 100? Anyone Who's 99
SkyCity Theatre, Hobson St, Aug 3-4, tickets at Ticketek
