130 years of drama at Waipukurau Little Theatre

A deception will be uncovered in Box and Cox, Married and Settled.

Waipukurau Little Theatre is presenting a double bill with all the trimmings to celebrate 130 years of drama in Central Hawke’s Bay.

The double bill is a replication of the first show put on in Waipukurau by the newly established Waipukurau Dramatic Club in September 1893.

Directed by Jules Hamilton, each night’s entertainment presents two one-act farces: Done on Both Sides, written in 1854 by popular Victorian playwright John Maddison Morton, and Box and Cox, Married and Settled, written in 1852 by J Stirling Coyne, a sequel to his earlier, best-known farce Box and Cox.

Morton was a specialist in one-act farces but in his last decades the popularity of Victorian burlesque greatly diminished. He fell on hard times and in 1881 became a Charterhouse pensioner. It was said of Morton that “the unlucky thing about him was that, though he could write as well at 80 as at 30, he was left stranded high and dry by the receding wave of fashion”.

Done on Both Sides - comedic circumstances and shenanigans galore.

Coyle, for a time chief proprietor and editor of the Dublin Weekly Satirist, was a specialist in knockabout farce. He also wrote melodramas, comedies, burlesques and extravaganzas catering for the tastes of Victorian lower-middle-class audiences. He moved from Dublin to London in 1836 and for many years he was the drama critic for the Sunday Times.

The first play of the evening, Done On Both Sides, is full of comedic circumstances, shenanigans galore and mistaken identities. Box And Cox, Married And Settled is about two old bachelor chums who run into each other in their old lodge house now that they are married, and a deception is uncovered.

The all-local cast includes Wendy Waldrom, Rachelle Dekker, Megan Adie, Edward Carleton-Holmes, Rosie White, Connor Hirst and Danny Priestley. Take a look at the Waipukurau Little Theatre’s Facebook page to get backgrounds on these enthusiastic thespians.

The 1893 production at the Waipukurau Town Hall included two short musical pieces by instrumentalists of the drama club: the overture from Faust, and a second piece, Vulcan’s Song. The same pieces will be performed by Geert Geeling, Anneke Geeling and Di Jeromson of the CHB orchestra.

Tickets are on sale now at Eventfinda or at the counter from Betta Electrical Waipukurau.

Price: Adults, students and seniors $30.75

Dates: Friday night Gala Dinner – sold out

Saturday, October 28, opening night 7.30pm-9.30pm

Sunday, October 29, matinee 2.30pm-4.30pm

Monday, October 30, 7.30pm-9.30pm

Wednesday, November 1, 7.30pm-9.30pm

Thursday, November 2, 7.30pm-9.30pm

Friday, November 3, 7.30pm-9.30pm

Saturday, November 4, matinee 2.30pm-4.30pm