Seven shows this year for ATC

The Auckland Theatre Company is staging seven shows this year, opening with a New Zealand play that has toured various festivals and venues through the country with great success.

Wheeler's Luck, written by Damon Andrews, Nigel Collins and Toby Leach, focuses on our obsession with coastal property, the relentless land grab that is changing the character of sleepy seaside settlements. The remarkable Collins and Leach perform a total of 55 characters in the production, which opens at the Maidment on Feb 16.

Also on the ATC menu: John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, starring Elizabeth Hawthorne and directed by ATC artistic director Colin McColl (from Mar 16); Mum's Choir, written by Alison Quigan, featuring Mark Hadlow (SkyCity from June 1); Twelfth Night, directed by Michael Hurst (Maidment, from July 13); Robert Hewett's The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, starring Kerry Foxin a one-woman show about a "deserted wife and mother going berserk at the mall" (Maidment, from Aug 24); The Ocean Star, written by Michael Galvin and developed through the ATC's literary unit (Maidment, from Sep 28); and winding up with Sweet Charity, starring Jackie Clarke as the hapless romantic, "dance hall hostess" Charity Hope Valentine (SkyCity, from Nov 16).