The Golding Girls: Playwright's new play inspired by Covid-19 lockdown

Actress Kerryn Smith and playwright Shona Wilson are spending weeks in their pyjamas for The Golding Girls - a show about life in lockdown. Photo / Monique Matthews Photography

A lighthearted look at life in lockdown has leapt from the mind of a Taranaki playwright.

Shona Wilson's latest play The Golding Girls follows four women who unexpectedly find themselves thrown together for a snap Level Four lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A laugh-out-loud ride of disharmony, hormonal issues and hilarity ensues, complete with masks, a DIY Christmas tree, a lot of pyjamas, and everyone's lockdown favourite — new hobbies.

Shona has published 12 plays, and says The Golding Girls, which opens at New Plymouth Little Theatre this month, just flowed from her fingertips.

"It's been the easiest one I've written. I wanted a simple story, real characters, and relatable humour. It's been pure fun."

Her own lockdown story isn't as jovial, as her 91-year-old father John Lowry died in May of 2020, on the day the country entered Level Three.

"It was hard, not being able to be with him. He fretted when lockdown hit and couldn't understand why people weren't visiting him. Every time I phoned, he just cried."

The idea for a more cheerful lockdown story sprouted last year while Wilson was working on The Full Monty.

Backstage, a cast member suggested she write a play based on the television series The Golden Girls, but Shona didn't think she could do the iconic 1980s sitcom justice.

"However, I really liked the idea of four women being stuck together, not being able to leave and having to navigate each other. So, I began to write, and had at least half of the play written before the end of The Full Monty season."

Shona, who is also directing the play's premiere at Little Theatre, says she has been blessed with a wonderful cast and crew for The Golding Girls. Each member has their own story about what the real lockdowns were like for them, including actress Kerryn Smith.

When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on March 23, 2020 that New Zealand was going into its first Level Four lockdown in two days, Smith was at work.

A nurse, she was "freaking out" about how the next few weeks would play out for her and her colleagues when she got a message from her daughter Tayla.

"My daughter was supposed to get married the Saturday after we went into the first lockdown," Smith says.

"But not long after the Prime Minister's announcement, I got a message from Tayla saying they were going to get married that day, at 5pm at her nan's house. So, she got married in my mum's lounge - my mum, who is a celebrant, married her, and there were only five of us. It was really special."

The details:
What: The Golding Girls, written and directed by Shona Wilson.
Where: New Plymouth Little Theatre.
When: November 23 until December 10.
Tickets: Available for the show, or a dinner and the show, at iticket.co.nz.