Hamilton Playbox presents the New Zealand premiere of Famous Flora, written by Elisabeth Easther, on April 13.
Famous Flora is about the life and times of Aucklander Flora MacKenzie, a woman who knew better than most people that sex sells.
Flora was a socialite, nurse, dress designer and, coincidentally, a Madam. The daughter of Sir Hugh MacKenzie, long-time head of the Auckland Harbour Board, Flora enticed the rich, the famous, intellectuals, politicians and the nation's bohemians into her life, earning herself a reputation for being the antipodean hostess with the mostest.
This play is about Flora MacKenzie's life and the times; some of it fabricated - for the sake of drama and structure - but most of it stemming from intensive research. It is set in two distinct periods, 1942-44, when American troops were making their presence felt in New Zealand and 1976, when New Zealand was filled with more political and social intrigue than is often thought.
'Sex sells' runs the mantra and Flora McKenzie sold sex. During World War II, her famous frock shop became the front for an infamous knock shop.