Hudson & Halls Live: Classic culinary comedy on stage in Hamilton

The play follows culinary icons Peter Hudson and David Halls as they film a Christmas special. Photo / Supplied

Television stars and proud Hamiltonians Matt Walker (Home & Away, 800 Words, Filthy Rich) and Jordan Mooney (Westside, The New Legends of Monkey, Romper Stomper) are in rehearsals for the stage show Hudson & Halls Live which opens at Clarence St Theatre at the end of July.

Described as a classic Kiwi comedy at its finest, Hudson & Halls Live follows culinary icons Peter Hudson and David Halls as they film a Christmas special in a TVNZ studio in the 1980s.

The Hudson and Halls cooking show ran on television from 1976 for a decade, and they gained a massive following both here and in the United Kingdom due to their over-the-top personalities and camp humour.

Walker, who is directing, first saw the play when he returned from working in Los Angeles.

"My interest is in New Zealand stories, and quite often they're more of a fringe offering. Hudson and Halls has commercial appeal, and I think Waikato audiences will thoroughly enjoy the actors bouncing off each other in this hilarious comedy."

Jordan Mooney plays David Halls. Photo / Supplied

Jordan and Simon have to cook live which adds another dimension and challenge to their performance.

Mooney is playing David Halls, the more extroverted of the two stars. On playing David, he said, "I'm enjoying the outrageous flamboyancy of the role in stark contract to my more recent work."

Mooney can currently be seen playing the role of bogan Eric in the smash hit television series Westside.

He is thrilled to be treading the boards back in Hamilton and looking forward to performing in front of a live audience.

The cast also features Simon Leary (Filthy Business, Dirty Laundry) as Peter Hudson, and stand up comedian Melissa Lawlor as the floor manager.

Proud Hamiltonian Matt Walker is part of the Hudson and Halls stage show cast. Photo / Supplied

In true Hudson and Halls style, the entertainers bicker and drink too much. Chaos ensues and the floor manager scrambles to try to save the production.

Walker said: "This play captures these iconic New Zealanders brilliantly."

It is Walker's intention to have the scripts down by the second rehearsal so that Jordan and Simon can concentrate on getting the timing of the cooking right, or wrong, as the case may be.

Hudson & Halls Live opens on Wednesday July 31 at 7.30pm with 11 more performances through until Sunday, August 11.

Tickets are available from Ticketek or the Clarence St Theatre box office