Outrageous Fortune Star makes stage debut
Thursday, 26 March 2009
ANTONIA PREBBLE AND ARTHUR MEEK STAR IN SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER
Outrageous Fortune star Antonia Prebble will make her stage debut in Auckland Theatre Company’s brand new production of Oliver Goldsmith’s ribald comedy of bad manners She Stoops to Conquer directed by Michael Hurst at Maidment Theatre from April 30.
Prebble rose to fame as a core cast member of THE TRIBE before landing the role as the little sister, Loretta West, on Outrageous Fortune. She will take the stage as Kate Hardcastle, the daughter of a wealthy landowner who “stoops to conquer” by posing as a barmaid to lure a husband.
Playing opposite Prebble as the awkward Charles Marlowe is the aptly named Arthur Meek, who won the Chapman Tripp Theatre Award Best Male Newcomer in 2008 for his hit comedy On the conditions and possibilities of taking Helen Clark as my lover.
“All out fun and frivolity” Daily Mail
In the tireless search for Mrs Right, it’s the Miss Wrongs that make it all worthwhile
Charles Marlow, tongue-tied and uptight, needs a lesson in the art of love. He longs for a wife, but finds it easier to have a bit on the side. The barmaid seems fair game – but there’s more to her than meets the eye.
With its outrageous mix of secret elopements and nocturnal confusions, Goldsmith’s classic comedy has delighted audiences for over two centuries.
"The sheer verve of the exuberantly witty dialogue was quite enough to keep the 21st century audience roaring with laughter.” The Guardian
Continuing their reputations for imaginative interpretations of classic comedies, Michael Hurst with creative team Elizabeth Whiting, John Verryt and Jeremy Fern, will give the rebels of She Stoops to Conquer a fashion makeover as they transport the play from the wigs and fans of the 1770s to the bouffants and Vespas of 1959.
“A few seasons back Michael directed Shakespeare’s Twelth Night for Auckland Theatre Company,” says Auckland Theatre Company Artistic Director Colin McColl.
“The show was transported from the 1600s Italy to a tropical Island in mid-twentieth century with great effect. So I’m delighted Michael Hurst will give another great rumbustious comedy a glorious makeover with his inimitable comedic style and verve.”
“This is She Stoops to Conquer as you’ve never seen it before!” says costume designer Elizabeth Whiting, “it’s 1959 so we’ve got teddy boys, winkle-pickers and brothel creepers.
Returning to the stage as Marlowe’s off-sider Hastings is Paul Ellis. After his character Fergus Kearney left Waverly standing at the altar on Shortland Street, Ellis lived in the UK for six years before returning to New Zealand where he has juggled his day job at Silo Theatre with performance.
Michael Whalley and Esther Stephens round out the band of badly behaved young lovers as Toby Lumpkin and Constance Neville. Two cousins whose impending marriage is a contrivance by meddling parents to keep wealth and jewels in the family but who in reality not-so-secretly loathe each other.
She Stoops to Conquer will give audiences a riotous night of theatrical misunderstandings and belly-aching laughter. Tickets can be purchased from the Maidment Theatre on 308 2383 or www.atc.co.nz.
ENDS
For further information, interview opportunities and print quality stills please contact:
Auckland Theatre Company
Michael Adams, Marketing & Communications Manager
Phone 09 309 0390 x 68 or 027 536 9896 Email: michael@atc.co.nz