An eager young cast is preparing to stage a production of the popular Tom Stoppard play On the Razzle for Howick Children’s and Youth Theatre.
The story is very familiar to the show’s director Laurie Mills, as it’s the third time he’s directed it for the east Auckland theatre.
“We did a production in the 1980s, another one in 2012, and this is the third one,” he says.
“This is a 20th Century play that’s an adaptation of an earlier 19th Century German play.
“It’s really adaptable for teenagers and young adults so this is introducing them to adult theatre.
“The play has proven to be very versatile for that reason and I’m particularly pleased because it’s going to be on at Harlequin Musical Theatre so I have a much bigger stage [this time].”
The cast comprises young actors aged 14 to 18.
Mills says the play is set in Austria and centres on two young shop assistants who are left in charge of the business as their manager goes to Vienna to spend an evening with his fiancé.
“The young shop assistants realise an opportunity to have a night out has suddenly presented itself so they close the shop, don’t tell anybody and sneak off to Vienna for the night.
“They decide to go ‘on the razzle’, which adults know means going out for a good time.
“By misfortune, and a whole series of events around shops and restaurants, they nearly come into contact with their boss but manage to get themselves out of those situations.
“They end up back in the shop within minutes of him arriving back the next morning, on the suspicion they have been up to something but he can’t prove it.”
Mills says the play is very funny and full of clever puns and double entendres adults will enjoy.
“It’s got a sense of adventure around it. All the way through it we’re using Viennese music such as Strauss and pieces like the William Tell Overture, which we’re doing a chase sequence to.
“This play is an adventure and a comedy.”
On the Razzle is at 7.30pm on May 25-27 at Harlequin Musial Theatre, 563 Pakuranga Road, Howick.
Tickets cost $12. To book, email hcyt@xtra.co.nz or phone 537 4943.
