After a successful season last year, a South Canterbury Drama League production is back again by popular demand.
The Secret Lives of Extremely Old People by New Zealand poet and novelist Rachel McAlpine will once again be taking centre stage at the Playhouse for an encore season.
The comical play dives into the lives of older people, showing what really goes on behind closed doors and touches on the many ups and downs of ageing.
The performance features a cast of six characters over the age of 90 and includes a couple who have been married for more than 70 years, a character with dementia, a gigging musician and another with a substantial number of grandchildren.
Director Chris Thomas said it was rare for the drama league to stage an encore season of a production.
‘‘When we did it last year the whole season was basically sold out and there were people that wanted to buy tickets but were not able to get them. So we decided that we would do it again.
‘‘I think that people responded to the name as much as anything. We have an older population here so there’s plenty of people that are either in that age group or their parents are and they could relate to it.
‘‘Every line in this play I reckon I have heard in my work at Age Concern. Even the more brutal things where people talk about death and dying and the things they hate about getting older.’’
He said there were some fun challenges with staging the play again.
‘‘I was able to get the same cast, which was good because that makes it a lot easier. It meant we could have a relatively short rehearsal season, we’ve been back rehearsing since the end of January.
‘‘The first thing I had to do was read through the script, and then read through the notes that I’d made on different characters and things. I also wanted to take the opportunity for each cast member to make any changes in the way they wanted to play to their character, or how they played a particular scene.
‘‘Based on that, we changed some things, not massively but we’ve changed just how playful they might have been, or how they reacted to a certain scene, and that sort of thing.’’
Mr Thomas said there were some powerful messages in the play.
‘‘It is a really positive story. They’re all 90, they’ve lived a long time, but they’re all really positive about the future and they’re looking forward to their lives.
‘‘The play is very well-written. While there is the critique of some things like our hospital system or government, it’s actually really positive.
‘‘I love the fact that it’s got these really funny moments that people can relate to. I’m hopeful that when people leave the theatre, they think about things as well. And one of them is how even though you’re in the 80s, 90s, whatever, you can really have a very positive outlook on the rest of your life.’’
Tickets can be purchased from the iTicket website or from the Timaru Information Centre.
