War divides community in historical Kaipara production

 

Northland theatre group Platform Thirteen is on the lookout for a pile of unwanted books, people to chuck them around and a stage crew to set them and pick them up afterwards.

“The set for our last production, a scaled down version of Shakespeare’s Tempest, consisted of two fence posts, a square of canvas and 20 buckets of sand,” says spokesperson and playwright Sheri O’Neill.

“But our new play, Everybody’s Reading Room, is set in a very untidy library so we need a big heap of old books to stack and scatter.”

The play is based on actual events during WWI and tells the story of a Dargaville man whose anti-militarism brings him into conflict with his community.

Supported by Creative Communities and a Lotteries WWI commemoration grant, performances will be May-June 2015 in Dargaville, Maungaturoto and Whangarei.

“This is a Kaipara story and a Northland one. The region lost so many of its young men in WWI and even after a century the memories are still here.”

Director Alister Williams will be looking for 8-10 male and female actors aged from 18 and up, and is prepared to work at more than one rehearsal venue to ease travel demands on the actors.

“We are hoping as many local people as possible will get involved – onstage and backstage. And if anyone has unwanted hard backed books, please bring them along, or else let us know and we’ll pick them up.”

Auditions will be held in mid-January. For more information, or expressions of interest in production and acting roles, contact Sheri on (09) 431 6907, 027 571 6907, or email platformthirteen@xnet.co.nz.

BOOKS NEEDED: Platform Thirteen members Sheri O’Neill and Sam Hartles need a big stack of books.

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