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The Pukekohe Performing Arts Theatre is staging a new production, highlighting emerging new talent in the Franklin area.
Based on the book of the same name, The Murder Was Staged begins as an ordinary play until its director is killed, and suddenly everyone’s a suspect, even the audience.
Director and production assistant Sharnie Carlyle described it as a play within a play, saying that audiences will experience a combination of “jazz hands, eye rolling, monologues and accents”.
“Some characters are frustrated. Some don’t want to be there. Some want to be centre stage. There will be many laughs involved in the production, and I expect it will appeal to all ages. Sometimes you may not know what’s going on, but all will be revealed at the end.”
Out of a total of 11 actors, eight are locals who go to schools in the Franklin area. One of Carlyle’s goals is to help encourage them to ‘come out of their shells, and gain confidence on stage.’
“The cast have been encouraged to get involved behind the scenes and they will be helping me develop costuming ideas. One cast member has created and composed the intro and outro music as well as put all the sound effects together for me.
“My goal with this production is to encourage a younger thespian group to participate as 15 to 20-year-olds feel they are too big for junior shows and may be just getting started in adult shows. I wanted an ensemble cast production that gave everyone a role to play and allowed them to perform with people in the same age range and interests,” said Carlyle.
Cast members Taylor Webb and Daniel Carlyle both felt the show would be quite funny and were having a lot of fun making it.
“Even the cast can’t stop laughing. I think we are making good progress, as for the blocking (the director’s instructions), and we just need to polish everything. It’s been amazing working with both old and new people in the theatre,” said Webb.
Daniel agreed, saying that what made it fun was his fellow castmates and the new friends he made during the production.
“The other cast members made this a fun project. We had many, many laughs along the way, and I was able to meet some new faces and reconnect with some past friends.”
Along with her duties on the set of The Murder Was Staged, Carlyle is also involved with Rising Stars Production NZ, producing shows out of the Harrington Theatre in Pukekohe. Here, they teach both junior and senior classes once a week during school terms.
After participating in several productions, many of their students decided to tackle larger projects.
Because of the high cost and time commitments involved in large-scale productions, Rising Stars came up with the idea of holding youth drama groups, which gives their actors real-world experience in front of live audiences. These are held at the end of the third school term.
Being an actor is perhaps one of the hardest jobs, as it requires physical fitness, creativity, and determination in what some see as an overrepresented occupation. Carlyle’s advice is to have ‘guts’.
“That first step in everything you do is always the hardest. But once you get past the audition part, it’s nothing but fun. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of work involved too, and the more you do, the more you appreciate what it takes to put on a community theatre production.”
The Murder Was Staged runs until October 12, at the Harrington Theatre on 2 Harrington Ave, Pukekohe, Auckland.
