When the stage version of Footrot Flats opens in Waihi this Friday (July 30), Katikati's Tori Benson will be doing her best to be a complete brat.
She plays Janice "Pongo" Footrot in The Waihi Drama Society's latest production.
Pongo is Wal's mischievous pig-tailed niece, whose favourite pastime is teasing Dog, usually
by dressing him in funny clothes and treating him like a baby.
Tori found getting into Pongo's character quite a challenge. "I was a good girl," she laughs, "and my kids don't whinge or whine or stamp their feet. So turning into a complete brat was a bit of stretch".
Katikati College Year 7 student Hannah Arevalo also had to take a step back in time. She plays a country girl younger than herself and wasn't even born in the 1980s, when the stage version of Footrot Flats was written.
This doesn't faze Hannah though. While she may not understand the references to perms or have ever heard of the Social Credit party, the jokes are pretty much universal. "People are always falling about laughing," says Hannah of rehearsals, "and the costumes are just so funny."
And the costumes have mother and daughter duo Helen Gudsell and Fiona Crook, both of Tanner's Point, feeling rather sheepish.
"We're two of the three ewes," says Helen, "we're supposed to be be-ewe-tiful but it's hard to feel that way when you're the size of a sumo wrestler and Cecil the Ram is certainly finding his job a bit of a chore".
The crew also benefits from Katikati expertise with Euan Neil working on sound and lighting for the production, and Ann Rowland taking on the vital role of prompt.
Waihi Beach's Tina Barlow directs this show written by Roger Hall and based on the cartoon strip farmyard favourites created by Murray Ball.
The production opens with a special gala performance at 6.30pm (tickets $20, including drinks and nibbles) and runs to August 14, at The Theatre in Boyd Rd, Waihi.
Two Sunday matinees at 2pm (August 1 and 8) are almost sold out - so anyone wanting tickets better get in quick. Tickets for the matinees and 7pm shows cost $15 and are available from United Video Waihi. Phone 07-863-9245 and leave a contact name and number.
