Could the script of a play get any better than this real-life story?
Veronica Lake was one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars in the 1940s. At the peak of her career she campaigned tirelessly for the United States war effort, took tea with Eleanor Roosevelt, piloted her own plane from coast to coast, was famously sued by her own mother and was bankrupted by tax authorities before a rapid descent into obscurity, alcoholism and a premature and lonely death as an unknown 50-year-old cocktail waitress.
Lake was thrust into the limelight at an early age, typecast as an ice-cool blonde, the archetypal femme fatale.
In Drowning in Veronica Lake, the untangling of the truth about her career, alcoholism, fractured family and her five husbands becomes a battle for centrestage - between the romantic view of the world presented by her old movies and the mocking and cynical personality of Veronica Lake. The story belongs to a thousand fallen stars like Lake, whose less-sparkling birth name was Connie Ockelman. The monologue by playwright Phil Ormsby resonates with the untold and shattered dreams of many, and offers insights into a celluloid world built on real - and questionable - values that still exist. Alex Ellis plays Veronica Lake in the Flaxworks Theatre production in Whangarei next week.
To win a double pass to Drowning in Veronica Lake at Old Library, Whangarei, October 29, answer this: Was Veronica Lake a blonde, brunette or redhead? Reply, with "Veronica" in the subject box, to: competitions@northernadvocate.co.nz
