Sam Millar as Annie Dawes (from left), Robbie Bloomfield as Albert Masoe and Hugo McGuinness as Hugh Howard rehearse Unity Theatre's upcoming play Come Along Oliver Moody – the debut play by award-winning screenwriter Nick Ward.
Sam Millar as Annie Dawes (from left), Robbie Bloomfield as Albert Masoe and Hugo McGuinness as Hugh Howard rehearse Unity Theatre's upcoming play Come Along Oliver Moody – the debut play by award-winning screenwriter Nick Ward.
Gisborneactor Hugo McGuinness is a familiar figure on the local theatre scene. His last appearance was in The Vicar of Dibley – The Holy Trinity, in which he played David Horten, and before that he was Ernie in the comedy Rumours at theEvolution Theatre.
More recently he has become a regular fixture on the Waikanae boardwalk, where he can be seen pacing, script in hand, saying the lines out loud of his latest play Come Along Oliver Moody, in which he plays one of the lead characters, Hugh Howard.
This is McGuinness’ method of learning scripts and as one of the lead actors in the play, he has a lot of dialogue to memorise.
“I find it hard learning lines but this is my way of doing it,” he says.
“It takes me ages to learn a part. I go through it every day – sometimes twice a day. I’m probably about three-quarters of the way there in terms of learning it.”
In the play, reclusive author Hugh Howard – who has written a beloved book called Come Along Oliver Moody – employs a student, Annie Dawes, to help him get his house in order. But Dawes, an aspiring writer herself, has an ulterior motive – she believes Howard is her birth father.
As the boxes get sorted, unexpected and intriguing truths are unveiled, a profound connection is formed, and a life-long friendship is rekindled between the author and the all-too-real subject of his famous novel.
It is a captivating tale that delves into the universal themes of mystery, friendship and the power of storytelling to illuminate even the darkest corners of our lives.
The play has elements of comedy – Howard’s character has a very dry sense of humour and audiences can expect plenty of giggles.
Annie Dawes is being played by Gisborne Girls’ High School drama teacher Sam Millar (School of Rock) and Robbie Bloomfield (12 Angry Jurors) is Albert Masoe.
The cast of Come Along Oliver Moody do a read-through of the new play Come Along Walter Moody, coming to Unity Theatre.
This is the first play written by award-winning screenplay writer Nick Ward, who wrote the feature film Stickmen in 2001. He also wrote episodes for the series Outrageous Fortune and Burying Brian, and horror flick The Ferryman as well as The Brokenwood Mysteries, Under The Vines and Wellington Paranormal.
Ward will be giving a playwright’s talk on opening night before the play starts. It will be performed for the first time by Unity Theatre.
With only one more month until the world premiere, director Jill White said the cast were already relying less and less on their scripts, which was allowing all of the facial mannerisms and personality traits to come through.
“Each rehearsal is getting better and better,” White says.
There are several parts that are voice-only, with actors reading from scripts backstage. Mike Costello (Love Letters) is reading as himself – a story-teller.
“He has such an amazing voice. It’s like listening to a story on National Radio,” White says.
Sarah Grant (The Crucible) plays Kim Hill and Annette Nyman (Chicago) is doing the last two announcing roles.
White said she felt incredibly excited after their last rehearsal on Sunday.
