Wednesday night
was just the tonic we needed with Waiting for God – produced by Rotorua's Little Theatre - Shambles Theatre; directed by Anne Potter.
My friend and I, and the rest of the audience, were in fits of laughter throughout the performance.
Set in the Bayview Retirement Village, a rather overbearing, but lovable, Diana Trent – played by Val Isherwood - was not the staff's favourite resident; as each scene unfolded, Val's performance was outstanding.
Diana's niece Sarah Chase (Tasha Harland) wasn't going to give up on her aunt.
Harvey Baines (Richard Rugg) the home manager; an overbearing character, and his quietly spoken, gentle, assistant manager Jane Edwards (Sarah Kenney) didn't do much to help Diana's thoughts on retirement homes.
Then, along comes Tom Ballard (Leigh Taylor), what a hoot. His son, Geoffrey Ballard (Greg Davis), childishly protective of his dad, had his own worries.
Rev Delia Sparrow, vicar (Wendy Burgess), a delightful, befuddled character, as was the undertaker (Martin Hampson) who was also the doctor and a character called Basil.
It was a great performance from all the cast, especially for opening night.
Congratulations to you all. And, the scene changes, by the crew, were amazing.
Pauleen Wilkinson
Rotorua
Told you so
One need not have been a prophet to see that the criminal behaviour we are seeing in so many young people today is the price we pay for outlawing corporal punishment.
I'm sure I'm not the only one of my generation saying, "I could see it coming" and "I told you so".
There can be no doubt that a sharp whack that resulted in a bit of physical pain was a very effective way of letting young people know their behaviour was not acceptable and that doing wrong had consequences.
It helped form strong, responsible characters who understood right from wrong. Instead, we have bred a generation of gutless, selfish, irresponsible cowards who know nothing about respect for other people's property.
And, for those do-gooders who thought that banning smacking would ease the plight of helpless infants being tortured and murdered by their carers, note that it has made no difference at all. It looks like the 80 per cent of the population who thought it was a bad idea at the time was right after all.
So, should we repeal the anti-smacking law? Hell, no. That would mean someone would have to admit they were wrong and stuffed up big time.
Meanwhile, the whole of New Zealand's society has to bear the consequences of its bad choice.
Ian Young
Pāpāmoa Beach
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