Local sisters on the loose for laughs

Nunsense, which opens on June 26, will provide hearty laughs.

The Rotorua Musical Theatre's latest play is a great reason to leave the house this winter.

"It is a fantastic opportunity to get out in the winter and have some fun, live entertainment and have a good laugh at the same time. All the actors are from Rotorua, including the eight-member band," director Richard Marshall said.

Nunsense is a story of five nuns who hold a fundraising variety show to bury four sisters who have been poisoned by the cook.

"There is a lot of black humour, a lot of Catholic humour, and lots of very funny one-liners and innuendos."

The play is still in rehearsal and will open on June 26.

"It's coming together very well, we are having a lot of fun, and it's nice working in a small cast, and the girls are having a great time.

"There is a lot of audience participation and interaction. Casa Blanca theatre is ideal for that."

Nunsense has been extremely popular overseas.

The original production opened in 1985 and ran for 3672 performances, becoming the second-longest running off-Broadway show in history. Mr Marshall said the script had been revamped since the 80s.

"It is really cool, it has been done world-wide.

"It has been revised slightly, as it was originally written in the 80s, to make it more current so it's nice to see those changes, and originally it was just written for a couple of pianos, but the eight-piece band sounds fantastic."

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from the Ticketmaster box office at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre or at www.ticketmaster.co.nz.