Hāwera Repertory's production combines comedy with fundraising

Left to right - Shane Martin, Anne Larcom, Deborah Clough and Ben Thomas in rehearsal for the play which opens this month. Photo / supplied

Hāwera Repertory's next production will help raise funds for a good cause as well as giving the audience plenty to laugh about.

Love Begins at Fifty written by Raymond Hopkins and directed by Charles Pittams will play later this month at the Hāwera Memorial Theatre.

The play will tell the story of Anita and Clive Debanks, a couple who have been married for 28 years, and have led a fairly uneventful life - so far.

Feeling life is passing him by, Clive (who has never been unfaithful before) looks to make a change in his life. Instead of buying a motorbike or investing in leather trousers like others facing a mid-life crisis might do however, he turns to the lonely hearts column in his local newspaper.

While he is busily responding to three such lonely hearts, his wife is also busy, entering the couple into a competition to find the perfect married couple, with a prize of a Caribbean cruise on offer.

The fact the competition is run by the same paper as Clive has found his lonely hearts in is the sort of coincidence that takes the character through some farcical chaos, as a photographer arrives to photograph the "happy couple" at a time that Anita is away and Clive is busy entertaining a new date.

Mistaken identity, miscommunication and hidden twists will leave the audience not only laughing and empathising but the play will keep them guessing as to what will happen next.

While laughter is known to be a great medicine, when it comes to diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) there is no question money helps - especially for fundraising towards research into the autoimmune disease.

Playwright Raymond Hopkins uses his considerable talent to help in this field, something he started over 25 years ago when his daughter Katy, then 19, was diagnosed with MS.

He decided to write a play to help fundraise towards research into finding a cure to help people like Katy, who were living with the disease. His fundraising plan was simple - donate the royalties from all performances of the play to the MS Society.

Since then, he has written 10 full length farcical comedies, all with the word love in the title and all helping fundraise for the UK MS Society through the donation of their royalties. By February this year, he had raised £48,417.56 for the society, and has no plans to stop. In fact, he says, he will only stop when a cure for MS is found.

The Details:
What: Hāwera Repertory's Love Begins at Fifty
Where: Hāwera Memorial Theatre
When: August 20-28.
More info: Tickets are available from iTICKET.co.nz or South Taranaki iSITE. The show contains adult themed content.