The show will go on - Hāwera Repertory hoping to put play on in level 1

Shane Martin, Anne Larcom, Deborah Clough and Ben Thomas pictured on rehearsal for the play Love Begins at 50. Photo / Supplied

The show will go on - but in a smaller venue, says Hāwera Repertory president Ron Scott.

He's talking about the amateur theatre group's latest play, Love Begins at 50, which had been due to open on August 20.

"Two days before, on August 18, the cast and crew were having a dress rehearsal when the Prime Minister announced the country was moving to alert level 4, lockdown."

He says the rehearsal turned into the feel of a last-night party, as the cast and crew accepted they weren't going to be on stage in just a couple of days' time.

"We did think at first we might just lose the first few performances though, there was hope we could still be out of lockdown in time for the later dates."

While that didn't happen, the play is still on the programme, he says.

"While we can't do it at Hāwera Memorial Theatre as it is already booked for the rest of the year by various groups, we are lucky in that we have our own Hāwera Repertory house theatre so we can put it on there, it just depends on alert levels and cast and crew availability as there are some dates some aren't available."

The entire budget has to be redone as well, to account for the fact they will have to limit audience sizes when they do put the show on.

Ron is no stranger to the speed with which Covid-19 can stop a show. Last year he was one of the cast members for the play God of Carnage the theatre company was putting on.

"When it came back to redoing it, I was actually surprised how much work it still took, I had thought I already knew my lines so it would be easier, but there is still a lot of work, the cast and crew don't really get to relax in it all."

Hāwera Repertory's youth production of Bugsy Malone was also postponed last year due to the pandemic, eventually playing earlier this year.

The Barbara Leydon Junior Drama Festival, which had been due to take place next week, has also effectively been cancelled, he says.

"It wont go ahead as it is, but we do want to give the young performers the chance to show what they had prepared so hopefully we will be able to go ahead with some aspects of it, we want their families to be able to see the work they had put in, all the effort."

The society's jubilee celebrations planned for October this year are also on hold, he says.

"We will celebrate in some way, ideally at level 1, but we will wait and see. We are trying to focus on plans for next year's productions, that's the priority for now."