Theatre: Olive Copperbottom - A Dickensian tale of love, gin and the pox

The production is described as Oliver meets Blackadder with a saucy feminine twist. Photo / Supplied

Following her smash hit Promise and Promiscuity, and after a critically acclaimed Hamilton Gardens Festival run, Olive Copperbottom is back.

Penny Ashton brings her Dickensian-inspired orphaned hero Olive, and a squalid gaggle of hilarious Victorians, to crusty life.

It is described as a rollicking romantic musical journey through 15 gin-soaked characters told with song, dance and questionable personal hygiene.

Or, Oliver meets Blackadder with a saucy feminine twist.

One of Penny Ashton's characters in her acclaimed Olive Copperbottom, at The Meteor on October 22. Photo / Supplied

Ashton's tour-de-force won the Press Critic's Iron Chicken award for best indoor show at the Christchurch International Buskers' Festival 2018, Best Overall Show at the Victoria Fringe in Canada 2017 and it sold out at the Nelson Festival in 2018 weeks before it began.

Ashton is New Zealand's own global comedienne, having performed more than 700 solo shows all over the world.

She has represented New Zealand in Theatresports and Performance Poetry, is a regular and original panellist on Radio NZ National's The Panel, is a social commentator on Breakfast TV and Newstalk, and is a busy marriage celebrant and jazz hand enthusiast.

She runs a very popular Poetry Slam at WOMAD and is constantly touring Aotearoa's beautiful countryside. She says she can't wait to head back to The Meteor.

• Olive Copperbottom (PG 14), at The Meteor in Hamilton, Thursday, October 22, 7:30pm. Bookings: www.themeteor.co.nz