Wing Valley Productions aims to pick up fringe shows not covered by others

Mel Martin (left), Nick Clothier and Andrew Lyall in a scene from The Pillow Man. Photo / Supplied

The president of the long-established Hamilton Playbox Theatre, Jason Wing, is going out on a limb.

Wing and fellow theatrician Glen Mathews have established Wing Valley Productions and have their first show, The Pillowman, on stage from October 25 to 27.

With Mathews managing and Wing directing, The Pillowman is a dark comedy and the work of Irish playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh, and was first staged in 2003, winning the 2005 Olivia Award in London for the best new play.

Set in an unspecified totalitarian state, a short-story writer creates a pitch-black fairytale. When this starts to be enacted in real life, he and his disturbed brother are hauled in by agents of the state security organs who resort to increasingly absurd and grimly hilarious methods of interrogation to uncover the truth.

Real life is not as black and white, good and bad as it is in fairytales. As the story unfolds the audience is taken on a frightening and yet wild journey into the world of storytelling, Wing said.

Jason Wing has been president of Hamilton Playbox for three years. Photo / Geoff Lewis

"It's a comedy, so dark that when we had the first read-through the cast burst into laughter," Wing said.

Wing has been president of Hamilton Playbox for three years and involved in community theatre for six.

Both Mathews and Wing are the product of Hillcrest High School's active theatre culture.
"We met through Playbox but we had both grown up at Hillcrest. In The Pillowman, we wanted to make a separation from the mainstream and pick up the fringe shows not covered by the larger groups,'' Jason said.

The Pillowman has a cast of seven, four leads and three in support, with the main lead Mel Martin, president of Hamilton Musical Theatre, along with veteran Hamilton actor Nick Clothier.

The new theatre group has two plays and a musical in planning for next year - Anahera, a New Zealand-written play based on the experiences of a social worker and a troubled family. Another is about the life of classical composer Tchaikovsky and written by Hamilton playwright Graham Pollard; the third is Trail to Oregon, a musical comedy written by US-based Team Starkid.

The Pillowman, the opening production of Wing Valley Productions, will be on at 8pm, October 25 to 27, at the Nivara Lounge, 266 Victoria St, Hamilton. Tickets: Door sales and iTicket.