Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Lifestyle

Fun filled shop'n trip

By LINDA FLETCHER
Whanganui Chronicle·
17 Apr, 2013 11:53 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

What happens when the paths of three couples, each with a different plan for a long weekend in Melbourne, collide? Absolute mayhem, as you will find out in Centrepoint's latest production - and you won't stop laughing.

Meet Lizzy and Noeline from Rongotea who are intent on a week of intense retail therapy in the fashion capital of Australia.

Then there's the boys, rugby mad Boxer and Swanney, who are in the city for the Bledisloe Cup.

Throw in fussy academic Clifford and his anxious wife Rose, off to a conference where Clifford will deliver a keynote speech, and see what happens.

It's a busy weekend in Melbourne and the hotels are packed, as Lizzy and Noeline soon discover when they try to check into the YWCA. Their booking has gone astray and there's no room at the inn.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This wouldn't happen in Rongotea," proclaims Noeline.

The boys have better luck at their serviced apartment, but their mates haven't turned up to join them.

A chance encounter with the girls when Boxer is off on a beer run and our knight in tarnished armour soon has himself a couple of extra room-mates - one of them extremely drunk.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Clifford and Rose are not so lucky - a mix-up by a harassed hotel employee sees them sent to the same room.

Then follows the funniest scene I have ever seen in live theatre as the paths of all six collide, cleverly choreographed and brilliantly executed by the six actors. The audience was in stitches.

The shopping scene in the second half was equally clever as the girls and Rose vie for the best bargains in a lingerie shop.

It's a great cast, well experienced in comedy roles.

Levin's Darlene Mohekey is Lizzy, whose big personality shines through and best friend Noeline (Lyndee Jane Rutherford) only catches up when she's had five or six too many.

Craig Geenty as Boxer the Boozer is loud, rude and crude (love his jokes) and best friend Swanney from Foxton (Andrew Ford), the shy divorcee, knows exactly how to control his rugby-mad mate - crouch, touch, settle.

Their much older room-mates are delightfully played by Centrepoint veterans Peter Hawes and Helen Moulder. Clifford is the original grumpy old man - he fancied an outing to Les Miserables rather than Mary Poppins - and he leaves his wife to do everything, including carry their luggage.

They are ably supported by newcomer Jared Kirkwood, who plays everybody else, eight other bit-parts from a hotel receptionist and waiter to a child in the toy department and a boney-kneed woman shopping for undies.

It's a complicated set for a Centrepoint production with half a dozen neatly planned and executed changes.

Shop 'Til You Drop was written by Alison Quigan and Ross Gumbley to make the audience have as much fun as they do. They succeeded.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
OpinionGareth Carter

Gareth Carter: Plant now for Christmas colour

Premium
OpinionGareth Carter

Gareth Carter: Growing potatoes in Whanganui

Premium
OpinionGareth Carter

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Premium
Gareth Carter: Plant now for Christmas colour
OpinionGareth Carter

Gareth Carter: Plant now for Christmas colour

Comment: It may be the middle of winter but it's time to plant lilies and other bulbs.

18 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Gareth Carter: Growing potatoes in Whanganui
OpinionGareth Carter

Gareth Carter: Growing potatoes in Whanganui

11 Jul 04:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses
OpinionGareth Carter

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

04 Jul 04:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP