The Chronicle Q&A: Helen Watson talks Amdram’s latest play Ladies’ Day, musicals and fantasy novels

Helen Watson will direct Amdram Whanganui's first show of 2025, Ladies Day.

Helen Watson has been announced as the director of Amdram Whanganui’s first show of 2025, Ladies’ Day, a comedy that follows four women from the Hull fish docks on their day at the races. Reporter Olivia Reid sits down with her to talk about musicals, Shakespeare and how to unwind.

What’s your Whanganui must-do?

There’s so much to do in Whanganui ... I’d have to say Sarjeant Gallery and the [Whanganui Regional] museum. When the Sarjeant opened, I was so excited and we’re pretty much there every week because my daughter loves it as well, and the museum has so much about us as a people. And the [Durie Hill] elevator - I mean, it’s an elevator in a hill, it’s fantastic.

What got you interested in theatre?

My introduction to theatre and performance was through ballet, my parents took me to see Coppélia the year I turned 5 and I fell in love with the idea and started ballet lessons. I wanted to be a ballerina but I grew very tall very fast and I had to give that up. I didn’t give up dance, but the idea of becoming a professional.

I started then having a wider interest in theatre and I actually did a degree at Victoria University of Wellington in theatre. Because I was interested in dance, my parents had a CD player and lots of CDs and two of my favourites to put on were The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. I would put them on and be dancing and singing. Through the years, they have been my favourites, they’re the ones that give me goosebumps. My husband took me to see The Phantom of the Opera when we lived in England and when the overture started I actually couldn’t breathe because I was so excited.

It was when we moved to Whanganui, we’d been here for about a year and saw Phantom of the Opera auditions, and that’s how I got into Amdram. I just went along thinking “I can’t sing” but it turns out I can sort of sing.

What does your ideal Sunday look like?

I’d say sleep in past 7am but I have a 5-year-old. It really depends on my mood. In summer, I love a sunny Sunday where we can get outside and go down to the river or up to Bushy Park. I also love rainy Sundays where you can snuggle in and watch a movie.

What draws you to musicals?

I love everything about theatre but musicals, there’s something about them. They’re so much more than a play, between the costumes and the sets and the music. My husband didn’t realise that The Phantom of the Opera is entirely sung, there’s little to no speaking in it at all, but they tell the story and just the change in the tempo of the music tells you something weird is going to happen.

I love music, I love the dance, I love the singing, and I love that you could have 100 people on stage. It’s just fabulous.

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?

I think the list of places I don’t want to go to is shorter. I’ve been very fortunate to travel a lot but I’d really like to go to South America. I really want to go into the Amazon basin and see the pink dolphins in the Amazon River, and just to see real jungle and wildness - but for now it’s just a fantasy.

What is your dream role as a performer or as a director?

That is a really tricky question because I have been very fortunate to play a wide range of roles, from leads through to being on stage for all of two minutes. My ideal role used to be I really wanted to play Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but I was cast in the role of Ariel in The Tempest a few years ago and had an absolute ball with it. My ideal role as a performer are ones that stretch me and work me and you can feel that you’re getting stronger as an actor. We did The Mousetrap at the end of last year and I played Molly which was definitely a role that pushed me more than any role had in the past five or six years.

As a director, I love to direct shows that are funny. I love to direct comedy because people love to laugh but I also love the shows that are comedies but have a little hard kernel of sadness to really make people feel the highs and lows of the character. Ladies’ Day is a funny play but it has a little kernel of heartbreak in the middle of it, which I don’t think anyone knows about so I won’t give too much away.

What is your favourite book genre?

Fantasy. I love the departure from the real world. I’m very into what they call “new-adult fiction” that are sort of like the coming-of-age books you get in a lot of teenage fiction, a young girl comes into her own kind of thing, but it’s a bit more for adults. But I mean who wouldn’t want a world with magic and dragons? One of my absolute favourite go-to books is the Magician series by Raymond E. Feist, and when I’m not in the mood for something serious like that I go to Terry Pratchett, he’s hilarious.

Who are you inspired by in the world of theatre?

People like Dame Judi Dench, she’s incredible. A lot of people don’t realise, because she became famous through movies, that she was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company for a very long time. I’ve been fortunate to see videos of her when she played Lady Macbeth but she’s just outstanding as a talent. David Tennant is another actor who I admire incredibly. My dream would be to work with him.

How do you unwind?

I have a couple of ways. Reading is a big part of my life, I read when I wake up, I read before I go to sleep at night. And if I’m not feeling up to the mental task of reading, then TV and movies. I stream a lot of stuff to just switch off because you don’t have to think. I’m such a geek but I also love puzzles, board games and Lego.

What’s your favourite Shakespeare play?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I have three top plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. I have never performed any of them. I would love to but I haven’t got the opportunity yet. Shakespeare can be a hard sell for people but it’s where our modern language is rooted. I love when you can actually sit down and watch it be performed by people who have truly taken the time to understand what they’re saying.

Auditions for Ladies’ Day will take place on May 3 and 4, and the show is set to hit the stage from July 24 to August 2.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.