11 September 2019

'Play On!' at Cooma Little Theatre, August 17 to September 1

| Ian Campbell
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Polly as Lady Margaret, Billy as Stephen Sellers, Saul as Doctor Forbes. 'Play On' at Cooma Little Theatre. Photo: CLT Facebook.

Helen Phillips, Marco Revelant, and James Cooke in rehearsals for ‘Play On’ at Cooma Little Theatre. Photo: CLT Facebook.

Out of the depths of a Snowy Monaro winter, Cooma Little Theatre (CLT) is promising you a belly laugh with their next production, Rick Abbott’s – ‘Play On!’

A play within a play, this is the story of an amateur theatre company putting on a drama performance and in short, things go wrong.

The hilarious story revolves around the maddening interference from a haughty author who keeps revising the script.

Act I is a rehearsal of the dreadful show, Act II is the near disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance, in which anything that can go wrong, does.

A madcap climax unfolds as a hilarious romp for the audience, when the author decides to give a speech on the state of modern theatre during the curtain calls.

Director Nell Pernitsch has brought together a cast of ten new and familiar faces, all struggling against the odds to present a serious murder mystery.

Deb Law, who was last seen in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is the ever-cheerful stage manager, Jude Gibson (‘All Shook Up’) is the quick-tempered sound and lighting person, and Caroline Fox (‘Calendar Girls’) takes on the role of the highly-strung Director; together they are trying desperately to get the show off the ground.

They have to deal with a cast of colourful characters including Quintin and Helen Phillips (‘Sleeping Beauty’) as Henry and Polly, who believe they are the real stars of the show and Emma Hopkin (‘Act 3 Scene 5’) as the stage-frightened teen, Smitty. Marco Revelant and James Cooke, who have both been involved in several productions are returning to the stage for the first time in years, as jokester Saul and the ever-interrupting Billy.

Newcomers to the CLT stage are Claire Griffin as wide-eyed Violet and Anneka Ferguson as the excruciatingly haughty playwright Phyllis.

The show runs from August 17 to September 1 each Friday and Saturday evening, with one matinee on Saturday, August 25. Tickets for ‘Play On!’ are available at the Cooma Little Theatre website or from Cooma Visitors Centre.

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