The play Modern Girls in Bed is described as an irreverent comedy about sisters, strength and what happens when two young women come face-to face with five trailblazing wahine from Aotearoa’s history. It opens on Saturday.
Director Rachel Lenart, a senior tutor in theatre and expressive arts at the School of English and Media Studies in Palmerston North, says she is “thrilled” to be directing a production with such strong female representation.
“When you take five progressive and iconic women from our history and throw them into bed with two young women of our own time, a clash in values occurs,” Ms Lenart says. “Our play embraces our historical heroes - flaws, pretensions, outdated values and all to create a complex and epically engaging sisterhood of brilliant, but tired, leaders.
“It’s a genuinely hilarious, terrifyingly relatable and moving portrait of what it means to be ‘strong’ and what it takes to keep getting back up again.”
Ms Lenart is also joined among the crew by two College of Creative Arts staff, composer and sound designer Ryan Prebble who works as a technical demonstrator at the School of Music and Creative Media Production and set designer Tony De Goldi from the School of Design, based on Massey’s Wellington campus.
Mr De Goldi described working on a production that celebrates 125 years since New Zealand women won the right to vote as “an exciting challenge.”
“Working with a such a group of strong woman emphasises what an important role theatre plays in keeping the ideals of these historic suffragettes alive and still pertinent in the 21st Century .”
All three agreed that all of the cast and crew had bonded over the production period amidst a common goal to honour the women’s suffrage anniversary.
Modern Girls in Bed is being staged at Wellington’s Circa Theatre from September 1-22