Little Blonde Hen
11/06/2009 - 14/06/2009
Production Details
‘I can’t believe I’m getting married.’
‘Yeah. To the man of your dreams, you lucky bitch.’
A comedy by Thomas Sainsbury
Thomas Sainsbury will direct Beth Allen, Serena Cotton, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Madelein Sami, Tori Spence, Claire Van Beek and Jessica Joy Wood in his new dark comedy, Little Blonde Hen opening at The Rising Sun Bar on June 11th.
Nicole’s getting married. Elvira’s organised the party. Giselle’s come for the booze. Lara’s up for some party pashing. Rochelle needs some attention. Caroline isn’t sure what’s going on. And Megan is out for revenge.
Little Blonde Hen, a biting comedy, follows a group of girlfriends as their evening disintegrates into drunken debauchery. Nicole’s wedding is right around the corner and although everything appears on track, deep down there’s some brooding.
Abigail’s Party meets The Women, Little Blonde Hen is a play about joy, despair and penis straws.
Little Blonde Hen was penned, and will be directed by, award-winning playwright, Thomas Sainsbury. In the last two years Thomas has written and produced his plays LUV, Loser, The Mall, Beast, Gas and The Feminine. He is currently residing in London where he has overseen productions of his plays A Simple Procedure and . . . and then you die. Thomas’s plays The Mall and Loser have been published by Play Press. Loser and his play Main Street are currently being adapted for the screen.
Little Blonde Hen will be performed by some of New Zealand’s top acting talent. Elvira and Rochelle will be played by Outrageous Fortune beauties Antonia Prebble and Siobhan Marshall. Kelly will be played by Sione’s Wedding and The Jackie Brown Dairies star Madeleine Sami. The play will also be a reunion for The Tribe stars Tori Spence, Antonia Prebble and Shortland Street actor, Beth Allen. The mousy Caroline will be performed by Serena Cotton (Insider’s Guide to Love). The kleptomaniac Giselle will be performed by Claire Van Beek (The Needies). And the lascivious Lara will be played by London resident Jessica Joy Wood (The Ferryman, A Simple Procedure)
VENUE: 420 Bar, 373 K’Road
Thursday, June 11th 7:30pm
Friday, June 12th 7:30pm
Saturday, June 13th 5pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, June 14th 5pm & 7:30pm
Tickets – $15
Booking – www.iticket.co.nz
CAST
Nicole - Tori Spence
Megan - Beth Allen
Lara - Jessica Joy Wood
Caroline - Serena Cotton
Elvira - Antonia Prebble
Rochelle - Siobhan Marshall
Giselle - Claire Van Beek
A voyeuristic peek
Review by Jessie Kollen 12th Jun 2009
Have you ever been at a hen’s night? Or have you ever had a hen’s night of your own? If the answer is "yes" to either of these questions then you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from Thomas Sainsbury’s Little Blonde Hen…
As I enter the bar – yes, the play is performed at K Rd’s 420 Bar (above the Rising Sun) – I am apprehensive about the show: A bunch of women getting drunk and behaving like idiots is it the kind of thing you can only enjoy if you are doing it too …?
Luckily the acting is so good that I do enjoy it, very much. But without the convincing cast and their snappy comic timing, such a play could potentially be painful.
In Little Blonde Hen seven women gather for an evening of pre-wedding debauchery: They start at home, they nibble on nibbles, shoot tequila and comment on each others’ weight and clothes before heading to the night club – where the real butchery begins. But this is also where some audience members might’ve lost interest if the acting and direction wasn’t spot on.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a woman and I’ve been in the women’s bathroom at a bar and heard it all before … It’s quite a stretch to make drunken drama into real theatre and it’s the mark of good actors and a good playwright (and director) that it becomes something other people might want to watch.
Nicole (Victoria Spence) is the bride-to-be who provides a sort of groundline for the extremity of her girl friends’ characters. Nicole’s getting cold feet over the wedding, her heart is sweet, but we’re just not sure if her future husband is.
Caroline (Serena Cotton) is her future sister-in-law. She’s never met Nicole’s friends before and isn’t pleased with what she sees: Lara (Jessica Joy Wood) is much too wild; Elvira (Antonia Prebble), Nicole’s Maid of Honour, is more into the hen’s night than the bride herself; Megan (Beth Allen) is back from overseas and has something up her sleeve; Rochelle (Siobhan Marshall) can’t bear to share the spotlight, even on her friend’s hen night; and Giselle (Claire Van Beek) just can’t seem to stop taking things…
Little Blonde Hen takes a look at modern women, or at least modern women within the competitive context of a night on the town. Sainsbury writes carefully within realistic parameters and the result is a voyeuristic peek into their lives.
If what we see through the ‘window’ is a superficial view of seven women, that means they are not only ones to have a good time. Their audience will have a great night as well.
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Comments
Isla Adamson June 12th, 2009
This review looks like it was very hastily written, judging by the grammar, which is a shame because I think it deserves better. I saw it last night and laughed my ass off, particularly at Claire van Beek and Jessica Joy Wood's characters. Kudos to Tom Sainsbury and hooray for someone writing roles for young women.