Stars Over Persia
February 19th 2024
Our 2024 production is titled Stars Over Persia. It’s a tale set in ancient Persia, with a cast of 17, performed on March 1st and 2nd. For more info click the button below.
Counting down…
February 7th 2024
Our production fortnight begins on February 19th. Detailed preparations are underway, and excitement is building amongst the cast and crew.
Tickets for our 2024 production - to be announced on Feb 19th - will be available from our website from February 21st onwards. Meantime save the dates: March 1st at 7.30pm, March 2nd at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Welcome to 2024!
January 11th 2024
In January 2024 we’re making plans for our next production on March 1st and 2nd. The script’s a secret until day 1 of rehearsals, then it’s full speed ahead to production days.
Check back here for details as they unfold.
2023
Journey’s End for another year
Two weeks and three performances later, it’s a wrap for another year!
Our cast and crew has packed down and returned our venue to its owners, with no sign that we were ever there. It’s in the old tradition of medieval travelling players that we arrive and set up our theatre for our grand two week project, then take it all down again, leaving only happy memories and a tiny but perceptible shift in confidence and self-belief.
It was a true ensemble this year; a team of committed volunteers and Southside graduates worked alongside Douglas and Kristy to bring our young cast from script to finished performance in just two weeks. Thank you all.
End of Week 2!
It’s the day of our Dress Rehearsal and our first performance on Friday February 24th.
Our cast and crew has worked long hours to turn a paper script into a full-scale performance, transforming the Elim Church building into a theatre at the same time.
Book now to see The Tale Spinners on Friday at 7.30pm, Saturday at 2.30pm, or 7.30pm. Tickets are limited per show.
End of Week 1!
February 16th 2023
Despite wind, rain and flood which made international news (thank you Cyclone Gabrielle), Southside has managed to run a full week of drama rehearsals for our play The Tale Spinners.
It’s a comic tale of a fairy story gone wrong, but with dark undertones about the misuse of power and personal ambition. Why has the entire household of the palace been fast asleep for a hundred years? And what exactly are the pay arrangements for the three guards who have been keeping watch for a century?
Cue the Tale Spinners, the storytellers who repair the broken stitches in time. Unfortunately not all threads are so easily untangled, especially their own…
Our cast of seventeen, along with our team of Southside graduates, adult volunteers, technical crew, props and costume experts and organisers, has worked tirelessly this week to design the stage set, kit out the actors, construct outlandish props, dramatise nearly every scene and build a safe, trusting community in which to create and imagine. It’s exactly what we look forward to for months before we start.
One more whole week of fun to go!
Tickets are on sale now, for performances in Papakura on Friday February 24th and Saturday February 25th. Pre-booking is advised.
Production 2023 update
February 8th 2023
Our cast of 17 is ready to start work on Monday next week! There’s excitement, anticipation, a few sleepless nights (cast and crew alike) and a buzz of preparatory activity already underway. On Monday they’ll receive their scripts and read through the play (until then a secret) for the first time. Yes, it’s an unusual way to do a production (what? no auditions? no long casting process?) that works for us because of our long-term relationship with our writer and director Douglas.
Over two weeks we’ll block the scenes, build the set, assemble the costumes, learn our lines, refine our characters and hardly see the light of day until our performances on Feb 24th and 25th. Past audiences will tell you that our performances don’t disappoint.
Our play (title to be revealed on Monday) will be performed at the Elim Christian Centre in Papakura, a brilliant space which the Church has kindly hired out to us for the two weeks (although their normal services still happen on the Sundays). It’s on level 4 of the Sir Edmund Hillary Library, 28 East Street. There’s indoor parking and lifts to the performance space.
Booking details soon!
Production announcement
December 3rd 2022
It’s official! After a two-year wait Southside’s next production project is planned for February 2023, with performances in Papakura on February 24th and 25th. More details about these to follow.
Currently there’s energetic and enthusiastic fundraising happening, alongside bookings of venues and performers, and our director Douglas is preparing our script which we’ll bring to life over our production fortnight.
A new team has taken up the heavy mantle of front-line organisation and coordination, headed by Kristy and supported by a tireless and dedicated gang of co-conspirators. We’re delighted that Shona continues to be in charge of costumes, and wise mentoring of our director and production managers.
2021
Drama South
October 1st 2021
Our new drama school launched for registrations on October 1st 2021. Drama South offers weekly drama sessions during term time for young people aged 11-16. For more info about Drama South click the link above.
Review and Reflect
June 6th 2021
An essential part of our annual drama process is to gather together after it’s all over to celebrate our achievement and reflect on how it all went. This year we’re also gathering to mark an important change as our Production Manager Shona steps back from front-line responsibilities after 13 years working with Douglas on productions and workshops.
Covid-19 has disrupted all our timetables. Our Director Douglas is still in New Zealand, so we’re gathering in a couple of weeks to eat, laugh, chat and celebrate what we do together. The Oddity was an extraordinary project with a record number of participants. It’s worth reflecting on where we go from here.
Engage the Scenario Generator
March 1st 2021
In a series of events worthy of their own scene in our play about the starship Oddity, our 2021 theatre project played out between two Covid-19 lockdowns here in Auckland. As the final scenes in our young adult performance, also called The Oddity, were happening the NZ government decided to take Auckland back to Covid level 3 from 6am the following morning. The players, all on their phones backstage of course, even had a plan in the event that audience phones sounded a chorus of alerts during the performance.
Our revels are now ended for another year. The theatre has been returned to its owners, as always cleaner and tidier than when we arrived there just two weeks earlier. The costumes and props are packed away, scripts shelved and bills paid.
We’ll be back, sometime next year probably. See you then.
RETURN TO COVID LEVEL 1
February 22nd 2021
Auckland has now returned to covid level 1, meaning we have the normal restrictions on audience seating based on maximum capacity. We will be accepting online sales of tickets and door sales of seats still available for each performance.
We look forward to seeing you at one of our performances.
COVID-19 POPS OUT AGAIN
February 17th 2021
The alert level in Auckland dropped to level 2 at midnight on Wednesday February 17th. This means we have restarted our drama rehearsals and preparations.
We haven’t been idle. A team has been in the theatre under level 3 painting the set and preparing props. The Night Group members have been meeting online and collaborating in creating their script. On Thursday morning we met together with the Day cast members to read our script and learn what roles we’ve got in next week’s play. The Night Group members meet in the evenings to continue with their rehearsals and scripting.
COVID-19 POPS IN
February 15th 2021
Our old friend Covid-19 has popped into Auckland for a visit. Frankly, we’re hoping it doesn’t stay long because it demands a lot of attention and limits what else we can do.
Currently we have suspended rehearsals for The Oddity until Thursday February 18th. If the NZ Covid level for Auckland reduces to 2 or 1 on Wednesday as planned, we will resume our rehearsals and go ahead with our shows next week.
Keep checking back here for updates.
