The Rose Centre, Belmont
Auckland
New Zealand
November 2011 was Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy Improbable Fiction.
The first act allows the audience to eavesdrop on a circle of hopeful would be writers, who meet once a month at Arnold Hassock’s home in Pendon, England. They criticise, encourage and report their individual progress seeking inspiration and when Arnold suggests they pool their ideas and create a collective writing, mayhem ensues.
What follows in the second act is an explosion of absurdities, when all but a baffled Arnold play the roles of the characters in the story ideas presented at the meeting earlier in the evening.
"If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as Improbable fiction." - Twelfth Night, Act III, scene 4
Company’s cast includes some well known and some new faces:
Arnold Hassock, Chairman of the Writers group, played by Richard Parmee
Ilsa Wolby – Shop Assistant, played by Jennifer Farr
Grace Sims, Housewife (writer of children’s fiction), played by Trudy Thumath
Vivvi Dickins, Journalist (writer of crime fiction), played by Donna Franks
Clem Pepp – Council Worker (writer of science fiction), played by Rob Holland
Brevis Winterton – Retired Schoolteacher (musical adaptations), played by Steve Wright
Jess Bales - Farmer (historical romance) played byNaomi Madelin