Rehearsal in the Gardens (Part Two)

So, to continue on from where we left off with the Remarkable Theatre rehearsal for Greed, Glamour and Grudges: Tales of Gold, our next scene is All That Glisters, my adaptation of William Shakespeare's casket dating aspects of The Merchant of Venice. First the Prince of Morocco (Eamonn McNicholas), then the Prince of Aragon (Samuel Farr) and finally Bassanio (Andrew Edgar) try their luck to win the hand of Portia (Ailsa Williamson).


Eamonn McNicholas



Eamonn McNicholas and Ailsa Williamson

Ailsa Williamson as Portia fervently hopes she doesn't get chosen by a muppet



Samuel Farr

'I am not like other men. I'm special' Oh yes.

 

'Show me the caskets!'



'Ahahahaaha, I know this much is true'

 

'Turn you where your lady is, and claim her with a loving kiss'


The minute the theme of the show was chosen, it was obvious we would have to include Goldfinger, and Jane Robertson was more than suited to the task.


Jane Robertson

Victoria Keating-MacKay performs a scene she wrote herself; Fools Flock to the Hills is the honest tale of how some women made their money on the goldfields.



'I’m a singer and dancer (and men’s life enhancer)'



'All they wants anyways is the fluff'



Now I ain’t a bad lass just a shrewd one



'A lonely man needs a cry on the bosom of I'



'`Tis true there are times when it’s lonely'

Melanie Grindell commentates on the goldpanning contest while director Tiffany Menzies shows the contestants (in this case Tamsin Browne and Nicole Graham) how to go about it.



Nicole finds an imaginary nugget

Our take on the goldfields entertainment features a barbershop choir singing a medley of gold-themed songs (arranged by Margaret O'Hanlon). 


The barbershop boys: Samuel Farr; Eamonn McNicholas; Paul Halstead

 

And the barbershop girls: Zelia Horrell; Nicole Graham; Ailsa Williamson



'She works hard for the money'

 

'Say you don't need no diamond ring, and I'll be satisfied'



'I don't care too much for money'



'Money can't buy me love'

'She take my money when I'm in need.'

Lisa Moore's delivery of an Otago Poem is warm and charismatic.



'I might have been rich had I wanted the gold'



'I've loved the great skies and their spaces of blue'

In the court scene, written by Victoria Keating-MacKay, Mr Eager (Paul Halstead) successfully sues Mr Grace (Jason Fullerton) for tunnelling under his claim and exploiting his gold, while the weary Judge (David Cantwell) presides.


Jason Fullerton and Paul Halstead

  

The defendant



The applicant

The judge (David Cantwell)

The fight

'The gold's mine, and one way or another you'll pay, in blood if I have to.'

Eamonn McNicholas and Nicole Graham close the show with a haunting renditon of a New Zealand folk song, Farewell to the Gold, written by Paul Metsers.

Eamonn McNicholas

Nicole Graham

'Shotover River, your gold is waning'



'Farewell to the gold that never I found'