This week had a theatrical bent.   Apart from the run of the mill theatrics of..

•  Lauren when are you going to tidy your room?
• Oh My God we are out of gin!!!
• Brett I have no idea how we ran out of gin so quickly, why Billie brought that mess inside, why the Bank of Francis got raided again???

No that is just normal for around here but this week Brett and I went to see Little Shop of Horrors.  It was at the Q Theatre which is a great facility for Auckland.  We really like going there, it is easy to get to, it is a nice comfortable space and the bar isn’t too shabby either.

I hadn’t seen Little Shop of Horrors before, the singing was great, it is a funny story and Rima Te Wiata was an awesome Audrey 2.  In fact she is the first woman to play the part of Audrey 2 in a professional production. (useless piece of information which may be handy at your next quiz night)  Brett was a bit more ho hum about the experience.  Not because he didn’t think the cast was good, but it just wasn’t his kind of thing.

Then I was lucky enough to get invited to a reading of a new play written by a former call centre buddy of mine Aroha Awarau.  Aroha is a man of many talents, he is a feature writer for the Woman’s Day, a photographer, writes short stories and plays and he has a wicked sense of humour.

The play he has written is called The Luncheon, and is based on the premise of the 1958 Academy Award Nominees for Best Supporting Actress getting together for lunch a few days before the awards.  The play is fabulous, although it was just a reading, and the cast had only had a few hours rehearsal, it came together beautifully.  It says a lot for the quality of the writing and the respect that Aroha is held in that he assembled a wonderful cast, including Rima Te Wiata.  She somehow managed to find the time to study the script so she could play a wonderful, spiky, opinionated Elsa Lanchester, while still being a fabulous carnivorous talking plant at the theatre next door.

I will be honest, I wasn’t expecting a great deal (sorry Aroha – me bad)  But I will be shocked and stunned if this play doesn’t get produced soon and becomes a hit.

The only other really dramatic thing that happened at our place this week is I decided that I could put some fairy lights in our tree outside.   However I forgot that I am no longer the limber spring chicken I used to be.  Consequently there was a lot of frustration as this old chook tried to climb the tree.  Brett had to come and save me by providing a ladder.  It was a bit of shocking experience I must admit realising I just didn’t have the upper arm strength to lift myself into the branches.  But the lights are up now, and they look great – even if I do say so myself.

Only 5 weeks now till Christmas, we have some fairy lights in our tree outside, the Christmas Cakes have been fed what was left of the port.  I had to buy a new bottle today.  (oh dear I wonder if they are singing to Brett “feed me” like Audrey 2 does.  If he starts looking anemic I will let you know.  So we must be all sorted surely 🙂

Colleen from Christchurch enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal made by Lauren, it included the best ever broccoli salad in the world.  This is a Jamie Oliver recipe and it is great.  It has bacon in it, what’s not to like.  And just to really show off Lauren made a pavlova as well.  So it was all good.  Here is the salad recipe I thoroughly recommend it.  I see it serves 6 as a side, but I have seen Lauren and Gabe devour it just on their own.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salad-recipes/broccoli-salad

And just to close Billie wants you to know she won a red ribbon at puppy class on Saturday.  Brett found his slipper, and the cow horn looks so much better in the lounge than outside on the lawn.