T H E A T R E N E W S

Review: Mystery and Murder in Greytown aka New York

Reviewed by Angela Yeoman

The fictional ‘Radio STU73 New York’ has returned to Studio 73 in Greytown with a Sherlock Holmes Radio Mystery adapted by Jon Jory from Arthur Conan Doyle’s story A Scandal in Bohemia, together with Agatha Christie’s Butter in a Lordly Dish, possibly one of Agatha Christie’s most gruesome murder plots.

Sherlock Holmes stories have been adapted for radio from the 1930s. Some of Agatha Christie’s stories were adapted for American radio broadcasts between 1945 and 1947, each involving international capers of intrigue and each set in New York.

Greytown's Studio 73 has reinvented A Scandal in Bohemia and Butter in a Lordly Dish for its imaginary radio station based in New York City, as part of the Greytown’s Festival of Christmas. Such radio performances have become a landmark in the annual Festival, showcasing local talent wrapped in hugely enjoyable entertainment.

This year, the show is set in 1947, with the ‘Old Mac Theatre Company’ (aka Greytown Little Theatre) travelling by liner from England to America. An introduction, written by a pillar of GLT/Studio 73, John Gilberthorpe, sets the scene - we get to hear that Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire is playing across the road from the radio station - we’re situated right in the middle of Broadway.

The 1940s period is cleverly consolidated with advertisements that were popular at the time. In the intervals, we hear about the joys of Brylcreem and Alka Seltzer, how overcoming body odour can help save our marriages now that we’re home from the war, and - in a clever imitation of the period’s approach to advertising - treasures that can be found at the shops Blackwell & Sons and Mrs Blackwell’s Village Bookshop.

On opening night, Studio 73 filled up, including with almost the entire local Rotary club, as the members of the Old Mac Theatre Company wandered into the ‘radio studio in slight disarray’; all very life-like.

Veteran director and all-round creative, Lynn Bushell, directed both plays. She has more than 40 years working in the industries of theatre, choreography, and exercise, and has spent 23 years working with Wairarapa theatres. She hasn’t just honed her skills on-the-job, however. “As a grandma,” Lynn says, she went back to university to gain a Master of Fine Arts and Creative Practice (Theatre Direction) and Master of Creative Writing (Playwriting).

Lynn’s expertise is evident throughout these mystery and murder radio plays, with the actors powerfully interpreting and performing their character’s personalities, emotions, and relationships, even though they were ostensibly only ‘voicing’ their parts for a radio broadcast.

Adam Blackwell was outstanding both as the opinionated public school boy and sleaze, Sir Luke Enderby K.C., in Butter in a Lordly Dish, and as Sherlock in the Sherlock Holmes Radio Mystery. One of Adam’s talents is to move the narrative forward with an understated look, a pause, or a raise of the eyebrows; the sort of artistry seen in Sam Neill’s acting. As Sherlock, Adam embodied the character’s aspergers and intellect, to give a performance reminiscent of Johnny Lee Miller in the TV Series Elementary.

Playing the parts of Julia Keene (a seducer and psychopathic murderer) in Butter in a Lordly Dish, and as Sherlock’s nemesis Irene Adler in the Sherlock Holmes Radio Mystery, Julia Harris excelled. She is masterful at authentically embodying her characters and warmly relating to the other characters. Her very creepy and evil laugh is something to remember.

The esteemed and versatile GLT/Studio 73 actor, Egan Tearle, stitched the radio plays together as the nasal broadcaster, and was pitch perfect playing Watson to Adam’s Sherlock - accepting and calm but ready for an adventure, ready to follow his friend anywhere. Egan is so very grounded in any character he inhabits.

Other Butter stars were Ali Foster as the landlady Mrs Petter; Rachel Norman as daughter Florrie Petter; and Karen Wilson as Susan Warren, a friend of Sir Luke’s wife Lady Enderby. Playing the parts of a lugubrious and ancient butler named Hayward, as well as the long-suffering Lady Enderby, Andrew Charnock brought the house down - particularly when he played both parts at once.

Other Sherlock Holmes stars were Alex Nyman as a convincing Count von Kramm (aka King of Bohemia) and Rachel Norman playing, with skill, both Sherlock’s landlady and Irene Adler’s maid.

Supporting these clever and hilarious mystery and murder radio plays is sound and lighting provided by technical whizzes from Kuranui College: Harry Crawford and Dallas Riley. Their first solo rodeo, this Kuranui duo added tension and credibility to the performances with music, sounds, and lighting to suit the period and the plays.

John Gilberthorpe, Chair of GLT, gave thanks to South Wairarapa District Council and to the Acorn Trust for funding Studio 73’s new sound system, and to Trust House Foundation for funding its new lighting board.

This mystery and murder extravaganza is a mid-winter experience not to be missed.

Tickets are still available for evening performances on each of the nights between Wednesday 29 July and Saturday 1 August, and for the concluding matinee on Sunday 2 August. Email greytownlittletheatrenz@gmail.com; or text/call John on 0274 586 126; or book through https://www.eventfinda.co.nz.

Angela Yeoman is a writer living in Carterton
23 July 2026

Quick & Quirky, next Greytown Little Theatre show

Reviewed by Angela Yeoman

This satisfying smorgasbord began with a tentative overture for the appetiser, moved on to a courtly pie, progressed with a sorbet palate cleanser, then served up a main course of such distinction that it filled the senses with richness. A short pause for digestion was followed by a dessert of apple pie and custard, a serving of port wine, and a rounding off with cheese and crackers (with a helping of quince paste and fresh figs).

We’re talking, of course, about Quick & Quirky, Greytown Little Theatre’s latest show being performed until Sunday 24 May at Studio 73. It’s a feast of seven short performances, mostly
written by writers from Aotearoa New Zealand.

The appetiser Sing Like a Canary is a short piece written by Dunedin-based police prosecutor and playwright Tim Hambleton. Actors Sean Wilton, Anna Logan and Hannah Wilton had a fun script with which to perfect their craft, made up almost entirely of lines from famous songs. The plot skillfully negotiated an interview with a suspected arsonist and a budding relationship between the cops.

Well-known courtly gentlemen Steve Lillyston and Graeme Burnard read historical Letters of Note relating to significant composers, each set to the relevant music. The letter about Mozart came from Antonio Salieri; he described his rival’s work as the “voice of God”. The letter about a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was written by Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind. She described the throb and urge of passion as well as the tender sounds that could be felt just by touching the radio’s mechanism, as the New York Symphony Orchestra played in 1924. This courtly dish was rounded off with readings of poignant letters exchanged between Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen before their deaths in 2016 - “so long Marianne”.

Kuranui students Finn-Oskar Mikkelsen, Heath Dunnet, and Owen Wos took to the stage with fearless gusto to give us the palate cleanser of Improvised Games, with topics supplied by the audience. The joy and skill that these students bring to the stage is infectious.

Masterton teacher and celebrant, James Riley, directed by the accomplished Richard Brooks, then served up an extraordinary performance of the Lament from Greg McGee’s Foreskin’s Lament. This was the main course of the evening. Foreskin, the character’s nickname, provides a grim critique of Aotearoa’s rugby culture and identity following the murder of the rugby team’s captain by one of the players.

First performed in 1980, Foreskin’s Lament is a denunciation of the violent red-neck culture of rugby prevalent at the time. In the context of the current global rolling back of human rights for women, indigenous peoples, migrants, and the LGBT+ community - and the geopolitical push towards violence over dialogue - the challenge stands: “whaddarya” and what do we want to be as people and a society?

Riley says he’s been acting since he was a teenager; a model for our fantastic Kuranui students. He says his rendition of Foreskin’s lament about the death of the captain drew on his personal experiences of grief from the passing of his father and the death of a close friend who had also once acted in Foreskin’s Lament. The actor’s authenticity, combined with the director’s skill and decades of experience as a drama teacher, took the audience’s breath away. We were privileged to be given a glimpse into a raw but nuanced exploration of identity.

After the interval, accomplished director Lynn Bushell worked her magic with talented actors Jo Crimp and student Mikkelsen. The short play No Present Like the Time, written by Christchurch playwright Marilyn Ollett, is a wonderful interplay between a mother and son about the father’s shortcomings. This satisfying serving of apple pie with custard produced two surprises in quick succession in the final spoonful: one tragic and the other both huge, and a relief. The acting was a delight.

Looking every inch the part of Theodore Roosevelt, actor Jonty Austin served up port wine in The Bully Pulpit, a self-written interpretation of the life and times of one of America’s greatest presidents - one who did win the Nobel Peace Prize. Hearty and wholesome, performed for the first time and directed by Julia Harris, Austin’s performance encompassed ‘Teddy’s’ care of family, people, health, nature, and the world. Austin did not need to explicitly note the difference between Roosevelt’s reign and that of some other presidents.

Bookending the feast with another serving from police prosecutor and playwright, Tim Hambleton, gifted local actors Victoria Ross and Greg Webb gave us more than just cheese and crackers with their performance of Better Say a Prayer for Me.

Both this play and Sing Like a Canary were being performed for the first time, and both under the tutelage of seasoned director John Gilberthorpe. Actors Ross and Webb were superb; their easy banter expertly supporting the exchange between a female and male praying mantis, when only one of them knows what awaits the male after consummation.

Supported by Julia Harris as stage manager, and with lighting and sound from Alan De La Mare and Zac Winterwood, Quick & Quirky is a feast fit for kings and queens.

Review: The 39 Steps

Angela Yeoman

The 39 Steps, a parody play adapted from Hitchcock's 1935 movie and John Buchan’s 1915 novel, performed to packed audiences over two weeks in March at Greytown Little Theatre’s home: Studio 73.

Set in a time when countries were preparing for war, the play’s serious message about standing up for what is right when all around you people are losing their morals and their heads, was brilliantly supported by slapstick comedy.

Egan Tearle played the part of Richard Hannay, and was the perfect hero.

Raised an orphan and having served in the military, Hannay was now struggling to make his way in London and was looking for love. Meeting a mysterious woman (Annabella Schmidt) with a beguiling accent and a fear of the secret agents who were after her, Hannay agreed to help. She explained they must go to Scotland the very next day to find a man called Professor Jordan, and uncover a secret known as The 39 Steps - a secret critical to national security. Time was of the essence. Jordan, played by the well-known actor Julia Harris, would be recognisable by his little finger - half of which was missing.

During the night, however, the enemy’s secret agents caught up with Schmidt and did her in. Played by Anna Maria Logan, Schmidt died spectacularly over Hannay, a dagger in her back. Hannay slickly wriggled out from under the dead woman, and became determined to pick up the baton of finding and exposing The 39 Steps.

Tearle was very convincing as the debonair and James Bond-esque Hannay, as he pursued his righteous quest on a train to Scotland (crawling over the roof to get away from the secret agents), on foot through marshes and streams, and on a motorbike (complete with goggles and streaming white scarf). Wardrobe, managed by Rita Ann Penhale Cashmore, was right on trend for the early 20th century.

During the chase, Hannay acquired a more promising love interest. This one - Pamela Edwards, played by Holly Jacobson, another student - managed to stay alive through the ups and downs of the quest (and their relationship), despite being handcuffed to Hannay and dragged around Scotland at a cracking pace. The hunt for the truth was cleverly enabled by the use of space and construction of the set designed by John Gilberthorpe, a stalwart of GLT and Studio 73. Alan De la Mare’s complicated lighting plot added dramatically to the mood and atmosphere of the production.

In pursuit of The 39 Steps, it was revealed that Professor Jordan and his wife (played by Rachel Norman) were the enemy. They were supported by a cache of secret agents and cleverly planted locals who had been turned to the enemy’s cause.

The play was directed by the brilliant and very experienced Lynn Bushell, who lifted the slapstick elements by revealing the set and costume/character changes in full view of the audience, rather than behind the scenes.

The secret agents’ getaway car, in which Hannay and Edwards were held prisoner, was blocked by a flock of sheep which invaded the audience, enabling the hero and heroine to escape, much to the amusement of the rural audience. Dancing girls - lanky teenage boys in tutus doing the Can Can - brought the house down.

Drama and performance students from Kuranui College - Heath Dunnet, Keiran Downs, Owen Wos and Finn-Oskar Mikkelsen - played all the other parts in the play including ancient Scottish politicians, police officers under the spell of the secret agents, hired muscle, and the opening/closing character, Mr Memory. The energy of the students, their capacity to portray multiple and very different characters, and their expertise with accents, was extraordinary.

Other students from the College - Harry Crawford and Dallas Riley - were skillfully in charge of sound and assisted with the lighting. Hopefully we will see many more plays at Studio 73 and elsewhere that showcase the skills of the students.

Although Mr Memory was killed at the end, his last gasp (thankfully) revealed the secret of The 39 Steps. And Hannay, like James Bond, got the girl - a happy ending after a madcap, fast paced romp in a time both long ago and much like now.

Angela Yeoman is a writer living in Carterton.

2026 Student Scholarship Winner announced

Heath Dunnet, recently seen in, The 39 Steps, is the Greytown Little Theatre Student Scholarship winner for 2026. The scholarship is awarded to a student member for their contribution to GLT and to further develop their theatre skills. The scholarship will partly fund Heath’s registration fees at the National Youth Drama School (NYDS) in Havelock North during the April School holidays. Previous winners, include, AJ Southey, Jack Stokes, Florence Cater, Jasmine Loveday, James Moreland, Freya Lewington and Jonte Savage.

100 Years Anniversary Celebration

On December 21, 2021 we celebrated our 100th year Anniversary of theatre in Greytown. Our President Mr. John Gilberthorpe spoke of our long association with the Greytown community and entertained us with interesting stories from the past. He also outlined the future development of the Club as we move forward into another century. Over a celebratory afternoon tea members spent an afternoon reminiscing and generally having a great catch-up.

The Colin Palmer Spirit of Shakespeare Award

This award has been established to remember Colin Palmer a long-time member, Past President and Life Member of GLT. Colin had a great interest in Shakespeare and thoroughly enjoyed working with our younger members on productions. This award was presented at the Regional Final of the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival 2021 staged at Wairarapa College in April.

We were fortunate to have Colin’s daughter, Kerryn Palmer to judge and present the award. Kerryn made the award to Charlotte Butler as Director of the Rathkeale College/St Matthew’s Collegiate Senior School (5 minutes student directed scene) from ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’. Kerryn said of the winner “I gave the award for Charlotte's overall director's vision (something Dad was very interested in) and in recognition of how challenging it is to direct a group of your peers, in particular a large group of teenage boys”.

Student Scholarship Award 2023

Greytown Little Theatre's annual scholarship is awarded to a student member who has shown a passion for theatre arts and also made a significant contribution of their time and effort within our organisation. To be eligible the student must be a financial member of Greytown Little Theatre and show a desire to further their theatre education. Since 2017 our Scholarship has provided funding for costs associated with attending the annual National Youth Drama School (NYDS) in Havelock North.

Our 2023 Student Scholarship has been awarded to Freya Lewington and Jonte Savage. from Kuranui College.

The Greytown Little Theatre Student Scholarship Awards for 2021 have been made to Jasmine Loveday and James Morland, both Year 11 students at Kuranui College.

The award, first presented in 2017 encourages the winner to undertake further development of their interest in theatre and involvement with GLT. John Gilberthorpe, President of GLT and pictured with Jasmine and James said the Committee decided to make two awards this year as we missed out in 2020 due to Covid. The awards are worth $250 each will be used to assist with fees for attending the National Youth Drama School (NYDS) in Havelock North during the April holidays. Previous winners were, AJ Southey, Jack Stokes and Florence Cater.

2019 - Florence Cater

Florence's scholarship will assist with fees to attend the National Youth Drama School (NYDS) in Havelock North in April 2019. President John Gilberthorpe said "The Scholarship is in recognition of the wonderful contribution Florence has made to Greytown Little Theatre. Well done"

2018 - Jack Stokes

2017 - Alexander Southey

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