ACTOR Romano Manuel ahead of the opening night of <i>On the Right Track</i> next week.
IN less than a week the lights will be on at Te Kūiti’s Little Theatre for a production of Tim Hambleton’s On the Right Track. The comedy-drama follows the attempts of four railway workers to save their jobs, which consisted of a whole lot of not much until an overzealous ministry official arrived to conduct an audit. The gang of workers had been showing up each day and working on a rail line that had not had a train run on it for years, a lifestyle under threat by the “smarmy, not particularly clever, pompous” public servant by the name of S Pugh. The play is set in 1981 with Charles and Diana’s royal wedding in recent memory and the country divided during the Springbok tour. There’s conflict in the group because of the tour and a hopeless love story woven into the script, delivered by a combination of experienced and novice cast. The play, which is being produced by On Stage Te Kūiti and directed by Carol Eales, has its opening night on Tuesday and runs until Saturday. On Stage Te Kūiti president Mary Mcnaughton said the script was witty with plenty of little twists which would appeal to a wide audience, but particularly people who understood the context of the Springbok tour. “We initially looked at putting on this play a year ago but then we got caught out with Covid. “The cast have come from various backgrounds. We’ve got two who are in the farming side of it, Matt [Davey] is the head baker at New World and Romano [Manuel] is a teacher.” The show is being put on as restaurant theatre, where the audience sits around tables, has a platter in front of them and access to the bar. Much of the set, lighting and props were designed by long-standing theatre member Ron Gannoway, who has been cast as S Pugh. Romano Manuel plays Barry, the boss of the railway workers; Corrin Miller is railway worker Sue, Nigel Rawlings is railway worker Dunc and Matthew Davey is railway worker/university student and Dunc’s son Michael. Tickets can be purchased at Te Kūiti and Ōtorohanga I-SITEs and online.
