One-Man Play Hits Gore Theaters

Actor Peter Hayden will perform the one-person show End of Summertime in Gore and Tapanui this month. The production, written by Sir Roger Hall, follows Dickie Hart, a retired dairy farmer who moves to Auckland to be closer to his grandchildren.

Hayden, an actor based in Dunedin, said the character is reluctant to leave his rural life. “Dickie is more than a little put out for that idea,” Hayden said. The character complains that Auckland is crowded, expensive, and lacks a sense of community.

Hayden noted his wife, Jeannie Mackay, is from a Riversdale farming family. He believes residents in and around Gore will relate to the character’s experiences. “Rural, semi-rural people.. will totally relate to Dickie, and get a hell of a lot of laughs,” he said.

The show is part of a trilogy that began with C’mon Black in 1996. That first play depicted Dickie traveling to South Africa for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. A second installment, You Gotta Be Joking!, premiered in 1999.

Karen Elliot, the director and producer from Dunedin, said the company staged the play in Dunedin in May. “We basically had full houses every night,” Elliot said. The Dunedin run received funding from the Dunedin City Council and the Otago Community Trust.

The West Otago tour is being produced by the Glorious Ruins collective without external financial support. “We haven’t any funding to do it in Gore or West Otago, but we decided that we were going to do it there anyway,” Elliot said.

Performances are scheduled for November 18 and 19 at the Little Theatre in Gore and November 20 at the West Otago Community Centre in Tapanui. All shows start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online through Humanitix or at the venue doors.