Titirangi Theatre's BIRTHRIGHTS Opens this Month

In an act of off-the-cuff generosity, Claudia offers to bear an IVF child on her sister Helen's behalf, with Helen's husband as the father. Inevitably, human emotions (especially around parenthood) are unpredictable and complications ensue.

Bookings are now open here for Birthrights, by acclaimed Australian author David Williamson and directed by Sian Davis, running from Tuesday 22 August through to Saturday 2 September at Titirangi Theatre in Lopdell House. The play addresses adult themes that might be difficult for children, so there will be no matinee performances of this production.

The play is set in Sydney and covers a period of some 20 years from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. It has 29 scenes and covers 7 locations, so the staging is kept clean and simple and the production fast-moving.

The six characters are Claudia and Helen (sisters), Margaret (their mother), Martin (Claudia's arty boyfriend), Mark (Helen's un-arty husband), and Kelly (Claudia's birth-daughter). They are played by several faces familiar at Titirangi Theatre (Francene McIlroy, Sue Golding, Ella Bernstone), and several new ones (Rachel Bock, Ashton Brown, Zac Clarke). Rachel trained and performed in theatre in Sydney, Zac performed in Brisbane and more recently in Auckland, and Ashton is a home-grown product, trained in acting at Unitec and now a teacher of drama.

Designed to keep the audience very much off-balance, the play is a beautifully-written and compelling drama, with strong comedic elements, and impelled by strong socio/political comment.

Originally a professional actor from way back, the play's director Sian Davis has had wide experience in directing throughout Auckland's community theatres, from the North Shore to Howick. Her previous production at Titirangi was of Roger Hall's Who Wants to be 100?, staged in Portage Road.

Always appreciative of a real challenge, Sian embraces the chance to engage with this intelligent and multilayered play.

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