Kim Has A Nose For Dress-circle Drama
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday June 3, 2008
DIRECTOR Kim Carpenter, pictured, hopes his company's performance of The Happy Prince at Newcastle Civic Theatre on June 13 doesn't have the unscripted drama that accompanied their visit two years ago.
The show then was Go Pinocchio, and all went well until the closing minutes when the cast were singing a song cheering the title character on."In the midst of the song, there was a rumpus in the dress circle and the actors could see a St John Ambulance woman making her way along one of the rows," Carpenter said."Fifteen minutes later, when the cast were getting changed after the show, we heard sirens going up and down Hunter Street."An usherette came and said to us, 'I thought I'd let you know. It's a boy.' We then found out that a pregnant woman audience member's waters had broken and that the usherettes had delivered the baby while waiting for the ambulance to arrive."Charlestown-born Carpenter counts The Happy Prince, an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde fairy story, among his favourite shows, so he has fingers crossed that this time all the drama will be on stage.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald
