a Silo Theatre Media Announcement
Silo Theatre presents Roger Hall’s
GLIDE TIME
June 14 - July 1 at the Maidment Theatre
Roger Hall.s classic 1970s theatre piece GLIDE TIME is being revived in glorious beige by some of the biggest stars of
the New Zealand stage, in a triumphant 30th Anniversary production.
GLIDE TIME.S public servants have won a special place in the hearts of audiences throughout the country since Hall.s
legacy to New Zealand theatre and television began thirty years ago. With his gritty social realism and deliciously
awkward comedy, Hall preceded contemporary ob-com shows such as THE OFFICE and LITTLE BRITAIN by several decades.
And now Silo Theatre, which is recognised for its hugely popular re-workings of classics such as UNDER MILKWOOD, THE
WOMEN and THE BOYS IN THE BAND, has picked GLIDE TIME as fertile ground ready to be mined for vintage comedy.
The basis for the popular 1980s TV series GLIDING ON (and its sequel MARKET FORCES), Roger Hall’s GLIDE TIME is directed
by Oliver Driver, whose production of THE GOAT with Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand played to capacity audiences
last year and was named Production of the Year (and Best Actor and Actress) by METRO magazine.
Craig Parker is returning from London for the production, and he will be joined by some of the finest actors in New
Zealand including Theresa Healey, Simon Prast, Greg Johnson, David Van Horn, Colin Moy and Stuart Devenie. Tim Balme
will also join the cast for the last few performances, when Parker has to return to his off-shore Lord of the Rings fan
duties.
.Wellington, I HATE you!.
- Opening line, GLIDE TIME
Driver and cast will venture back to the stores branch of a New Zealand department of the Public Service in 1976, where
John, Hugh, Jim, Michael and good old Beryl are forced to work together on a daily basis in a job none of them likes.
The clock ticks. The rain pelts down. The heaters don’t work. The phone rings. The in-tray overflows.
Clipboards and circulars rule. And there’s a promotion to be had.
An institutionally-overbearing set by John Verryt and authentic costumes from Rachael Walker will only serve to enhance
the comical blandness of the decade. Though Roger Hall has said he has been tempted to bring it up to date, he decided
against it as GLIDE TIME is .firmly based in the seventies..
ENDS