Emily Barclay (Please Like Me, Glitch, Offspring) is pegged to feature in Hudson & Halls Live! at Giant Dwarf later this month.
The new immersive theatre work is an ode to two iconic figures from Kiwi television, Peter Hudson and David Halls, who, through the ‘70s and ‘80s gained a cult following with their camp, sometimes-slapstick cooking show, Hudson And Halls.
The pair, known to bicker on the show, were also real-life partners. Homosexuality was legalised in New Zealand in 1986. After Hudson died from cancer in 1992, Halls died by suicide in 1993.
Hudson And Halls Live! turns the experience of watching the show – and in particular its Christmas special – into a live theatrical experience, the audience transplanted into a 1980s TV studio as the live audience, starring Todd Emerson and Chris Parker.
The production, commissioned by Silo Theatre in Auckland, is directed by Kip Chapman who co-wrote the show with Emerson and Sophie Roberts.
“I never knew Hudson And Halls but I grew up in a world they were fighting against. The world of dullness, conservatism, order, politeness and tradition. They were a thunderbolt of life beaming into every living room in the country, brazenly exposing their whole selves to a public completely unused to big personalities,” says Chapman.
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