Teens tackle challenging roles

Next month North Shore teenagers Millie Ketchley and Miriana McGechie will, for the first time, take leading roles in a community theatre production at The Rose Centre in Belmont.

Millie, 16, from Milford and Miriana, 15, from Northcote headline Shoreside Theatre’s production of Daughters of Heaven, a stage play that merges court records and diary entries with imagined conversations to tell the story of the infamous Parker-Hulme murder in Christchurch in the 1950s.

Miriana McGechie portrays Juliet Hulme, and says the most challenging part of the rehearsal process has been keeping on top of Hulme’s changing personalities. “She can turn from serious to manipulative and uncontrollable in an instant,” say McGechie.

Both McGechie and Ketchley have acted on stage before, but never in such demanding roles - something that did not deter the play’s director, Michelle Atkinson.

“I’ve known both girls since they were much younger, and each has a natural talent. It was their enthusiasm and commitment to the play that made me decide I definitely wanted to direct it,” says Atkinson. “I knew they would be compelling.”

Teenagers Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker murdered Pauline’s mother on June 22, 1954, in a secluded part of Victoria Park in Christchurch. The trial that followed revealed an obsessive friendship between the girls based heavily in a fantasy world that shocked 1950s New Zealand. The events were popularised by the film Heavenly Creatures, directed by Peter Jackson, in 1994.

Daughters of Heaven opens at Belmont’s Rose Centre on Tuesday 31 May with nightly performances until Saturday 4 June. Performances start at 7:30pm with a running time of approximately 2 hours, 30 minutes including interval.

Tickets are available at the door, from shoresidetheatre.com or by phoning 0800 BUY TIX (289 849)

ENDS