Re-writing The Farcical Regency Comedy With A Queer Twist

“It is common knowledge among the ton that those invited to summer at the country estate of Hausdown will encounter a season of honeyed hospitality, diverting company, and queer delights. Siblings and hosts, Lord Edwin Hausdown and Lady Louisa Hausdown, have this year invited several of their most beloved, amusing, (and eligible) companions to take the COUNTRY AIR! On the guestlist are their cousins, Lord Edward Lapthorn and Captain August Lapthorn, the Duke and Dukess of Cuntcliffe; Louisa’s childhood friend Lady Beatrice Swoonsworth, Baroness of Delusiomont, whose many engagements usually keep her from attending; and finally the untitled, but nonetheless well-connected, Harriet and Susan Girthshire. This party finds itself in a comedy of bemuddled hearts. Will the country air be enough to untangle these lovelorn gentlefolk?”

Wellington City, Wellington, November/December 2023. BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace, Mount Victoria. Inconceivable Productions presents a brand-new farcical regency comedy by emerging theatre-makers Katie Hill (Horny and Confused, The Princess & The Knight, Jez & Jace, Cocked and Re-loaded) and Ruby Carter (Slutcracker, Too Many Dead People, The Princess & The Knight, Snow Bright and The Oopsie Woopsies). Regality, romance, and rambunctiousness await audiences in the opulent world of HAUSDOWN, where love blooms, tensions rise, and everybody departs coupled up—mostly! Titled HAUSDOWN in reference to the queer cultural adage, the show is a hysterical 60-minute romp, packed with gut-busting physical clowning by well-known Wellington choreographer, Daniel Nodder (Only Bones v1.10, Smilestuff, Ratking, MILK), and multiple glee-inducing queer romance stories to fill the hearts of LGBTQ+ regency fanatics—intimacy directed by the wonderful Angela Pelham (Top Girls, The Ghost Show, Knights of The Table, Abandonment). For Hill and Carter, the show serves as a comedic reclamation of beloved regency stories aiming to bring representation and entertainment for the emerging queer generation—a motivation close to their hearts. For fans of beloved regency films like Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, this new play is a must-watch! However, proud loathers of the genre should not fear, as there is plenty a satirical joke in there to poke fun at the ridiculousness of regency customs too!

Inconceivable Productions describes itself as a theatre company with a core focus on queer joy—making fantastical, whimsical theatre to share this joy with their community and beyond. Co-founded by Brie Keatley and Katie Hill in 2021, the company has staged two successful seasons of their debut show, a play for children entitled

The Princess & The Knight.

Keatley and Hill are thrilled to move in a different, more adult-friendly direction with their second show under Inconceivable as producer and director respectively of

HAUSDOWN.

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