The Magic Chicken at Clarence St Theatre

The first children’s show to be presented by the Central North Island Arts Consortium will be coming to Hamilton’s Clarence St Theatre in time of the upcoming school holidays.

‘The Magic Chicken’ by award-winning Theatre Beating will be held at Clarence St Theatre on Monday, 2 July at 10am.

The show is described as mixing ‘magic, mime, puppetry, slapstick, soup, break dancing and live music together in a big theatrical cauldron to produce a potion sure to knock the socks off both kids and adults alike’.

The Magic Chicken tells the story of two chefs (played by Trygve Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan) who are having another quiet day in the Seussian kitchen, until the arrival of an unexpected feathery visitor. Chaos ensues when Evil Eric tries to steal Ethel, the magic golden egg-laying chicken from the two unsuspecting and hapless chefs.

The show is being restaged by producer Arthur Meek, who has involvement in this year’s Fuel Festival of NZ Theatre – as the writer of ‘The Upside Down of the World’ and the writer, director and star of ‘Richard Meros Salutes the Southern Man’.

"The Magic Chicken delighted family audiences in Hamilton at the Fuel Festival in 2006, and we're delighted to be bringing it back to charm kids from 7 to 87 during the July school holidays, before it flies off to Australia and Asia," says Mr Meek.

Award-winning Theatre Beating, the team behind the show, are regulars on the New Zealand festival circuit and have performed internationally throughout Europe and Australia. The Magic Chicken has also been selected for Auckland’s leading entertainment venue, The Edge’s school holiday programme.

Tickets available from Ticketek (www.ticketek.co.nz or 0800 452 538). Adults/children $15 or groups (10+) $10.

The Central North Island Arts Consortium comprises of Hamilton City Theatres and the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, alongside theatres from New Plymouth and Hastings, and is funded by Creative New Zealand under its Regional Distribution Funding Strategy.

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Interviews may be able to be arranged on request.