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The Merchant of Venice

The Troupe's Bard in the Yard production in 2017 was The Merchant of Venice directed by Peter Baldock. John Marwick won an excellence in acting Antoinnette award for his part as Antonio. View on YouTube View on YouTube

On Dry Land

On Dry Land was a short play written by Troupe member Avi Duckor-Jones. It was directed by John Smythe and starred Avi with John Marwick.

Trials and Tribulations

Trials and Tribulations was a programme of scenes from Shakespeare, loosely based around trials in the various plays. Scenes were chosen and adapted by John Marwick and were directed by a number of people: Lian Butcher, Anna Rodgers, Emannuel E Garcia, John Marwick, Anne Manchester, and Laurence Ward. Watch the full production on YouTube Watch a scene from Othello directed by Emannuel E Garcia as part of this production Watch the full production on YouTube A scene from Othello on YouTube directed by Emannuel E Garcia as part of this production

Taking Steps

Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn was directed by Florence McFarlane in August 2018.

As You Like It

Bard in the Yard 2019 was As You Like It. This was the second time the Troupe had produced the play although the previous production had been in 2001 when we still performed in people's back yards with book in hand. The 2019 production was directed by Anne Manchester. Publicity 2019 I'd like to let you know that Eastbourne's Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe is putting on its summer Bard in the Yard Shakespeare production in the first week of March. This year (our 23rd annual Shakespeare production) Anne Manchester is directing As You Like It. She's giving the Bard's romantic comedy a contemporary New Zealand twist. As in

And Then There Were None

Our mid-year production was an Agatha Christie "spine-tingling winter warmer" directed by Lian Butcher. Publicity 2019 A spine-tingling winter warmer Love a good Agatha Christie murder on a Wintery night? Then you are bound to enjoy a spine-chilling evening of live Theatre with a glass of bubbles in hand. Eastbourne's Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe's production of And There Were None Is based on the best-selling murder sales to date. According to director Lian Butcher, it's Christie's masterpiece. with her own stage adaptation of this dark and captivating tale to thrill and enthral audiences, as murder unfolds. The story begins as ten strangers are invited To

A Farmhouse Called Shelter

This is the premiere of a play written by Lower Hutt Playwright MichaelJohn Butcher. The background of the play is the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982. A British paratrooper has been wounded in the Falklands War and is rescued by Costa, an Argentinian deserter, and taken to the farmhouse of Costa's islander girlfriend where they duly attend to him. Then they both realise the awful truth – they can’t hand him over to the Argentinian Army because Costa, the Argentinian, will be shot as a deserter. They can’t hand him over to the English because win or lose the conflict

Othello

Our Bard in the Yard production was Shakespeare's great tragedy of jealousy - Othello. We sneaked in just before the COVID pandemic. The play was directed by Emanuel E Garcia. Watch this production on YouTube Publicity 2020 Love, jealousy, race, revenge and madness -- such are the major themes of Shakespeare';s Othello. And like all of the great tragedies, nothing is quite as black and white as it may seem. How pure was Desdemona? How gullible was Othello? How evil was Iago? Join us for a fast-paced production of a drama that builds towards a passionately explosive conclusion like no other. Watch the YouTube video.

SNAP

In September 2020, while the rest of the world suffered through the COVID pandemic, New Zealand for a time was normal and Anne Manchester directed SNAP - a classic whodunit based on the novel “Photo Finish” by Ngaio Marsh – the New Zealand Queen of the genre. An extremely temperamental Callas-style operatic diva, Isabella Sommita, has been hounded around the world by an odious member of the paparazzi. Her manager takes her to a grand but remote lodge on a South Island lake and invites the London-based portrait painter Troy Alleyn (and her detective husband, Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard) to paint her portrait. We

The Fall of the House of Usher

The end of year production in 2020 was The Fall of the House of Usher. It was adapted for the stage by Michaeljohn Butcher from Edgar Allan Poe's novel and directed by Emanuel E Garcia. Watch on Youtube Edgar Allan Poe’s spine chiller. “She has been put living into the tomb” Edgar Allan Poe was the great macabre story writer of his day, and this playwright Michaeljohn Butcher's adaptation of his masterpiece, 'The Fall of the House of Usher', renders his eerie, powerful, chilling and poetic insights into a compelling theatrical experience. When Jonathan Tiergarten arrives at the decaying house, summoned by his childhood friend Roderick

The Winter’s Tale

As its 25th annual Shakespeare production the Troupe presented The Winter's Tale for the second time in February / March 2021 (the first production was 21 years earlier). It was directed jointly by John Marwick and Elspeth Cotsilinis. Allen Burne won an Antoinnette Award for Excellence in Acting in the Wellington District Theatre Federation's Full Length Play competition. Watch on YouTube Cast Allan Burne Leontes Anne Manchester Paulina Colin Orchiston Old Shepherd & Jailer Emma Littlefair  Lady in Waiting & Servant (Sc5) Hayden Rogers Camillo Heather Gordon Cleomenes & Mopsa Jasmine Stock Perdita Jimmy Allcock Mamillius John Smythe Antigonus Laurence Ward Old shepherd Leoni McKelvey

It Runs in the Family

The mid-year play was a farce by Ray Cooney, directed by Florence McFarlane. Publicity 2021 Get ready for your glasses to steam up with laughter: Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe is performing It Runs in the Family by Britain’s master of farce, Ray Cooney. In this larger-than-life tale of comical chaos, Dr Mortimer (a successful neurologist) must fend off a surprise paternity case: whilst keeping his wife out of the picture, and simultaneously giving a prestigious international lecture that may lead to his knighthood - if done properly. This is a farce though, and as Dr Mortimer tries to get himself out of one sticky situation,