By CHERIE DONNELLAN
START with a “burlesquey” play, add copious amounts of slapstick comedy, mix acts until vaudevillian, top with a dash of darkness and just a hint of opera.
Geelong director-actor Charlotte Hukvari’s said that was the recipe for her latest creation, The Sweet Desire: Le Prequel.
Hukvari said the recipe was much different to The Sweet Desire, which garnered rave reviews from audiences, despite the new show being its prequel.
But why?
“I started writing this show a few days after The Sweet Desire finished last year in May and then one [cast member] after another were unable to do the new show,” she explained.
“Now 60 to 70 per cent of the cast are different from the first show, so I had to re-write the characters.”
But Hukvari was pleased with the new script, admitting the cast’s ability to deliver their lines had her in stitches of laughter at rehearsals.
“I must be the worst director in history because all I can do is sit and laugh so hard that no sound comes out.”
Hukvari said she had reprised her lead role of Honourable Veronica Superstar, while Philip Bescanon was also back as the “very creepy” Ring Master.
The prequel plot revEaled how Ring Master and Veronica “randomly meet” before deciding to host auditions for a show they hoped would make them “rich and famous”, Hukvari revealed.
The audition process featured Geelong actors Zoe Hollingsworth, Reyna Hudgell and Mary Steuten in an interesting set of characters, she said.
Hollingsworth, who Hukvari described as a “talented” 18-year-old who had studied drama most of her life, would play Tooth Fairy, while Steuten would appear as a bearded German lady.
The two characters would “graduate” into the first production’s Green Fairy and Miss Cherise, Hukvari said.
“It’s a random logic – a fantasy world – but it works.”
Hukvari assured audiences they would be able to follow the storyline even if they had missed the first Desire production.
But first-timers should be prepared for a little shock value, she warned.
“You might see a man in a corset and panties.”
Hukvari’s The Sweet Desire: Le Prequel will play at Geelong West’s Woodbin Theatre from 25 to 28 September.
