Housewife set to stir up rest home comedy
Louise Wallace is trading the glamour and glitz of Real Housewives of Auckland for some dowdy retirement home living, in the latest Roger Hall play Last Legs.
Wallace plays the character of Trish, a “snobby, bossy” real estate agent, in what will be her Auckland Theatre Company debut.
“I like to think we’re younger residents,” Wallace said of the fact the black comedy is set in a Cambridge retirement village.
The 57-year-old, whose nononsense approach on last year’s Real Housewives ruffled a few feathers, was chuffed but also slightly concerned to be shoulder-tapped for the role.
“When I did hear about the play and the script I thought ‘Umm, interesting that they’re keen for me to read the part of somebody living in a rest home’.”
She said the play about sex, death and politics would be fun and a challenge. She was excited to be part of the stellar cast including Mark Hadlow (The Hobbit), Ray Henwood (Lord of the Rings), Alison Quigan (Calendar Girls) and Catherine Wilkin (McLeod’s Daughters).
“I was gobsmacked and delighted. It’s a dream come true really for me.”
She had never worked with any of the cast before but she looked up to them as great talent.
“As one of my best friends who’s very involved with TV and theatre said, ‘You’ll have to have your A-game on with that lot.’ And I thought ‘my God I will too’.”
Wallace, who trained as an actor in London in her twenties and has owned theatre company Tadpole Productions for five years, is currentlt filming TV detective series The Brokenwood Mysteries.
She’s also appeared on Shortland Street, Agent Anna, Celebrity Treasure Island and The Weakest Link, and was an award-winning reporter and television presenter before that.
Her involvement with Real Housewives attracted some criticism but Wallace said she would seriously consider doing it again, though she doubted it would go ahead.
“It’s a shame but that’s telly. What I’ve done is totally taken advantage of the opportunity it gave me. It ticked every box for me and it’s been brilliant.”
Wallace remained friends with only two of the five other cast members, Anne Batley-Burton and Gilda Kirkpatrick.
Last Legs, billed as a “cardioarresting comedy hijinks, hypertension and hilarity”, runs at the ASB Waterfront Theatre from September 12 to 27, and will appeal to all ages, Wallace said.
It will also tour Hamilton’s Clarence St Theatre from October 5 to 7 and Tauranga’s Baycourt Community Arts Centre from October 13 to 15. with