Mirth-filled musical fun

The comical Penny Ashton returns to Hawke’s Bay this month for a one-off performance of her latest show.

Arts on Tour New Zealand presents Promise and Promiscuity, in which Ashton, aka Miss Elspeth Slowtree, battles literary snobbery, her mother’s nerves and Cousin Horatio with superior wit, blushing countenance and being bright . . . for a girl. During the show balls will be attended, crosses will be stitched and manners will be minded.

Featuring classical music reworked by Robbie Ellis, with additional lyrics by the lady herself, Ashton’s musical has been described as something of a poke at Pride and Prejudice.

She sums it up by borrowing one of her favourite lines written by Jane Austen.

“As Elizabeth Bennett herself says: ‘Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies divert me. I own and I laugh at them whenever I can’.”

For the past decade Ashton has been a worldwide performer, including in sold out shows in Edinburgh and Adelaide, performed by invitation at the Glastonbury Festival and at the World Cup of Theatresports in Germany.

She has represented New Zealand in a Poetry Slam tour of Britain and won best performance by an international poet at the London Farrago Poetry Awards.

She also has many best comic nominations and awards to her name. Her previous shows include Hot Pink Bits, Good Morning, and Heartland Kiwi Gold. ■ Promise & Promiscuity, CHB Municipal Theatre, 7.30pm, June 29. Tickets $20-$25 from TicketDirect.