Friends together on stage

Good friends Moni Russell and Carly Cvitanovich recently played the parts of the two women in Cupboard Love, one of the Deck Chairs plays at Repertory Theatre.

In the play they are two 'foodies' who are hoping that the way to their man's heart is through his stomach. When they realise that they're both feeding the same man, battle lines are drawn.

Further on it occurs to them that they should join forces and teach their greedy fellow a lesson while indulging their passion for food.

Fittingly, both Moni and Carly are employed in the food business serving in Ambrosia Delicatessen. That's where they met and became firm friends. The girls told me they could run through their lines together as they worked, serving food and talking about food.

"Most customers didn't realise that we were rehearsing our lines but sometimes we'd get an odd look," Carly grinned.

Moni told me that drama was her favourite subject at school, so much so that she followed her passion to achieve a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Drama at Victoria University.

"I haven't been involved in a lot of theatre in Whanganui until I played Maria in The Sound of Music ... suddenly I had this huge script to learn."

Did she enjoy it? Yes!

Moni persuaded Carly to appear on stage with her.

"I was quite nervous at first but quite excited too. I was scared I'd forget my lines," Carly said.

Both Carly and Moni are keen to appear on stage at Repertory Theatre again in the future. We found them both delightful company, pleasant, polite and focused, so we're equally keen to have the back as they were also very engaging young actresses.

Nadine Rayner
Whanganui Midweek 12/8/20