Mount Isa Theatrical Society will return to the stage in March with their first play since COVID-19 lockdown.
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In "Unnecessary Farce" directed by Robert Glanville, we follow the attempt of hapless police officers to set up a sting operation by secretly filming a dodgy mayor talking to his accountant, who is in on the secret.
It all goes haywire from there, with a cowardly security guard and an unintelligible Scottish hitman and a surprise second half plot twist adding to the fun.
MITS publicity officer Jenelle Robartson said the comedy performance would see seven cast members perform throughout March.
"This performance was originally planned during 2020 and we had performed a few shows with a very successful opening, but then COVID-19 lockdown happened, new restrictions came into place and everything halted," Ms Robartson said.
"Now we thought we would reboot this performance again and continue with the rest of the shows we intended to do in 2020."
Ms Robartson said there were some pros and cons of hosting the original show.
"Unfortunately we did lose three original cast members, so we recast those positions and have been conducting rehearsals leading up to this performance," she said.
"When we couldn't complete our original show we had full intention of doing it again, so the great thing about redoing this show was that we still had the set."
Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, MITS had to make changes to the way they conduct performances.
"COVID-19 impacted us a lot because of restrictions around theatre, including having social distancing during rehearsals," Ms Robartson said.
"Our audience must be two metres from the performance so that is impacting our capacity of audience size and how we have to seat our patrons, but we decided it's still worth continuing.
"At this stage we are not increasing the number of shows, we already have eight performances for each show and we will continue with that for now."
Shows will be held on Friday and Saturdays between March 5- 27 and Ms Robartson said ticket purchasing had changed with a new online booking system.
"We are no longer selling tickets face to face but online at www.mountisatickets.com.au. This is another COVID-19 safety precaution whilst also moving forward with technology," she said.
"Tickets also used to include a sit down dinner with the show, but that will not be continuing into the immediate future due to restrictions around kitchen and food safety.
"We are now offering a cabaret style experience and hope that people will still come and enjoy our performance."
Unnecessary Farce is for people over the age of 16 and tickets are $37.50.
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