Entertaining Angels Unaware

Wartime Britain: little girls must play guardian angels. Which is crueler: to die for love, or to live on regardless?

Presented by: Double Take Productions

From: Ōtepoti | Dunedin

‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.’ – Hebrews 13:10 (KJV)

Chin up, girls! It’s wartime Britain, and school prefect Eliza protects her dormitories with an iron grip. Faced with Death’s slow approach, she must fight to turn back the clock and save her sister’s life. But who’ll guard this guardian angel?

Inspired by Enid Blyton’s timeless Malory Towers books, Entertaining Angels Unaware offers a subversive portrayal of the intensity, devotion, and power struggles of 1940s boarding school relationships. Written and directed by Penelope Hare, this world-première is designed and performed entirely by Ōtepoti-local emergent creatives.

Centred around five complex, distinct young women and their secrets, Entertaining Angels Unaware explores the ways in which forces beyond our control drive us to seek out – or become – guardian angels. It questions which is crueler: to die for love, or to live on regardless?

Humour, war, and self-sacrifice combine in unexpected patterns, stitched together with a thread of the supernatural. A play for older sisters, younger sisters, and anyone who loves.

Cheerio, farewell, but never goodbye...