Bloodthirsty plant takes to stage

Karratha is about to be treated to its first locally produced musical in years in the form of 1980s hit Little Shop of Horrors.

Theatre company Pitter Pat Productions will bring the horror comedy to the Red Earth Arts Precinct stage with two performances later this month.

It is only the second major production for the group, which put on the Pilbara-themed pantomime Pilbara Pan last year.

Little Shop of Horrors will be familiar to audiences who have seen the 1986 movie of the same name.

“Think the 80s, think Gremlins, think a bit tongue-in-cheek,” director and Pitter Pat Productions co-founder Danielle Chamberlain said.

“It’s about a poor little pathetic man who works in a flower shop in a really poor area.

“He encounters this plant that just appears, and ... it feeds on blood.”

“Because he keeps getting all this fortune and fame for it being in the shop window he gets trapped in a cycle of feeding it blood from his fingers, and as the plant grows, of course its hunger grows so eventually he starts feeding it people.”

The musical has a cast of 23 actors and 15 backstage crew.

Participants have been rehearsing three times a week since February and have even trained with experienced locals to hone their singing, dancing and acting skills.

Chamberlain said producing a musical represented the next phase of development for the theatre group and its members.

“We thought we’d try a musical because we have such talented cast members, and a musical is a bit more formal and a bit more skills-based (than a pantomime),” she said.

Ms Chamberlain said the musical was suitable for children, with parental guidance.

Little Shop of Horrors will be performed at REAP at 7pm on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15.

To book tickets, go to redearth artsprecinct.com.au.