Daughters of Heaven

An obsessive friendship based in a fantasy world.
Stephen Heard
Published on May 31, 2016

Overview

The Parker-Hume murder rocked 1950s New Zealand. In a secluded part of Christchurch's Victoria Park, teenagers Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker bludgeoned Pauline's mother to death with a brick in an old stocking. The trial that followed revealed an obsessive friendship based heavily in a fantasy world.

Several adaptations of the story have since been published, including Peter Jackson's Academy Award-nominated film Heavenly Creatures, the novel Harriet Said... by Beryl Bainbridge and Michaelanne Forster's 1992 play Daughters of Heaven.

Originally commissioned by Christchurch's Court Theatre, Daughters of Heaven weaves imagined conversations with real court records and diary entries to create a compelling glimpse of one of New Zealand's most notorious murders.

Shoreside Theatre's reimagined version of the piece is directed by Michelle Atkinson and features a cast made up of: Claire Ahuriri-Dunning, Simon Allen, Sophie Cook, James Dunning, Phillip Good, Heath Howes, Craig Hubert, Millie Ketchley, Kim Kindley, Miriana McGechie, Ciara Moynihan and Trevor Sharp.

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