Trio enjoy being 'old and raunchy'

It was a case of hanging on for dear life and hoping they would be gentle.

"Don't be shy dear. We won't bite," Shirley Kelly cackles as the Otago Daily Times nervously tiptoes into rehearsal.

But, it's a sign of wisdom to know when you're hopelessly out of your depth.

Kelly is joined by veteran actors Maggie King and Lyn Jordan in the New Zealand premiere of Dirty Dusting, which opens at the Fortune Theatre tomorrow night.

And it is difficult to imagine a better cast for the comedy about three elderly cleaners who start up a telephone sex chat line.

The three women don't just eschew sacred cows. They slaughter them.

The actors are working together for the first time, but their chemistry is electric.

"We worked out that we're 211 years old between us," King, who plays "Elsie", says.

"Oh, we are ancient, aren't we? We're Stonehenge, we are," Kelly giggles, as only a 60-something can.

Kelly plays former girl guide leader "Olive" in the Conrad Newport-directed comedy about three elderly cleaners who strike it rich after they accidentally intercept a late-night phone caller who thinks he has called a phone sex chat line.

"The phone goes off and we realise it's a business opportunity," Jordan (who plays the straitlaced "Gladys") says.

"It's a play about real people in a funny situation. And that's why it is so funny. I haven't laughed so much in a long time.

"It's wonderful to find a play where there's not one older woman, but three.

"And no one's sitting up in bed with some horrible disease," Kelly adds.

"The writers have given three old birds an active sex life, even if it's only in our minds. It's nice to be old and raunchy for a change."

"But, we don't put our bodies on the line. It's all talk," Jordan quickly adds.

Jordan is from Waipu in Northland and King hails from Melbourne, while Kelly lived in Dunedin for 30 years before taking to the road and a nomadic lifestyle in a camper van several years ago.

"I'm a gypsy," she grins.

Kelly performed in the first Fortune production in the Athenaeum, Blue Comedy, nearly 35 years ago.

She has since appeared in 30 Fortune productions, including the first presentation in the new Stuart St theatre, of Roger Hall's Middle Age Spread.

Her last appearance for the Fortune was also a Roger Hall play, Taking Off in 2005.

You sense the three women are going to miss this play when it's over.

"It's been lovely to meet each other. We clicked straight away," Jordan says.

"It has been a lot of fun.

"I think most girls are quite happy to talk dirty. You get a big group of girls together and look out," Kelly laughs.

"I don't think it's a play that will offend anyone, though," King says.

"It's all innuendo and fun and pathos, but there's lots of little truths in it. It's not quite farce, but it's bordering on it.

"It deals very well with how often people are written-off because of their age."

Dirty Dusting opens at the Fortune Theatre at 7pm tomorrow and runs till July 26.