Entertaining Angels Unaware

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

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? 

Led by an exciting new collective of Ōtepoti emergent creatives, Double Take Productions, Entertaining Angels Unaware is set to open its world première in 2026 at the New Athenaeum Theatre - with YOUR support! Help us to enrich our literary, artistic, and creative community in Dunedin.

Entertaining Angels Unaware is led by a new all-female, all-Dunedin-local creative collective known as Double Take Productions. Our members are actors, directors, and writers as well as costumiers, lighting designers, sound technicians, and more - we all wear many hats!

Core members of Double Take Productions include Penelope Hare, Lizzie Thomson, Asya Ahmadasri, April McMillan Perkins, Eva Captijn, and Maggie Holtham.

Your donation to Entertaining Angels Unaware will allow Double Take Productions to cover the costs associated with staging three live performances, offering financial stability to our season. In particular, our campaign aims to offset expenses related to venue hire at the New Athenaeum Theatre, costumes, set, props, and ticketing costs.

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. Our aim is to celebrate life and loss, spreading healing throughout our audiences.

Double Take Productions is committed to telling female-centric stories. Entertaining Angels Unaware is a play for older sisters, younger sisters, and anyone who loves. 

Entertaining Angels Unaware tells the story of a demographic often left out of World War II histories: young adults, particularly girls. Our production examines issues of gender, age, race, and responsibility set against a backdrop of violence, both domestic and imperial.

In a world where the importance of the Arts in society seems increasingly threatened, your donation allows emergent creatives to stage our work without the financial risks inherent in this difficult industry. Entertaining Angels Unaware is Double Take Production's inaugural show; your support will propel us on to create more quality theatre in the future. Thank you!