City's own master of disguise

Jackie McKenzie works for the Manawatu Theatre Hire Costume and Wardrobe shop, and in the lead-up to Halloween the place was rocking.

Ms McKenzie's other jobs involve modelling for life drawings, and working in a sex toy shop, which gets busier over Christmas and new year, she told  Karoline Tuckey.

What Halloween costume are you wearing this year?

I will be going to Ian Harman's burlesque, so I put together most of my costume from things that I have at home. Let's just say it's black and red, and if you saw it you'd go `uww, that's elegant, but deeply sexy'.

What's your hidden talent?

I don't think any of my talents are hidden, I think all of my talents are right out front where everyone can see them. But I do do a lot of work with the local theatre scene, mostly amateur work with the theatre society and the Massey English and drama department. I focus mostly on performance, and do production work, and my major favourite is definitely costume, hence the job at the costume shop.

What's your foolproof home-cooked meal?

Italian risotto. Using the lovely sticky Italian arborio rice. I like to roast the chicken off with lots of roast garlic and lemons. And throw in some rock salt, and add the rice to the pan and some hot water and let that absorb all the lovely flavour. It's stunning. And quick too, it takes about an hour all up.

What are you working on at the moment?

Spamalot, the Manawatu Theatre Society's Christmas production. It's going to be brilliant, it's a Monty Python send-up of every Broadway musical ever written, so it's very funny. We have a superb young cast, and an excellent director. It's madness if everybody doesn't come see us. It's so, so silly.

If you could take anyone out to dinner, who would it be?

I'd have difficulty taking any one person because ... I like going to dinner with groups. I'd like to go to dinner with Judi Dench, that would be pretty amazing. I'd like to be at a dinner party with Pablo Picasso. I'm not sure if I have the nerve to cope with him on his own, because he was a bit of a goer. And Peter Jackson. He'd love to meet Judi Dench, and he's very driven, and Picasso and him probably have similar intensities of character. Passion is everything, that's the basis of what drives us all.

What happened at the last party you went to?

Miss Adrienne Weatherley's 50th fairy party at the Globe Theatre. All sorts of things happened. Everybody wore fairy wings, 150 of them. And they all dressed up and had a great time.

What do you like about Palmerston North?

I like the opportunities here. I like that for a theatre person or an artist there is actually quite a lot of opportunity here. Probably because there's not so many people as the big cities. But it's very close to Wellington so you can visit and keep up. It's not as expensive as Wellington, but we have got all of the amenities. The pubs are getting nicer, so that us older people are not feeling so alienated by the young people.

Tell us about your favourite holiday.

It's been a long time since I've taken a holiday because of the work that I do – it's a bit like I'm always on holiday. About 10 years ago, my family went on a road trip up north and meandered everywhere. It took about a week to reach Auckland and the kids enjoyed it.

What's your most embarrassing childhood memory?

When I was about 10 I organised a strike at my school. This came about because at my home I had one of my mum's cousins staying who was a seaman and they were on strike. And I'd picked up on that. We'd spent a lot of time fundraising, and once we'd raised enough, there was some left over, so to get the money back, we had a strike. We got the money back, which was enough for $1 for each of us. My parents found out about it, and were furious and I had to write a letter of apology to the school when I thought I'd been so clever. For me, that was the most embarrassing thing that happened to me.

Jellytip or fruju and why?

Jellytips in winter, frujus in summer.

Palmerston North could do with more ...

Sunshine.

What's your idea of romance?

Imagination. It would be a person that uses their imagination, something that's a little bit quirky, imaginative and colourful. And doesn't have to be expensive – but it helps. People come in to the toy store looking for ideas and often I can find them ideas that don't cost anything, but make them happy.

What's your word or phrase of the moment?

Oh my stars and garters. I use it all the time and I've never even thought about it.

What's your most disliked band or musician and why?

I don't have a particular band or musician that I dislike. There are times when you don't want to hear them, but not that I actually dislike. Because all music is good in some way, shape or form. I'd have to be in a very unusual place to get into death metal though.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I've spent the whole day in the shop listening to the APRA Nature CD that's got the 40 best New Zealand songs ever. It's a really cool CD. For a while it was Tiki Taane's last one, Past, Present, Future. That gets thrashed at the toy shop a lot.

What are you reading?

A murder mystery called The Mao Case, by a Chinese author whose name I cannot possibly pronounce for you. It's got a lot of x's in it.

What are your plans in the next couple of months?

Get through Spamalot, and that will take me all the way up to Christmas. In the new year, hopefully direct a children's play for the Manawatu Children's Theatre Society. They don't know this yet. If I tell you and it gets printed then I have to do it. They're quite an institution now, so being able to direct one of those is quite a lot of privilege. So if I do actually get to do it, I shall be very pleased with myself. I've never done a children's play, so this will be a major challenge for me.

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