Generations of ''Bluffies'' are getting ready to present their annual theatre event next weekend, marking more than 50 years since the curtain first rose on the town's drama club.

Bluff Drama Club president Murray Thomson said Cruizin', an original script written by the cast, was the latest in a series of dinner theatre evenings the community had dreamed up.

He remembered his mother, Freda Thomson rehearsing her lines in the house after his father, who worked on set design, recorded the script on a tape recorder for her, he said.

Mr Thomson followed his father's footsteps and worked on stage designwhile his daughter Rowena went into stage management until she became a mum.

He had high hopes for Rowena's five-year-old daughter, who was ballet-mad, he said, and showed promise of following in her great-grandmother's footsteps.

The drama club had been a creative outlet for the whole town in the last five decades, and while there was now more competition for entertainment, it still had a magic to it, that kept people involved, he said.

''In those days it was everyone from the local barber to the shopkeeper, the whole community was involved. People still come from Invercargill to be part of the crowd. In year's past we've had two lots of social clubs come down on buses.''

This year's show had a cast of about 20, with the three-night run promising to be highly entertaining and family friendly, he said.

Theatre restaurant performance was ''a lot of fun'', he said.

Cruizin' will be held on October 11 to 13 at the Bluff Town Hall.

Bookings can be made by emailing shelly.perkins@xtra.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News

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