Wellingtonians love mysteries and they love dressing up, so actress Kerina Deas is not surprised that The Affair of the Diamond Necklace is coming back.  
 
The lavish and popular theatrical mystery returns in December.
 

Wellingtonians love mysteries and they love dressing up, so actress Kerina Deas is not surprised that The Affair of the Diamond Necklace is coming back.  
 
The lavish and popular theatrical mystery returns in December.
 
“We’re a thinking city, a creative city, and there’s nothing we like more than entertainment we can really get our teeth into,” says Deas.  
 
Indeed, this is no ordinary evening out.  
 
St James Theatre will again be transformed into the exuberant court of Marie Antoinette, the beautiful and doomed Queen of France. Guests will learn period
dances, enjoy live music from the Vector Wellington Orchestra, and indulge in a lavish themed banquet.
 
Deas is enthusiastic about the many layers of the evening.  

“There really is something for everyone. I love seeing the audience get pulled in. When you’re surrounded on all sides by people dressed as French nobles, its easy to
get caught up in the experience.”
 
The show is produced by the international creative design collective, Eklektus Inc., who have been careful to give the show a strong backbone of real history.  
 
Deas, who plays the charming, cunning Countess de Lamotte, says this careful research makes a real difference.  
 
“It’s special because it’s a true story. It might be the greatest whodunnit in history. It’s amazing that so many larger-than-life historical figures were entangled in one of the cheekiest cons ever!”

The mystery of the necklace has fascinated and perplexed historians for centuries, without ever being definitively solved. Although there are lots of theories about what happened, no-one knows for sure who was really behind it, or why.
 
It all makes for a great night out, says Deas.  
 
“Fine dining among the scandals of old Versailles! What’s not to love about that?”

The Affair of the Diamond Necklace
 St James Theatre
Saturday December 12
 
Produced by Eklektus Inc.  
Directed by Eric Dorfman.  
Written by Morgan Davie.  

Supported by a grant from the New Zealand Performing Arts Foundation, and by the French Embassy.