New Zealand’s Most Notable Playwrights

auckland theatre

New Zealand is perhaps first and foremost known for its fairly recent rise to cinematic stardom. Thanks to Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings and, more recently, Taika Waititi, NZ is renowned for its movie prowess. It is also home to some exceptional playwrights, however. Read on to find out who we reckon are the top 10 the country has produced. Let’s exploce New Zealand’s Most Notable Playwrights below.

New Zealand’s Most Notable Playwrights

Bruce Mason

Bruce Mason is another legend on our list who didn’t just focus on writing plays, but was also a poet, fiction writer, critic and journalist. More than anything though, he was instrumental in breaking new ground within New Zealand’s cultural landscape.
He was also a leading force in New Zealand‘s first professional theatre and penned 34 plays. The most famous of his works is The End of the Golden Weather, in which he recalls and recounts growing up in Takapuna. He was awarded a CBE in 1980, died in 1982, and in 1996 the Bruce Mason Theatre opened on the North Shore.

b3f7f7250c11577a6a043976f157dec0a068d6d4

Michelanne Forster

Born in California, Michelanne Forster has been hugely successful not just in the New Zealand theatre scene, but also in Australia, Canada and the United States. She has written prize-winning plays for adults and children alike, as well as plays for the radio.
In 1996 and 1997 she won the coveted Best Radio New Zealand Drama award for The Rosenberg Sisters and Larnach Castle of Lies, respectively. She has also been made a Writer in Residence at The University of Canterbury and University of Auckland.

Mervyn Thompson

In the world of New Zealand theatre during the 1970’s and 1980’s there was no one who commanded more of the room than Mervyn Thompson. He was an outspoken man who wrote, directed, and acted in theatre that presented New Zealand working class history and experience. He was a man beset by controversy and wasn’t afraid of confrontation, and many allude to him as a sort of theatrical rockstar of his day. Mervyn was a co-founder of the Court Theatre, Christchurch and from 1971 to 1974 was co-director of it. In 1975 to 1976, he was artistic director of Downstage, Wellington and during this time he wrote his first plays.

New Zealand's Most Notable Playwrights

Roger Hall

Roger Hall is likely the most successful and internationally recognised of all New Zealand’s playwrights. Many successful play productions followed Glide Time his first play, which was produced in 1976 together with musicals, pantomimes, radio dramas, books and plays for children and comedy series for television.
His plays have been performed in many other countries, and he has had Conjugal Rites produced as a sitcom in the UK. All in all he has more than 40 plays to his credit, and been given more awards than we have room for here. If satirical comedy is your thing, then you may want take a look at some of Hall’s work. He’s somewhat of a master.

Kate De Goldi

Kate De Goldi is a short story writer, an author of young adult fiction, a children’s book author and a writer of journalism articles. De Goldi also regularly reviews books on radio and television. She won the American Express and Katherine Mansfield Memorial awards for short stories, as well as the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award in 2005 and 2009.
The 10pm Question (2008) won the Young Adult section of the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards and the 2011 Corine International Book Prize Young Readers Award.

image asset 2

Paul Cleave

Paul Cleave is an internationally bestselling author who is currently dividing him time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where all of his novels are set, and London. Movie rights have been sold to his first book, The Cleaner, and will be a European production. His sixth novel, The Laughterhouse, is due for release this year. Read about Paul Cleave’s recent adventure on Franz Josef Glacier: Frisbee on ice hiking on Franz Josef Glacier. This is once of New Zealand’s Most Notable Playwrights.

eight col Author Paul Cleave 8

Catherine Robertson

Catherine Robertson’s debut novel, The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid (2011), hit the New Zealand bestseller list immediately, and got as far as number one. Radio New Zealand called the book ‘absolutely brilliant’, with another reviewer describing Robertson as ‘a new national treasure’.
Robertson’s second novel, The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence will be released this year. Read about Catherine Robertson’s recent adventure on Kapiti Island: A kaka stole my cornflakes.

New Zealand's Most Notable Playwrights