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Southern Comedy Players
The Southern Comedy Players, later the Southern Players and the Southern Theatre Trust, were a New Zealand theatre company, active between 1957 and 1971. They were founded by William Menlove and Bernard Esquilant, and based in Dunedin. The company initially toured throughout the South Island, and then occasionally nationally. Menlove and Esquilant's intention in forming the company had been to focus on the South Island towns that were too small to merit a visit by the New Zealand Players. The initial repertoire was mainly popular contemporary West End comedy and musicals. After the success of the first two shows, ''Charley's Aunt'' and Noel Coward's ''Private Lives'', the company toured nationally with the musical Salad Days. They played 134 performance in 78 towns to approximately 70,000 people, which equalled the achievements of the New Zealand Players with the same show in 1956. In 1962 the company converted the former Foresters' Lodge hall on Albany Street in Dunedin into ...
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New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ...
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The Pohutukawa Tree
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ...
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1957 Establishments In New Zealand
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1950s decade. Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having '' handled the ball'', in Test cricket. * January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns. * January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar. * January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars. * January 15 – The film ''Throne of Blood'', Akira Kurosawa's reworking of '' Ma ...
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Theatre Companies In New Zealand
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pav ...
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The Importance Of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian morality, Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lor ...
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Terry MacTavish
Terry Isobel MacTavish (born 1950) is an actor and teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand. Early life and family MacTavish was born in Taiwan in 1950, where her parents MacDonald MacTavish, a Scottish Free Church minister, and Shona Dunlop MacTavish, were working at the English Presbyterian Church Mission in Tainan. Her mother taught English and ballet to the local children. The family later moved to South Africa, where MacTavish's parents worked as missionaries: her father died there in 1957, and she returned to New Zealand with her mother and two siblings to live in Dunedin. Career MacTavish's acting career started with the Southern Players at age 18. She went on to perform in productions at the Globe Theatre and the Fortune Theatre. For 47 years MacTavish taught at Queen’s High School, Dunedin, including being head of drama. She was part of the educational group that developed drama in a new arts curriculum in New Zealand including establishing drama as an NCEA subje ...
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Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council
The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets and audiences for New Zealand arts domestically and internationally. Its funding consists of approximately 30% central government funding and the remaining amount from the Lotteries Commission. In 2014/15, the Arts Council invested a record $43.6 million in New Zealand arts and arts organisations. Funding is available for artists, community groups and arts organisations. Creative New Zealand funds projects and organisations across many art-forms, including theatre, dance, music, literature, visual art, craft object art, Māori arts, Pacific arts, Inter-arts and Multi-disciplinary. Funding Creative New Zealand funding is distributed under four broad funding programmes: * Investment programmes * Grants and special opportunities * Creati ...
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Globe Theatre, Dunedin
Globe Theatre is a theatre located in Dunedin, New Zealand, and the amateur theatre company that runs it. The theatre was built in 1961 by Patric and Rosalie Carey as an extension of their house. The building to which it is attached, at 104 London Street, was designed by architect William Mason as his own house and built in 1864. Ralph Hotere designed both sets and costumes for the theatre productions. The foyer area was also used for exhibitions, notably the Waterfall paintings of Colin McCahon, paintings by Michael Smither, and pots by Barry Brickell, Len Castle, and Doreen Blumhardt. 104 London Street as residence The large family house at 104 London Street was designed by architect William Mason as his own house and built in 1864. Mason built his residence at 104 London Street in 1864. When he retired to Glenorchy, he sold the house to Robert Blackadder, a Dunedin merchant, who occupied it from 1879 to 1901, and then sold it to Dunedin draper Herbert Haynes, who resided ...
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Bruce Mason
Bruce Edward George Mason (28 September 1921 – 31 December 1982) was a significant playwright in New Zealand who wrote 34 plays and influenced the cultural landscape of the country through his contribution to theatre. In 1980, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award, one of the most important playwrighting accolades in New Zealand, is named in his honour. Mason was also an actor, critic, and fiction writer. Mason's most well known play is ''The End of the Golden Weather'', a classic work in New Zealand theatre, which he performed solo more than 500 times in many New Zealand towns. It was made into a feature film directed by Ian Mune in 1991. Another significant play is ''The Pohutukawa Tree'' written during the 1950s and 1960s. ''The Pohutukawa Tree'' was Mason's first major success and explored Māori and Pākehā themes, a common thread in most of his works. Theatre was an avenue for Mason to highlight social a ...
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Theatre Company
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pav ...
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Playhouse Theatre, Dunedin
The Playhouse Theatre is a theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was converted from a lodge into a 100-seat theatre by the Southern Comedy Players in 1962. Since the late 1960s it has been home to the Dunedin Repertory Society, who regularly perform youth productions for children. Southern Comedy Players The building, at 31 Albany Street, dates from 1876, and was converted from the Foresters' Lodge Hall in 1962 by William Menlove and Bernard Esquilant for theatre company Southern Comedy Players. When opened the theatre had 100 seats, and the "Stage Set" cafe and a craft exhibition space on the top floor. The repertoire for the Southern Comedy Players included contemporary West End comedy, musicals, classics and dramas. The Southern Comedy Players became the Southern Theatre Trust which folded in 1970. Dunedin Repertory Society The Playhouse is home to the Dunedin Repertory Society, which was formed in 1931 but has been based at The Playhouse since the late 1960s. The S ...
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