Joseph Musaphia (born 1935) is a New Zealand writer and actor who was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Biography

Joseph Musaphia was born in 1935 in

and he has

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

ancestry. He moved with his family to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia and lived there from 1938 until 1946 when they moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. He attended

Christchurch Boys' High School , motto_translation = I Seek Higher Things , type = State school, Day and Boarding school , gender = Boys , song = The School We Magnify , colours = Blue and Black , established = , address = 71 Straven R ...

and left age 15. He spent three years as an apprentice motor mechanic until he switched to art and cartooning, working in commercial art for ten years. Over a period of three years, while we was in his early twenties his cartoons were published weekly in ''The Listener'' magazine. Musaphia started writing and acting for stage, screen and radio after his first play was produced by the New Zealand Theatre Company in 1961. He was inspired to write after attending the Unity Theatre production of ''

Look Back In Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' by John Osborne. In 1971 Musaphia and Roger Hall won a

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for best television comedy, ''Australia A – Z''. The play ''Mother and Fathers'' first presented in 1975 at the

Fortune Theatre The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre on Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. Since 1989 the theatre has hosted the long running play ''The Woman in Black''. History The site was acquired by author, playw ...

in Dunedin also had presentations in at the Court Theatre and

Downstage In theatre, blocking is the precise staging of actors to facilitate the performance of a Play (theatre), play, ballet, film or opera. Historically, the expectations of staging/blocking have changed substantially over time in Western theater. Prio ...

in Wellington. Musaphia acted in the early productions. It was so popular in Wellington it transferred to the much larger theatre the

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

for three nights. In 1979 he received the first

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

Writer's Fellowship.

Circa Theatre Circa Theatre is a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that was established in 1976. They present a number of plays each year in their two auditoriums, and have a unique partnership and funding model with incoming shows unde ...

chose the Musaphia play ''Mates'' to celebrate their tenth year in 1986 and it was directed and starred

Ray Henwood Charles Raymond Henwood (15 January 1937 – 26 August 2019) was a Welsh-born New Zealand actor. He was married to district court judge Carolyn Henwood, and was the father of New Zealand comedian Dai Henwood. Born in Swansea, Wales, on 15 ...

. Musaphia wrote his first novel in 1997, has been a columnist for '' The Evening Post'' in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and continues to write stage and radio plays.

Stage Plays

* 1971 – ''The Guerilla'' * 1973 – ''Victims -'' premiered at

1973 * 1974 – ''Obstacles -'' premiered at

1974 * 1975 ''- Mother and Fathers -'' premiered at the

, revised in 2005 * 1980 - ''Hunting -'' premiered at

* 1983 - ''A Fair Go For Charlie Wellman'' * 1983 - ''The Plague'' * 1986 - ''Mates -'' premiered at Circa Theatre * 1988 - ''The New Zealander -'' premiered at the Fortune Theatre * 2018 – ''Problems -'' premiered at Circa Theatre

Radio Plays

* 1976 – ''Flotsam and Jetsum'' (

NZBC The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

) * 1976 – ''The Guerilla'' (NZBC) * 1976 – ''Never Let it Be Said'' (NZBC) * 1978 – ''Just Desserts'' (NZBC) * 1979 – ''Mind Jogging'' (NZBC) * 1985 – ''Mothers and Fathers'' (

RNZ Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

)

Film and television

* 2019 – ''Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy'', Subject – Television * 1986 – ''Between the Lines'', Writer – Television * 1983 – ''Comedy Playhouse'', Writer – Television * 1975 – 1976, ''Today at One'', Writer, Actor – Television * 1974 – 1975, ''Buck House'', Writer – Television * 1973, ''Richard John Seddon – Premier'', Actor – Television * 1971, ''Noel Ferrier's Australia A-Z'', Writer – Television * 1969 – 1970, ''In View of the Circumstances'', Actor, Writer – Television * 1967 – 1968, ''Joe's World'' – Presenter, Writer – Television * 1966 – ''Don’t Let It Go'' – film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musaphia, Joe 1935 births Living people New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights 20th-century New Zealand male writers New Zealand people of Portuguese descent Writers from London English emigrants to New Zealand People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School