''The Tree'' is a New Zealand play by Stella Jones that premiered in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England in 1957.

Information

Subject

The play is set on the back porch of a New Zealand home and tells the story of a daughter returning home after 15 years' absence. The central relationship is between the mother, who has not achieved her life-long goals, and the daughter, who has experienced so much through her travels.

Honours and critical response

The play won second prize in the Southland Centennial Playwriting Competition in 1956, however it was rejected by a number of New Zealand theatres. It was subsequently purchased by a London agent and debuted in Bristol. After it achieved success in England, the

New Zealand Players The New Zealand Players were one of New Zealand's first professional theatre companies, active between 1952 and 1960. The company's director was Richard Campion, who with his wife and co-founder Edith Campion were former members of the New Zeala ...

, who had previously rejected it, toured forty North Island towns with it in 1959. It was met with critical acclaim, ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' calling it "an adult, compelling and first-class piece of work". It was published in 1960 by

Whitcombe and Tombs Whitcoulls is a major New Zealand book, stationery, gift, games & toy retail chain. Formerly known as Whitcombe & Tombs, it has 54 stores nationally. Whitcombe & Tombs was founded in 1888, and Coulls Somerville Wilkie in 1871. The companies mer ...

with New Zealand Literary Fund support. Contemporary critics compared ''The Tree'' to Arthur Miller's style of playwriting, and particularly his 1947 play ''

All My Sons ''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1949, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (t ...

'', with its sparse dialogue and portrayal of a family under pressure. It was also compared to New Zealand playwright Bruce Mason's ''The Pohutukawa Tree,'' with comment that Jones' text read "much more smoothly" than Mason's. 1980s commentators on the play point out that the father's role is relatively insignificant, and that other of Jones' works also show strong female lead characters, although this gender-based analysis may not have been apparent to audiences in the 1950s. The play is recommended reading for drama papers at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, and was included in a Landmark New Zealand Play Reading Series in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, The New Zealand plays 1957 plays