''Foreskin's Lament'' is a play by New Zealand playwright
Greg McGee
Gregory William McGee is a New Zealand writer and playwright, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Alix Bosco.
Biography
McGee was born in 1950 in the South Island town of Oamaru. In his early 20s McGee played rugby as a Junior All ...
, first performed in 1980.
Plot
The play is a drama set in a
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
changing room after a practice, and at an after-match party. The captain is kicked in the head off-stage at the beginning of the first act, and again during the game between acts, by his own teammate and the play's antagonist, Clean. He dies in hospital during the second act. The play ends with Foreskin directly addressing the audience in a monologue filled with rugby allusions, questioning their own values, ending with the repeated question, "Whaddarya?"
History
The play was initially workshopped at the New Zealand Playwrights' Conference in Wellington in 1980. It was produced immediately before and during the social unrest of the
1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand. It was named Best New Zealand Play of 1981.
Downstage Theatre Company put on two productions, on 1985 and in 1995 with some of the original cast reprising their roles.
The script was updated after the 1981 tour and was later revised by the author for filming as ''Skin and Bones''.
Eleanor Bishop created an adaption of the play called ''Boys'' that premiered with the
Auckland Theatre Company
Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) is a professional theatre company in Auckland. It was founded in 1992 and since 2016 has been based in ASB Waterfront Theatre in the Wynyard Quarter in central Auckland.
History
Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) wa ...
in 2017 and was performed at the
Court Theatre (Christchurch) in 2021''.'' The first part is a presentation of Act 1, the second part is a commentary on this by young women and the third part is a deconstructed presentation of the third act of Foreskin's Lament.
Analysis
The play is set in 1976, and looks forward to the 1981 Springbok Tour. Some have suggested that the ironically named character "Clean" is based on the New Zealand Prime Minister,
Rob Muldoon
Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st prime minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Departing from National Party convention, Mu ...
.
It has been described as the "definitive denunciation of redneck rugby culture".
References
External links
New Zealand On AirGreg McGeeReview of 1999 production
1981 plays
New Zealand plays
Rugby union in New Zealand
Rugby union and apartheid
Rugby union controversies
Plays about sport
{{NewZealand-culture-stub