First published in 1996 and now updated, this book contains plays by established New Zealand writers that were written for lunchtime theatre. They are informal one-act plays, lasting less than an hour, requiring little in the way of stage equipment and props, and suitable for a wide range of audiences. Their condensed form gave their authors an opportunity to experiment with scripting and characterization. Together, they represent a variety of perspectives and performance styles. The plays offered small "adventures in theatre" for the writer, and continue to do so for directors, performers, audiences and readers.
Playlunch : Five Short New Zealand Plays
Description
Table of Contents
Introduction; The Lunchtime Theatre Programme; The Private War of Corporal Cooper; The Rosenberg Sisters; An Illustrated Death of Eddie Fivetrees; Tiggy Tiggy Touch Wood; Chook Chook.
Author Description
Christine Prentice is a senior lecturer in the English Department at the University of Otago, specialising in New Zealand literature, postcolonial literatures and theory, cultural studies and theory, and indigenous literatures in English. Lisa Warrington is a theatre director and associate professor in theatre studies at the University of Otago. She has directed over 125 productions, including 30 for Dunedin's professional company the Fortune Theatre. She has commissioned new works and served as director or dramaturg with Playmarket (the national playwrights' agency) on a number of new play workshops. She co-edited Playlunch, a volume of short plays that is now in its second edition (OUP), and has published a number of articles on New Zealand theatre and colonial theatre history. Theatre Aotearoa, Lisa's database of all New Zealand theatre, including over 14,000 productions, may be viewed at http:// tadb.otago.ac.nz