Jean Betts

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Jean Betts is a New Zealand playwright, actor and director.

Contents

Background

Jean Betts emigrated with her parents (both founders of Unity Theatre, London), to Christchurch, New Zealand. She obtained a degree at University of Canterbury in English Literature and New Zealand and Pacific History. [1] Betts graduated from Toi Whakaari: the New Zealand Drama School in 1970, the inaugural year when its founder, Nola Millar, was principal. Her classmates were Elizabeth Coulter, Jennifer Ludlam, Denise Maunder, Joanna Miekle, John Otto, William (Bill) Petley, Darien Takle and Bevan Wilson. [2]

Career

She has written many plays including Revenge of the Amazons, Ophelia Thinks Harder, The Collective and The Misandrist. [3] The Collective is a dramatisation of the story of Brecht's theatre collective based on the book "Brecht & Co" by John Fuegi.

She worked for many years as actor and director at Gateway, BATS, Downstage Theatre and Circa Theatre. She was involved with the development of professional theatre in New Zealand including as a foundation member of Playmarket (New Zealand, 1975), Circa Theatre (Wellington, 1976) and Taki Rua/The Depot Theatre (Wellington, 1983). [4] [5]

In 1979 Jean worked at ESTA (English Speaking Theatre Amsterdam) as actor/director, and was a founding member of the expatriate (New Zealand) group 'The Heartache and Sorrow Company' (directing) [6] [3] which presented work in Amsterdam, Germany, Australia, London and at the Edinburgh Festival, where the group received a 'Fringe First' and a Scotsman's Award.

In 1993 she was a founding member of WOPPA (Women's Professional Playwrights Association), [7] set up to celebrate NZ's centenary of women's suffrage with a group of new plays by women, which premiered her play Ophelia Thinks Harder. [1] and established The Women's Play Press with Lorae Parry, Cathy Downes, Vivienne Plumb and Fiona Samuel. Her plays Ophelia Thinks Harder, a feminist response to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, and Revenge of the Amazons, a feminist re-vamp of A Midsummer Night's Dream, have subsequently been produced many times. In 2005 she set up a small NZ play publishing project, The Play Press (www.playpress.co.nz).

Awards

She has been a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize twice; and in 2015 received the Playmarket Award of $20,000 for her contribution to New Zealand Theatre. [3]

Plays

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References

  1. 1 2 "Spotlight Jean Betts" (11297039703). Playmarket. Playmarket News.
  2. ↑ Guest, Bill (2010). Transitions : four decades of Toi Whakaari : New Zealand Drama School. Wellington [N.Z.]: Victoria University Press. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-86473-642-0. OCLC   669968400.
  3. 1 2 3 "Jean Betts awarded 2015 Playmarket Award". Creative New Zealand. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Circa 1996 - 2016. Wellington, New Zealand: Whitireia Publishing. 2016. p. 2. ISBN   978-0-9941302-3-5.
  5. ↑ Maufort, Marc; O'Donnell, David, eds. (2007). Performing Aotearoa : New Zealand theatre and drama in an age of transition. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. ISBN   978-90-5201-359-6. OCLC   165412282.
  6. ↑ "AusStage". The Australian Live Performance Database. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  7. ↑ "Women's Professional Playwrights Association". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Betts, Jean (2005). The Collective. Wellington, New Zealand: The Play Press. ISBN   1-877319-10-4.
  9. ↑ "Jean Betts". Playmarket. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Betts, Jean (1998). Revenge of the Amazons. Wellington, New Zealand: The Women's Play Press. ISBN   0958339368.
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