Jean Betts

Last updated

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.theplaypress.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

Related Research Articles

Tungia Dorothea Gloria Baker was a New Zealand actor, weaver, and administrator. Her notable acting roles included Ngahuia in the 1980s television drama Open House and Hira in the 1993 film The Piano. Baker was influential in contemporary Māori theatre, Māori film making and Māori arts. She named the Taki Rua Theatre, and was a founding member of Māori artists' collectives Te Manu Aute and Haeata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downstage Theatre</span> Former theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand

Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building. Former directors include Sunny Amey, Mervyn Thompson, and Colin McColl.

David Geary is a Māori writer from New Zealand who is known for his plays The Learners Stand, Lovelocks Dream Run and Pack of Girls. For television he has written for New Zealand series Shortland Street and Jackson's Wharf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards</span> Annual theatre awards in Wellington, New Zealand (1992–2014)

The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards were the main theatre awards in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, from 1992–2014, and have been succeeded by the Wellington Theatre Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Rodger</span> New Zealand playwright

Victor John Rodger is a New Zealand journalist, actor and award-winning playwright of Samoan and Pākehā heritage. Rodger's play Sons won acclaim at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards (1998) and received the Best New Writer and Most Outstanding New New Zealand Play awards. In 2001, he won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorae Parry</span> New Zealand playwright and actor

Lorae Ann Parry is a New Zealand playwright and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Randerson</span> New Zealand writer, director, and performer

Joanna Ruth Randerson is a New Zealand writer, director and performer. She is the founder and artistic director of Barbarian Productions, a Wellington-based theatre production company.

Robert Lord was the first New Zealand professional playwright. He was one of the first New Zealand playwrights to have plays produced abroad since Merton Hodge in the 1930s.

Joseph Musaphia is a New Zealand writer and actor who was born in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Delahunty</span> New Zealand writer and director

Sarah Delahunty is a New Zealand writer and director who was born in Wellington. An award-winning playwright, Delahunty has written over 30 plays, often focussing on works for youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Ink Theatre Company</span> Theatre company in New Zealand

Indian Ink Theatre Company is a New Zealand theatre company founded by actor Jacob Rajan and director/writer Justin Lewis. Founded in 1996, Indian Ink's first theatrical production was Krishnan's Dairy, which went on to win the Chapman Tripp Award for Production of the Year (1997). The following year Krishnan's Dairy presented in the bigger theatre Downstage Theatre and was so popular the season was extended by five shows. Over the years Indian Inks productions have been toured through New Zealand and overseas with presentations including Krishnan's Dairy, The Candlestick Maker, and The Pickle King. Their most recent production is Dirty Work: An Ode to Joy (2023).

Taki Rua is a theatre organisation based in Wellington, New Zealand that has produced many contemporary Māori theatre productions. Taki Rua has been going since 1983 and has had several name changes over that time including The New Depot, Depot Theatre and Taki Rua / The Depot. The full current name is Taki Rua Productions. Since inception the mission of Taki Rua has been to showcase work from New Zealand. Because of this and the longevity of Taki Rua many significant New Zealand actors, directors, writers, designers and producers have part of the history including Riwia Brown, Nathaniel Lees, Rachel House and Taika Waititi.

Unity Theatre was a theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, founded in 1942 that ran until around 1979. It pre-dated professional theatre in New Zealand, which started in the mid 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circa Theatre</span> Wellington theatre company

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 underpinned with a cooperative principle.

Sunny Amey is a theatre director and educator born in New Zealand. She worked at the National Theatre of England during its formative years alongside Laurence Olivier, as artistic director of Downstage Theatre in the 1970s and the director of New Zealand's national drama school Toi Whakaari in the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kia Mau Festival</span> Performing arts festival in New Zealand

The Kia Mau Festival, previously called Ahi Kaa Festival, is a biennial performing arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand. In te reo Māori, kia mau is "a call to stay - an invitation to join us".

Catherine Patricia Downes is a New Zealand theatre director, actor, dramaturg and playwright. Of Māori descent, she affiliates to Ngāi Tahu. Downes wrote a one-woman play The Case of Katherine Mansfield, which she has performed more than 1000 times in six countries over twenty years. She has been the artistic director of the Court Theatre in Christchurch and the director of Downstage Theatre in Wellington. She lives on Waiheke Island and works as a freelance actor, director and playwright.

Wednesday to Come is the first play in a trilogy by New Zealand playwright Renée. The second play in the trilogy is Pass It On, and the third is Jeannie Once. The play follows the women of a family during the Great Depression in New Zealand.

Jason Te Kare is a New Zealand director, playwright and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David O'Donnell (actor-director)</span> New Zealand theatre academic and theatre director (1956- )

David John O'Donnell is a New Zealand theatre director, actor, and academic based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has taught at Victoria University of Wellington since 1999, and is as of 2021 a full professor.

References

  1. 1 2 "Spotlight Jean Betts". No. 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.