On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover is a satirical book, published in 2005 with a new edition released in 2008, by the pseudonymous author Richard Meros, [1] and an adapted play of the same name written by Arthur Meek and Geoff Pinfield.
The book was conceived while the author was in Minneapolis, and completed while he was writing a Masters thesis at Victoria University of Wellington. [2] It centres on the author's belief that Helen Clark, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, would find personal and political rejuvenation if she was to take on a younger lover, and that the ideal person to be that lover is Meros. The author contends that Helen Clark is a woman of intellectual pursuits and that:
"her surroundings of subordinates ... probably leaves her with unfulfilled desires for a situation where roles are reversed and she can become the double-double agent of gender deconstructions." [3]
It covers such subjects as Rogernomics and a bus strike. The book also contains detailed descriptions of flesh and bodily fluids.
The first edition was published by Lawrence and Gibson had a print-run of only 50 copies, but further editions were subsequently released. As of January 2008 the author claimed that only 16 copies had been sold, [4] but in August of that year, after the success of the play, stated that over 400 had been sold. [2]
The Guardian described the book as a treatise of "sociology, psychoanalysis and cringe-making erotica". [5]
The book was adapted for stage by actor Arthur Meek and director Geoff Pinfield, and premiered at Wellington's BATS Theatre in early 2008. In the play Meek portrays Meros giving a PowerPoint presentation lecture tour, narrating why Helen Clark needs a young lover, bringing the issue to the Prime Minister's attention, [6] and impressing her intellect:
"She is a very rational woman. It would take more than chocolates or flowers to woo her. The show is designed to appeal to that rationality" [7]
He critiques individualist liberalism and imagines being taken by Clark to a secret "pleasure dome" and bolsters his argument with Kantian theory. The play was well received critically [8] and described as "slightly disturbing, but highly entertaining... sharp political satire". [9] The play is said to have been seen by staffers of Helen Clark, and recommended by her husband Peter Davis. [7] After a successful first season the play toured New Zealand, and returned to Wellington's Downstage Theatre for a second season.
William Manhire is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, founded the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2001, and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria. He has received many notable awards including a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.
BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zealand.
Helen Elizabeth Clark is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was New Zealand's fifth-longest-serving prime minister, and the second woman to hold that office.
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.
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.
The International Institute of Modern Letters is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has taught many leading New Zealand writers. It publishes the annual Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems anthology and an online journal, and offers several writing residencies. Until 2013 the IIML was led by the poet Bill Manhire, who had headed Victoria's creative writing programme since 1975; since his retirement, Damien Wilkins has taken over as the IIML's director.
Lawrence & Gibson is an independent publisher founded in Wellington, New Zealand in 2005. The organisation functions as a non-profit worker collective where profits are split 50/50 between author and publisher.
Murdoch Stephens is a New Zealand author, researcher and refugee advocate. He is founding editor of Lawrence & Gibson publishing and previously wrote under the name Richard Meros. In 2013 he founded the Double the Refugee Quota campaign that led to the doubling of New Zealand's refugee quota in 2020.
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.
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.
Emily Tess Duncan is a New Zealand playwright. She is co-founder of Prospect Park Productions, an organisation aiming “to create and produce original New Zealand theatre and collaborative projects that reach into other art forms." Duncan held the 2019 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She lives in Dunedin.
Elisabeth Easther is a New Zealand actor, broadcaster, journalist and playwright. She played Carla Crozier on New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street from May 1995 to July 1996, and has since had a varied career in television, radio, journalism and playwriting. Her play Seed won the Adam NZ Play Award for Best Play in 2014.
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".
Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington is a New Zealand theatre studies academic, director, actor and author. She has directed more than 130 productions, and established the Theatre Aotearoa database. In 2014 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Dunedin Theatre Awards, and was three times winner of a New Zealand Listener Best Director award, including one for Tom Scott's The Daylight Atheist.
Arthur Meek, born in 1981, is a New Zealand playwright and actor. He is a graduate of Theatre Studies at Otago University and of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School. He graduated from Toi Whakaari with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in 2006.
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.
Jan Patricia Bolwell is a Wellington-based New Zealand playwright, choreographer, director, dancer and teacher of dance. She established the Crows Feet Dance Collective in 1999 and remains its director.
Helen Elizabeth Beaglehole is a New Zealand writer, editor and historian. She is known for her children's books including Two Tigers (1993) and War Zones (2005), and for her historical books about New Zealand's lighthouses and rural fire-fighting.
David John O'Donnell is a theatre director, actor and academic based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has been a full professor at Victoria University of Wellington since 2019.
Madeleine Elsie Chapman is a New Zealand editor, journalist and author, and the current editor of The Spinoff and former editor of North & South. Chapman co-wrote the autobiography of New Zealand professional basketball player, Steven Adams, and in 2020 a biography of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.
Meros is... actually a pseudonym