CONTEMPORARY THEATRE LEGENDS PAY HOMAGE TO NZ’S GREATEST PLAYWRIGHT
Brilliant Adventures presents
EVERY KIND OF WEATHER
The End of the Golden Weather and Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes by Bruce Mason
Marking the centennial of the birth of Bruce Mason - arguably the most significant playwright in our country’s history - two contemporary legends of Aotearoa theatre have created a brilliant homage to his enduring legacy in Every Kind of Weather, coming to Wellington’s Circa Theatre (August 19 – September 11) and Auckland Live’s Herald Theatre (October 6–24). Director Shane Bosher and actor Stephen Lovatt offer audiences the chance to see two of Mason’s most beloved solo works - The End of the Golden Weather and Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes - performed in repertory.
A prolific writer, Bruce Mason had a unique ability to create spell-binding stories from the regular lives of Kiwis, earning a CBE in 1980 for his contributions. Consistently a champion of the underdog, his works explored identity, difference, and cultural cringe; they took Mason from community halls in Aotearoa’s smallest towns to the Edinburgh Festival. The two works that Shane Bosher has selected for this celebration are both timeless recounts of a boy in his adolescence, and his attempts to find a place in the world.
The quintessential Kiwi classic, ‘The End of the Golden Weather’ chronicles the friendship between a 12-year-old boy and the wild-limbed Firpo. Through the boy’s eyes we see the wonder of life on a perfect beach, in a perfect 1930s New Zealand, during a perfect summer. It’s a world of magic and transformation, where anything can happen, and miracles seem possible.
An adolescent boy tries to find his place in an adult-dominated world in ‘Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes’. A richly autobiographical search for self-expression, profound and true, it is a set of variations about over-reaching, cheekily confronting our very own Tall Poppy Syndrome.
The End of the Golden Weather has become a part of New Zealand theatrical history, and potentially his best-known solo work that was performed by Mason himself nearly 1000 times. Before New Zealand had a professional theatre and struggling to make ends meet, Mason famously first performed the work on a beach in 1959. A poignant piece about the loss of innocence in the wake of the Great Depression, this ever-relevant work grapples with what it means to be a New Zealander. The iconic work has also become part of Stephen Lovatt’s legacy as an actor – first in Murray Lynch’s 1990 ensemble version alongside Cliff Curtis, Robyn Malcolm, and Theresa Healey, before his 2006 solo version toured around Aotearoa and to Edinburgh. That same year, as a gift to the community, Lovatt began his Christmas morning tradition of performing an early section from the play ‘Christmas at Te Parenga’ on Takapuna Beach, where Mason grew up. Now, with his performance that has captured hearts and spirits of thousands over the years, Lovatt performs the monologue in its entirety as part of this special celebration.
Its companion piece, Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes, was staged towards the end of the playwright’s life and has never been performed by anyone other than Mason himself. The title is inspired by the infamous school playground put-down ‘he thinks he’s Christmas, but he’s only Guy Fawkes’ and the play itself is a series of cautionary tales. Bosher and Lovatt have, with the engagement of the Bruce Mason Estate, further adapted the work, incorporating new material from his last interviews which is richly autobiographical and deeply introspective.
“His psychological profiling sets a standard for revealing human nature and experience in its ‘warts and all’ glory, which his audience is free to engage with through empathy, judgement or both.”
– John Smythe from his book The Plays of Bruce Mason.
Shane Bosher and Stephen Lovatt are frequent collaborators - already having worked together on the sell-out Things I Know to be True and the premiere season of Bosher’s 2018 Adam Award winning play Everything After in 2021. Every Kind of Weather builds on a shared canon between the pair that includes Uncle Vanya (2017), Angels in America (2014), The Only Child (2011) and When the Rain Stops Falling (2010) which earned Lovatt ‘Best Male Performance’ in the 2010 Herald, Herald on Sunday, and The Listener Awards.
With two pieces that bookend his career, this double shot of Bruce Mason is a fitting tribute to a man that changed theatre in this country forever. Every Kind of Weather is presented by Brilliant Adventures in collaboration with The Bruce Mason Estate with the support of Circa Theatre and Auckland Live. Presented by arrangement with Playmarket.
EVERY KIND OF WEATHER plays:
Circa Theatre, Wellington
August 19 – September 11
$25 - $52
Tickets available via Circa Theatre
The End of the Golden Weather
19 Aug – 11 Sep
Weds & Fri 7.30pm; Sat 4pm & Sun 4.30pm
Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes
21 Aug – 11 Sep
Tues, Thurs & Sat 7.30pm
See both shows in conversation with each other on Saturdays: August 28, September 4, and September 11
4pm: The End of the Golden Weather
7.30pm: Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes
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Herald Theatre, Auckland
October 6-23
Ticket prices
Tickets on-sale soon via Ticketmaster
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Imagery via Dropbox
Credits:
PLAYWRIGHT – Bruce Mason
DIRECTOR – Shane Bosher
PERFORMER – Stephen Lovatt
DESIGNERS – Jane Hakaraia, Sean Lynch and Paul McLaney
PHOTOGRAPHY – Ralph Brown
COMPANY – Brilliant Adventures