Playwright Abby Howells

In the final episode of season two of Play:Notes, Allison and Emily discuss Banging Cymbal, Clanging Gong with playwright Jo Randerson and how both the work and the playwright have changed since it was first presented in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 2001.Links:Jo Randerson PlaymarketBanging Cymbal Clanging Gong ScriptBarbarian ProductionsThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

For the second of three episodes on women playwrights connected to Ōtepoti Dunedin, Allison and Emily are joined by Amy Wright to talk about the script she developed during the 2021 Otepoti Theatre Lab Playwrights Programme, Wish Yeti Were Here.  Links:Amy Wright PlaymarketWish Yeti Were Here ScripThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

For the first of three episodes on women playwrights connected to Ōtepoti Dunedin, Allison and Emily talk to Abby Howells about her one-woman autobiographical and award-winning show,  HarleQueen. Links:Abby HowellsAbby Howells PlaymarketThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

Is Three Sisters Masha 2.0? Is The Cherry Orchard an early examination of NIMBYism? We cover all this and more – including a big fire of little consequence – in the final of this season’s Chekhov episodes. Links:Five Chekhov PlaysWriting Adaptations and Translations for the StageThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

Uncle Vanya shows us just how much Anton Chekhov loved trees, even if not all his characters did. In this episode we also look at the social setting of Chekhov’s Russia and some approaches to translation and adaptation.  Links:Five Chekhov PlaysWriting Adaptations and Translations for the StageThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

When is a seagull not a seagull? And why did everyone have so many names? In the first of three episodes on Anton Chekhov’s most famous plays, Allison and Emily discuss The Seagull.Links:Five Chekhov PlaysWriting Adaptations and Translations for the StageThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

We go out in phenomenal style in the final episode of season one with Fleabag. Since its first showing at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s smash hit one-woman show has launched an astonishing career. Join us as we discuss what aspiring playwrights should take note of in this script.Content Warning: Discussion of suicide.Thanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

Did they really say that?! It’s time to cover your grandmother’s ears – or not – as we take a look at the play that got so many talking in ways they never had before. Eve Ensler’s landmark work started a movement still going today.Content Warning: Discussion of sexual violation and violence towards womenThanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

We round off season one with a trio of monologues. First up, is the New Zealand classic The End of the Golden Weather. If you’ve ever wondered how we do Christmas on the beach in Aotearoa, then this is the episode for you.Thanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/

In the final of three episodes on Shakespeare we ask if The Merchant of Venice really fits the comedy mould. Was the Bard an anti-Semite? What did he want us to make of Antonio and Bassanio’s bromance? And did Portia really walk her quality of mercy talk?Content Warning: Discussion of antisemitism.Thanks for listening! Please consider leaving us a rating and a review.To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prospectpark.co.nz/