Review Archive
John Smythe has trained and worked professionally in New Zealand, Australia then back in New Zealand as a playwright, director, screenwriter (& screenwriting teacher), actor, theatre critic and book writer.
His formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Dramatic Art from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (Sydney) and a Certificate in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School. He has also completed honours papers and a range of script writing courses.
Theatre directing credits in Australia include plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Gorki, and world premieres of plays by himself, Len Radic, David Williamson, Louis Esson, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Jack Hibberd and David O’Brien. Back in NZ he directed his own trilogy of short plays – ENTRANCING EXITS: Ms Conception; Nothing Twisted; Used Heads, at Bats Theatre, Wellington International Festival of the Arts; Faulty (sic) Towers & Blackadder’s Banquet at the Museum Hotel.
Playwright credits include Entrancing Exits (BATS Theatre), Conundra (Ensemble Productions), Swaggy Mack and his Magic Back Track (Arena Theatre), The Seven Stages of Hugh Mann (Melbourne University Theatre), Party Games (Jane St Theatre; La Mama) and Making A Play (Melbourne Theatre Company; Central Theatre), Where There’s a Will (BATS Theatre). Unproduced plays include Thelma, Weather and The Virtues of Reality.
John has also written The Peace Monster (Vintage, 1991); Downstage Upfront: the first 40 years of New Zealand’s longest-running professional theatre (Victoria University Press, November 2004) and The Plays of Bruce Mason – a survey (VUP & Playmarket, November 2015).
Amid a wide range of acting roles on stage, television and film, John has played Polonius and the Gravedigger in Hamlet twice (2006 and 2011). In 2012 and with Arts On Tour NZ in 2013 he played James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Carl Jung in Jan Bolwell’s Dancing in the Wake. In 2015 he played Barry Scanlan in his own play, Where There’s a Will, at BATS Theatre. (Since 2000 he has also played Birdboot in an annual VUW English Dept reading of Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound.)
Before becoming the founding Managing Editor of Theatreview.org.nz in 2006, John was a theatre critic for The Melbourne Times, The Australian, Theatre Australia Magazine, The National Business Review.
Welcome to the review archive.
Theatre and dance reviews since 2006.
BLOOMSBURY WOMEN & THE WILD COLONIAL GIRL
Wellington
18/08/2018 - 15/09/2018
"Insight, revelations, wit and pathos..
SONS
Wellington
14/08/2018 - 18/08/2018
"Impactful insights into humanity and hypocrisy..
THE DINNER
Wellington
10/08/2018 - 25/08/2018
"The complexities ring unnervingly true-to-life..
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
Wellington
07/08/2018 - 11/08/2018
"At best it simmers with vitality..
BLACK DOG
Wellington
10/07/2018 - 17/03/2019
"Relevant, real, responsible..
"An exquisitely crafted live entertainment experience..
SONGS FOR NOBODIES
Christchurch, Palmerston North, Invercargill, Wanaka, Wellington, Tauranga, Dunedin
17/06/2017 - 25/09/2018
"An evening of inspiration..
"Harper’s big talent showcased on stage..
More reviews
JESSICA BO PEEP
Wellington
07/07/2018 - 21/07/2018
"Good things found through being lost..
A COUNTRY OF TWO HALVES
Wellington
05/07/2018 - 07/07/2018
"Proves the efficacy of theatre with ‘less-is-more’ ingenuity..
TRASH!GLAM!DRAG!SLAM!
Wellington
26/06/2018 - 30/06/2018
"Doubtless a valuable acting experience..
GIDDY
Wellington
26/06/2018 - 30/06/2018
"Astonishingly experiential..
DON’T DATE ANDROIDS
Wellington
21/06/2018 - 30/06/2018
"Courtroom drama with allegorical implications..
THE VISIT
Wellington
12/06/2018 - 21/06/2018
"A timely opportunity to test ourselves..
THE WOLVES
Wellington
12/06/2018 - 21/07/2018
"Impressive rite of passage for new talent..
BENEATH SKIN AND BONE
Wellington
12/05/2018 - 16/06/2018
"Entertainingly elusive, illusive and allusive..
THE ATOM ROOM
Wellington
09/06/2018 - 07/07/2018
"Lovers face reality of being worlds apart..
"Pair-bonding dilemmas distilled in an exotic context..
LA'U GAGANA
Wellington
06/06/2018 - 14/12/2018
"From humour to a deeper emotions..
"A powerful plea from young voices to old..
More reviews
WAIORA: Te Ū Kai Pō – The Homeland
Wellington
01/06/2018 - 09/06/2018
"Exciting and reassuring affirmative action..
WELCOME TO THE MURDER HOUSE!
Wellington
26/05/2018 - 10/06/2018
"Cell Block Vaudeville..
"Multi-layered, profound yet fluid and highly engaging..
FEMME NATALE
Wellington, Palmerston North
23/05/2018 - 07/10/2018
"Hilarious, human, viscerally resonant..
"Revelations..
GIGGLY GERTIES
Wellington
16/05/2018 - 19/05/2018
"A richly layered sci-fi-meets-soap-opera epic..
SELF-HELPED
Wellington
15/05/2018 - 19/05/2018
"Help yourselves..
PROBLEMS
Wellington
11/05/2018 - 31/05/2018
"Problems at Circa Theatre as play takes on the funny subject of dictatorship..
"Diluted by opening night syndrome?..
WHY DOES THIS FEEL SO GOOD?
Wellington
08/05/2018 - 12/05/2018
"They come together to produce much more than the sum of the parts..
