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.
TIKI TOUR
Wellington
14/06/2016 - 18/06/2016
"Timeless yet timely character comedy..
SHOT BRO – Confessions of a Depressed Bullet
Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Kaikohe, Wairarapa, Dunedin, Invercargill
09/06/2016 - 09/05/2019
"Confronting and hard but also a safe space in which to explore the ugly realities of mental health..
"Funny, powerful, demanding..
More reviews
THE VULTURES
Wellington
08/06/2016 - 18/06/2016
"Powerful piece of theatre pulls out all the stops..
"Stylishly entertaining and thought-provoking..
VERSIONS OF ALLAH
Wellington
07/06/2016 - 11/06/2016
"Original and innovatively staged..
"Deceptively simple, profoundly engaging..
MY SHOUT: Another Round at the Thistle Inn
Wellington
29/05/2016 - 31/05/2016
"Highly committed, fully focused cast, astutely modulated..
MY DAD'S BOY
Wellington
26/05/2016 - 04/06/2016
"Insightful distillation..
THE ELEPHANT THIEF
Hamilton, Nelson, Wellington, New Plymouth, Auckland
05/12/2015 - 02/07/2016
"Stealing the Show..
"Immensely talented cast but play feels lost and confused..
More reviews
Public Service Announcements (PSA) CIVIL WAR
Wellington
10/05/2016 - 14/05/2016
"Equal-opportunity ridicule..
POWERPLAYS: everyday underdogs trying to win at life
Porirua, Wellington
02/05/2016 - 06/05/2016
"Creative and skilful navigation of a range of roles, settings and situations..
"Strengths lie in the way it poses questions, rather than instructions or answers..
PROMISE AND PROMISCUITY: A New Musical by Jane Austen & Penny Ashton
Whangarei, Dunedin, Auckland, Edinburgh, Scotland, Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington, Greytown, Hamilton
27/02/2013 - 29/11/2020
"Multi-talented performer has audience laughing in minutes..
"Winning formula leaves audiences smiling..
More reviews
AN HOUR WITH ACKBAR
Auckland, Wellington
23/04/2016 - 07/05/2016
"Less than the sum of its parts..
BRINESTORM Alice Brine
Wellington, Auckland
26/04/2016 - 14/05/2016
"CASUAL MOTOR-MOUTH ONE TO WATCH..
"Indelible images..
DISNEY PRINCE Eli Matthewson
Wellington
26/04/2016 - 30/04/2016
"A welcome change in format..
NIC SAMPSON HAS FALLEN DOWN A WELL
Wellington
26/04/2016 - 30/04/2016
"Fall-down elevates stand-up..
THE MOA SHOW Jamie McCaskill
Wellington
26/04/2016 - 30/04/2016
"More than the sum of its hugely entertaining parts..
Shakespeare’s Will
Wellington, Auckland
26/02/2011 - 23/04/2016
"An absorbing and timely tale..
"Quietly compelling..
A TRIAL
Wellington
19/04/2016 - 23/04/2016
"The outcome of this civil case has implications for civilisation itself..
KIWIMAN AND ROBIN
Wellington
19/04/2016 - 30/04/2016
"A lively show to stimulate play..
SHU'S SONG
Paraparaumu, Wellington
16/04/2016 - 18/03/2017
"Entertaining exploration..
"A clever, poignant theatre experience for any developing imagination..
More reviews
THE (KIWI) GINGERBREAD MAN
Wellington
16/04/2016 - 30/04/2016
"Splendidly engaging..
RANGITAHUA... The Stopping Off Place
Wellington, Whangarei
27/08/2015 - 19/04/2016
"An effortless absorbing of history through artistic symbiosis..
"Fascinating and quite disturbing..
IF THERE’S NOT DANCING AT THE REVOLUTION, I’M NOT COMING…
Auckland, Wellington, Edinburgh, Scotland, Nelson, Invercargill
02/09/2015 - 10/05/2018
"A riot – in every sense..
"Uplifting despite harsh message..
More reviews
TITLED
Wellington
12/04/2016 - 16/04/2016
"This work is absolutely necessary for new growth and originality to emerge..
"Self-defeating or worth your risk?..
