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.
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN
Wellington
07/10/2014 - 11/10/2014
"Many delicacies to be savoured..
THE PITMEN PAINTERS
Wellington
04/10/2014 - 08/11/2014
"Mapping the transformative properties of art..
"Great play thanks to first class cast..
EVERYTHING IS SURROUNDED BY WATER
Wellington, Auckland, Palmerston North
10/02/2014 - 14/10/2017
"Everything is Surrounded by Storytelling #1..
"An unusual and bittersweet experience..
More reviews
GOD-BELLY
Wellington, Auckland
15/02/2014 - 04/10/2014
"Refreshing intelligence, insight and physicality..
"Huge potential..
More reviews
THE MARVELLOUS ADVENTURE OF JACK AND DAISY
Wellington
30/09/2014 - 11/10/2014
"Lively and inventive enough .....
IMPROV for KIDS!
Wellington
30/09/2014 - 11/10/2014
"Highly successful..
RAPUNZEL
Wellington
27/09/2014 - 11/10/2014
"Colour-by-numbers..
WHORE – Storytelling About Sex Work
Auckland, Wellington
30/05/2014 - 27/09/2014
"A strangely dislocated experience..
"Valid, engaged, under-developed..
LASHINGS OF WHIPPED CREAM
Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington
11/02/2014 - 12/10/2018
"Ecstatically fun and provocatively engaging..
"Renders the extraordinary intriguingly ordinary..
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MIS{S}CONCEPTION
Wellington
16/09/2014 - 20/09/2014
"Entertaining and informative..
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Wellington, Auckland
12/09/2014 - 19/10/2014
"Bloom and grow forever..
"Von Trapps in tune with 21st Century..
More reviews
RIDDIFORD STREET: Season Three
Wellington
09/09/2014 - 13/09/2014
"A riveting experience..
MAMIL: Middle Aged Man In Lycra
Auckland, Napier, Dunedin, Havelock North, Wellington, Christchurch, Palmerston North
25/07/2014 - 14/12/2019
"A very funny play about change..
"Holds up a mirror to honest self-appraisal..
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THE MOUNTEBANK
Wellington
04/09/2014 - 12/09/2014
"An audience left mystified – and not in a good way..
"A bit of a fizzer..
A PUBLIC READING OF AN UNPRODUCED SCREENPLAY ABOUT THE DEATH OF WALT DISNEY
Wellington
30/08/2014 - 27/09/2014
"Not the happiest place on Earth..
"All a bit of a slog..
DESTINATION BEEHIVE
Wellington
29/08/2014 - 20/09/2014
"Parody breaks up political stodge..
"The hottest ticket in town..
Public Service Announcements: ELECTION SPECIAL
Wellington
26/08/2014 - 06/09/2014
"Full of humour, energy and commitment..
"Constantly smile-inducing..
SHADOWS OF ALGORA
Wellington
12/08/2014 - 16/08/2014
"More to explore; more fun to be had?..
EAMONN MARRA in MAN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
Wellington
05/05/2014 - 16/08/2014
"We leave feeling informed, affirmed and warmly human..
"Gen Y Thinker and Patient Punters..
CONSTELLATIONS
Wellington
26/07/2014 - 23/08/2014
"Glimpses of other universes..
"Variations on a relationship..
AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE
Wellington, Auckland, New Plymouth, Christchurch, Nelson
26/07/2014 - 17/10/2017
"“What was the point?”..
"Excellent in concept and execution..
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BILL MASSEY’S TOURISTS
Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Gisborne, Christchurch, Palmerston North
24/07/2014 - 12/10/2018
"Powerful and deeply moving..
"Presented with sincerity, integrity and polish..
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A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
Wellington
19/07/2014 - 23/08/2014
"Sterling acting in opera-like drama..
"The corrosive effects of passions denied..
