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 BOOKBINDER
Wellington, Dunedin, Nelson, Hamilton, Wanaka, Tauranga, Wairarapa, Christchurch, Invercargill, Edinburgh, Scotland, Gisborne
19/02/2014 - 10/10/2019
"Intrinsic magic mesmerises..
"Makes you see the world with fresh eyes..
More reviews
GYPSY RAGE APOCALYPSE
Wellington
18/02/2014 - 22/02/2014
"Absurdist distillation of human truth..
ALL A MAN WANTS IS HIS WAGE
Wellington
18/02/2014 - 22/02/2014
"Credibility the first casualty..
EXOSKELETON
Wellington
17/02/2014 - 19/02/2014
"The latest iteration of Harper’s interminable angst..
EUTHERMIA / HYPERPYREXIA
Wellington
17/02/2014 - 21/02/2014
"Futuristic play grounded in very human emotions..
"Elusive..
RESPITE
Wellington, Auckland
14/02/2014 - 03/10/2015
"Extremely Interesting Stranger..
"Winning the empathy vote..
ABSURDITIES
Wellington
14/02/2014 - 03/05/2014
"Fun for adolescents too..
"Napoleon’s battle at Bats a doomed exercise..
I COULD LIVE HERE
Palmerston North, Wellington
12/02/2014 - 14/06/2014
"Clever and feel good..
"Tensions hilariously depicted..
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FREQUENCY
Wellington
11/02/2014 - 27/02/2014
"A very different theatrical experience..
HORATIO
Wellington
10/02/2014 - 14/02/2014
"Clever plotting yet to realise its full potential..
TIME TRAVELLERS
Wellington
08/02/2014 - 16/02/2014
"Leaves its audience humming..
THE KINCAID WEEKENDER
Online
08/02/2014 - 01/03/2014
"Revealing the casual racism and rampant capitalism of an unchallenged hamlet..
A PLAY ABOUT FEAR
Wellington
07/02/2014 - 16/02/2014
"Fear faced with eyes wide open..
"A vital essence of humanity offsets the grotesque comedy..
RIDING IN CARS WITH (MOSTLY STRAIGHT) BOYS
Auckland, Wellington
06/02/2014 - 15/02/2014
"A journey of self-discovery..
"Empathy assured..
HOW TO PICK UP WOMEN
Wellington
05/02/2014 - 08/02/2014
"Sociopathic and self-serving so-called artists revealed..
THEY SAW A THYLACINE
Wellington, Palmerston North, Auckland
03/02/2014 - 22/02/2014
"They also came and conquered..
"Powerful performance of a moving story..
More reviews
CITIZEN GEF
Wellington
04/02/2014 - 09/02/2014
"Trundles along amusingly..
"Whimsically insightful..
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Wellington
23/01/2014 - 01/02/2014
"Comedy beats drama in this Shakespeare..
"The whole amounts to less than the sum of the parts..
PLAYMARKET 40
Global
01/01/2014 - 31/12/2014
"Essential reading..
BEDTIME MONSTERS
Tauranga, Paekākāriki, Gisborne, Napier, , Hamilton, Wellington
27/11/2013 - 14/12/2013
"Total immersion in human experience..
"Excellent writing and talented acting..
ROMEO AND JULIET
Napier, , Gisborne, Tauranga, Hamilton, Paekākāriki, Wellington
26/11/2013 - 15/12/2013
"Amiable, lucid and effortless..
"Refreshing energy..
SKETCH UP
Wellington
11/12/2013 - 14/12/2013
"An eclectic range of often bizarre yet always recognisable characters..
A CHRISTMAS CRACKER (WIT)
Wellington
10/12/2013 - 13/12/2013
"Lively skills tested in jeopardy..
