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.
DARK STARS
Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne, Australia
10/02/2012 - 10/03/2013
"Unpolished but genuine..
"Dignity sacrificed in the quest for fame..
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YOU BE THE ANGEL I BE THE GHOST
Wellington
08/02/2012 - 12/02/2012
"A writer in search of a play..
TOM KEEPER PASSES
Wellington
03/02/2012 - 12/02/2012
"Dazzling melange funny, haunting..
"Highly recommended to non-passive theatre-goers..
CRIMS
Auckland, Wellington
05/10/2011 - 04/02/2012
"Tension with possibility..
"Delightful insightful comedy..
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THE LONG WEEKEND
Wellington
31/01/2012 - 04/02/2012
"Questions of trust..
MUNTED
Auckland, New Plymouth, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton
24/01/2012 - 19/08/2014
"Charming openness and commitment..
"Honest and heart-warming..
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Lonely Heart - the musical
Wellington
17/01/2012 - 28/01/2012
"Shapeless..
"Musical revives old murder story..
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Toys
Wellington
07/12/2011 - 17/12/2011
"R rated hilarity..
"Well worth a second visit..
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Raybon Kan in Clear and Present Manger
Wellington
06/12/2011 - 11/12/2011
"Juicy stuff in the main course..
Silent Night
Auckland, Tauranga, Nelson, Hastings, Whangarei, Wellington, Kerikeri
13/12/2010 - 26/11/2016
"Bitter-sweet clarity carries laugh 'til you cry survivor story..
"A beautiful piece of theatre..
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Meat
Petone, Hutt Valley
29/11/2011 - 04/12/2011
"Feast of entertainment as chef relates to vegetables..
"Rich pleasures and poignancies..
Tinderbox
Wellington
25/11/2011 - 03/12/2011
"A powerful production: don’t miss it..
"Wondrously crafted production of great intelligence, wisdom and creative inquisitiveness..
Party with the Aunties
Dunedin, Nelson, , Feilding, Wellington, New Plymouth, Paekākāriki, Christchurch
09/04/2011 - 14/11/2019
"The classic Kiwi shindig, theatricalised..
"A fabulous night that leaves you feeling joyful..
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Roger Hall’s Aladdin: the pantomime
Wellington
19/11/2011 - 23/12/2011
"Out of the bottle..
"Impressive magic among the gags..
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The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Wellington
12/11/2011 - 28/11/2011
"Nothing could be more immediately relevant..
Wake Less
Wellington, Auckland
11/11/2011 - 25/02/2012
"Pushing the envelope..
"Travel in dreams offers big range of destinations..
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Love’s Labour’s Lost
Wellington
26/10/2011 - 04/11/2011
"A delight of dichotomies..
"Energy, fun and some inconsistency..
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Rise - Java Dance Company
Wellington
22/10/2011 - 05/11/2011
"Connecting all the senses..
"Flour, treacle water -- a finely negotiated balance..
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Joseph Harper: The Boy and The Bicycle
Auckland, Wellington
12/10/2011 - 21/10/2011
"Intense yet lyrical, fretted with humour, absorbing and strangely life-affirming..
"Raw, honest and enjoyable..
Joseph Harper: Bikes I’ve Owned Versus Girls I’ve Fallen In Love With
Auckland, Wellington
06/05/2011 - 22/10/2011
"Comedy of anguish generously shared..
"Genuinely likeable autobiographical chat..
Yo Future
Wellington
18/10/2011 - 23/10/2011
"Mortality and anarchy loom large..
"Well-wrought, compelling and salutary..
Sex Drive
Wellington
15/10/2011 - 12/11/2011
"Intimacy lacking in play about intimate matters..
"Sex Drive cruises in fourth gear but finally hits turbo..
