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.
Heroic Faun Number One
Auckland, Wellington
19/03/2009 - 05/03/2011
"Clash of ego, ambition, fear and vulnerability..
"One-man faun tale goes the extra mile..
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Don’t Eat the Bed ...
Wellington
28/02/2011 - 04/03/2011
"Physically strong, vocally weak..
"Po-faced rom-com gem..
The Aliens Of Poverty Bay
Wellington
27/02/2011 - 02/03/2011
"Left unengaged and irritated..
Our Man in Havana
Wellington
26/02/2011 - 26/03/2011
"Missing the point?..
This Rugged Beauty
Wellington
25/02/2011 - 05/03/2011
"The nature of being Kiwi..
"Stands proud on the slopes of a metaphorical Mount Aspiring..
The Hooligan and the Lady
Wellington
24/02/2011 - 27/02/2011
"Taking the hard knocks to tell our rough and tumble stories..
"Strong social message embedded within a rollicking good entertainment..
There's So Much to Live For
Wellington
22/02/2011 - 26/02/2011
"Fresh and original concept..
"Elusive allusion makes for a riveting hour..
Drowning in Veronica Lake
Hamilton, Wellington, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Auckland, Dunedin
22/02/2011 - 23/02/2016
"This is what magnificent theatre looks like..
"The Fame Monster..
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Motherlock
Auckland, Wellington
17/09/2010 - 24/02/2011
"One-sided, undramatic and witless story not ready to be told..
"Bemoaning the outcomes of thoughtlessness..
Seven Jewish Children: a play for Gaza
Wellington
21/02/2011 - 25/02/2011
"Where truth lies in simply powerful performances..
Joseph and Mahina
Wellington, Auckland
19/02/2011 - 28/02/2011
"Coolio!..
"Delicately subtle..
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Love in the Time of Vampires
Wellington
18/02/2011 - 21/02/2011
"Deliciously coarse..
"Absurdist madness relished..
Broken China
Auckland, Wellington
13/04/2010 - 12/02/2011
"1950s Suburban Comedy Turns Into Smashing Finale..
"Behind the style and smile mask..
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Quarantine
Wellington
03/02/2011 - 19/02/2011
"Grim Diagnosis for Island-set Quarantine..
"The realities of long-gone lives seen as metaphors for ours..
The Love of Your Life
Wellington
01/02/2011 - 05/02/2011
"‘Fairytale’ a bizarre muddle..
"Magical means in search of an end..
The Motor Camp
Wellington
22/01/2011 - 18/02/2012
"Quirky comedy neatly resolved..
"Superbly modulated wit and flair..
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Heat
Hamilton, Auckland, Dunedin, Nelson, Wellington
01/07/2010 - 19/02/2011
"Emotions run hot as relations turn frigid..
"Dramatic, comic, confrontational, visceral, moving..
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Etiquette
Wellington
25/01/2011 - 20/02/2011
"A thespian at your table..
"Intriguing but let down by isolation..
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No Taste Forever!
Wellington
13/01/2011 - 29/01/2011
"Tragic plots end up in a Marx Brothers-like finale..
"A frolic to give you colic?..
2010 Wellington Theatre Wrap
Wellington
01/01/2010 - 31/12/2010
"Wellington theatre in rude good health..
"Wellington theatre’s highs and lows..
MUNE an autobiography
(not a specified venue)
17/12/2010 - 31/01/2011
"A ripping yarn, a page turner..
"Multi-levelled story an absolute treasure..
Members of Our Limbs
Wellington
12/12/2010 - 12/12/2010
"Madcap antics and zany delight..
"Emotional truth at the heart of success..
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Wellington
08/12/2010 - 11/12/2010
"A fantastic night’s entertainment..
"Love’s complex joys and pains explored..
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