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.
DREAM GARDEN
Wellington
09/07/2022 - 10/07/2022
"Lyrical acrobatics and exquisite whimsy..
LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
Auckland
07/07/2022 - 30/07/2022
"Simple yet effective and impeccably acted to have you hooked..
"Compels our recognition, judgement, understanding and empathy..
DYING SWANOLOGUES
Wellington
05/07/2022 - 09/07/2022
"More could evolve from the seeded elements..
WAITING
Wellington, Auckland
28/06/2022 - 30/09/2023
"The perfect marriage of script, actor, and production. Physical theatre at its best...
"A spellbinding hour of poetic, physical, metaphysical, existential and practical performative excellence..
NGĀ RORIRORI
Wellington
18/06/2022 - 25/06/2022
"More about the how than the what or why..
"A sleek and creative romp through a mad chase to be heard and understood..
More reviews
THE FINAL HOURS HOUR
Wellington
14/06/2022 - 18/06/2022
"Touches our humanity while critiquing human stupidity..
GIRLS & BOYS
Wellington
31/05/2022 - 05/06/2022
"Potent production resonates on many levels..
BUNNY
Wellington
17/05/2022 - 21/05/2022
"Proves that pain + truth = comedy. A show you can cuddle...
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Wellington
26/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
"More enriching for them than their audience?..
HIS/HERSTORY An Outstanding Double Bill
Wellington
22/04/2022 - 14/05/2022
"Theatre double bill captures the human narrative of war..
"Engaging, inventive, enriching..
TIMBERRR…!
Wellington, Palmerston North
08/04/2022 - 13/08/2022
"Assured, successful, warmly recommended..
"Cutting through the blokeish obstacles..
More reviews
A STAB IN THE DARK
Global
11/03/2022 - 13/03/2022
"An intriguingly dramatised meditation on the good/evil duality within individuals and our species..
SMILESTUFF
Wellington
08/03/2022 - 12/03/2022
"Gifted performers in search of coherence and structure..
A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW
Wellington, Dunedin
05/09/2019 - 05/03/2022
"The most enriching experience so far..
"Astonishing tale impressively told..
More reviews
SHIFT YOUR PARADIGM – No Chairs Required
Wellington
01/03/2022 - 21/07/2022
"A gag fuelled laugh fest with critical and satirical insight..
"Compelling commitment and worth developing..
THE SCOTTISH KIWI
Wellington
28/02/2022 - 02/03/2022
"Plenty of whimsical insights and good laughs..
NOW FACE THE WORLD
Wellington
24/02/2022 - 03/03/2022
"Five artists in search of success..
GLASS TOWN
Wellington
22/02/2022 - 26/02/2022
"Hard to perceive any purpose beyond a display of skills..
THE ANTI
Wellington
18/02/2022 - 20/02/2022
"More to it than meets the ears?..
WHERE OUR SHADOWS MEET
Wellington
15/02/2022 - 19/02/2022
"Exquisitely engaging, insightful and heartfelt..
UGLY LIES THE BONE
Wellington
01/02/2022 - 05/02/2022
"Compelling and insightful..
DESTINATION MARS
Wellington
11/12/2021 - 20/03/2022
"“It’s so exciting that it pumps adrenaline through your veins!”..
ILLEGALLY BLIND
Wellington
07/12/2021 - 11/12/2021
"Insightful and idiosyncratically entertaining..
