THE TIGERS OF WRATH

Photo: Daniel Williams

By Dean Parker
Directed by Jane Waddell

at Circa Two, Wellington
From 3 Nov 2012 to 1 Dec 2012

Reviewed by: John Smythe; Ewen Coleman (The Dominion Post); Paul Maunder;

A POWERFUL NEW PLAY - Passionate, political, richly textured

Award-winning playwright Dean Parker's remarkable new play opens at Circa Two, 3 November. Never one to shy away from controversy this latest work from him is bound to offer, at the very least, lively discussion and debate.

Set in Beijing in 1974 – Trish and Pauline are Maoists on a New Zealand Students' Association trip to Red China. Also on the trip is Oliver, a radical would-be writer.

Twenty years later Trish is a second term Labour MP, plotting the dumping of Labour Party leader, Mike Moore.

Fifteen years after that Pauline and Oliver meet by chance in a pub at Mangere Bridge in Auckland and look back on the choices they've made and the paths their lives have followed.

The Tiger's of Wrath is an intriguing play about the strange twists of fate, about hopes and dreams, about a developing and then disintegrating relationship, about how one comes to terms with life.

In the background run two astonishing political trajectories:
The People's Republic of China
The New Zealand Labour Party

Dean Parker's stage plays include: Midnight in Moscow, Baghdad, Baby, and an adaptation of Nicky Hager's expose The Hollow Men. In 2011 he was a Chapman Tripp winner of Outstanding New New Zealand Play of the Year, for Slouching Toward Bethlehem.

Parker makes no bones about his Marxism-Leninism and injecting his politics into his art. "I would describe myself as a class-conscious writer. I'm with Lenin. I'm for the working class seizing control of the wealth it creates, for the replacement of parliament, the army, the police, the judiciary – all those deadly manacles of state control – with workers' committees and militias, and all this done as part of a world-wide struggle."

Featuring a talented young cast: Kate Prior, Nathan Meister, Heather O'Carroll, Neenah Dekkers-Reihana

WORLD PREMIERE

'The moment you say capitalism's dead it grows new shoots.' Act 11 – The Tigers of Wrath

SEASON: 3 Nov-1 Dec
CIRCA TWO
Performance Times: Tues - Sat 7.30pm | Sunday 4.30pm
$25 SPECIALS – Fri 2nd Nov & Sun 4th Nov
BOOKINGS: Circa Phone 801 7992 www.circa.co.nz
Pre-show dinner available at Encore – phone 801 7996