Sir Roger Hall has written 27 plays, numerous television scripts and collaborated on others and in doing so, has become New Zealand’s most successful and admired playwright.

Deservedly so.

Actors love to perform in his plays and audiences flock to them.

As to be expected, there was a full house at the opening of the Auckland Theatre Company’s End of Summer Time directed by Alison Quigan – herself a very fine comedy playwright – with great attention to the script which benefits by her making the action very physical and engaging the audience who respond with audible delight to various familiar situations and enjoy seeing themselves spoken about on stage. 

Something Mr. Hall is very adept at doing. We love it.

I did not see the two plays preceding this which I think would have helped.

The first, C’mon Black, introduced Dickie Hart, a farmer from Taranaki following the All Blacks in South Africa, and the second, You Gotta Be Joking, where Dickie has moved off the land and lives in Wellington with his wife Glenda.

In this new script, Dickie and Glenda have moved to Auckland, in particular, Takapuna, to be close to grandchildren.

On the fifth floor of a large apartment block, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms each with two sinks, Dickie soon finds his feet in the new environ and so the play and the humour proceed.

The play opens on a bland kitchen/living area dominated by a huge television playing a 2019 All Black game.

Rugby is central in Dickie’s life, so we get a lot of chat about it, a lot topical which the audience enjoy.

Grandchildren, Body Corp, shopping in the city, Auckland traffic, cafes or as Dickie still calls them ‘coffee bars’, all add to the life of a retired male who at 71, wants some excitement and experiences to look back on.

The second half shows Dickie’s softer side with not so much bluster.

We go through Covid again and learn that Glenda died of the disease. This small sequence when he speaks of her death, is done beautifully.

Andrew Grainger as Dickie is magnificent.

This role could be over played easily but with the Director’s steady hand, he runs the full gamut of emotions injecting humour with his voice and physical comedy but never over-played.

The set (the always brilliant John Parker) at the end of the play, an hour and fifty minutes, transformss, much to our surprise into a huge panorama of Takapuna beach with Rangitoto Island in the background. A lovely homage to Bruce Mason’s The End of the Golden Weather.

Enthusiastic and prolonged applause at the opening night curtain call, not only for the masterful performance of Andrew Grainger but for Sir Roger Hall and Alison Quigan who both came onto the stage, and all were presented with bouquets.

My criticism of the play is the very place it is set.

The script is very Auckland centric as it has to be, but I do wonder if some of the script will be understood in other centres.

Congratulations to all concerned. You have a hit on your hands.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer