The Playwrights Database
JAN BOLWELL
Nationality: New Zealander
email: n/a Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
Jan is also director/choreographer of Crows Feet Dance Collective, Wellington's unique dance company for mature performers. Earlier this year Crows Feet presented The Armed Man' a dance work in commemoration of New Zealanders in the First World War.
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below is a list of Jan Bolwell's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Bill Massey's Tourists Dancing In the Wake Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins Here's HildaBill Massey's Tourists
Synopsis:
Jan Bolwell tells the story of her grandfather, Arthur Gardiner, and his experiences on the Western Front in World War One in her new solo play. At first her grandfather is reluctant to talk about the war, but gradually she coaxes him to reveal what actually happened to him and his mates in the trenches of France and Flanders. Army training at Sling Camp in England and at Etaples in France are a challenge for Arthur and his mates and provide for amusing confrontations as the Kiwis resist army discipline. The terrible tragedy of Passchendaele is a central focus of the play as the battle is depicted in both movement and storytelling. 'Bill Massey's Tourists' is peppered with movement sequences set to amusing and original WW1 soldiers' ditties and First World War poems set to music by composer Laughton Pattrick. Projected images of Arthur and his war mates and general scenes of war are an intrinsic part of the play that also deals with opposition to the war and propaganda that was used to get young men to fight for the Empire. Lord Kitchener visited New Zealand in 1910, and one scene in the play shows schoolboys like Arthur being urged to become soldiers for the Empire.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Whitireia Performance Centre, 25-27 Vivian Street, Wellington 24 Jul 2014
Organisations:
Handstand Productions
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
biographical solo
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=4021
Top of PageDancing In the Wake
Synopsis:
Dancing in the Wake tells the lively and ultimately tragic story of an extraordinary and talented young woman who grew up in the shadow of her famous father, James Joyce. Bolwell recreates the gaiety and creative fervour of 1920sPariswhere Lucia trains to be a dancer at the studio of Isadora and Raymond Duncan. Lucia also aspires to join the famous performer Josephine Baker in her show 'La Revue Negre'. In her mid-twenties Lucia is diagnosed with schizophrenia. the play shows her struggle with this illness, supported by her friend and troubled lover, the playwright Samuel Beckett. Lucia's parents, James Joyce and Nora Barnacle, have differing views on the state of their daughter's health. Jan Bolwell describes Dancing in the Wake as an exploration of what can happen to the talented child of a very famous parent in struggling for recognition and a sense of personal identity. Was her illness caused by this or did it compound the problem? Dancing in the Wake blends Drama, dance and music. Says Bolwell: Because Lucia Joyce was a dancer I wanted to tell her story through stylised movement as well Dramatised scenes. the challenge has been to try and integrate the two seamlessly throughout the play.
- www.theatreview.org.nz
- www.theatreview.org.nz
Notes:
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1st Produced:
the Museum Art Hotel, 90 Cable Street, Wellington 09 Feb 2012
Organisations:
NZ Fringe Festival 2012
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
dance theatre
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDouble Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins
Synopsis:
a stash of Frances Hodgkins paintings has been discovered in France. Part of a deceased estate, they land on the doorstep of a Parisian gallery owner who has never heard of Frances Hodgkins. He contacts auckland art Gallery and there is a flurry of activity as a female curator tries to prise them out of the hands of the Frenchman and back to New Zealand.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
NZ Portrait Gallery, Shed 11, Queen's Wharf, Wellington 27 Nov 2009
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
75 min One act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: doubling
Further Reference:
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Top of PageHere's Hilda
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
part of FUeL: Festival of New Zealand theatre
1st Produced:
WeL Academy, Hamilton, NZ 2006
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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