Hold Me: Award Winning Playwright to hit Wellington’s Stage
Award Winning Playwright to hit Wellington’s Stage
Hold Me, by multiple award winning playwright, Emily Duncan, is set to premiere in a short and punchy season at Wellington’s iconic BATS Theatre. An impressive line-up of local talent, Kirsty Bruce, Alex Greig, and Raquel Roderick, cements Duncan’s show as one not to miss.
The Dunedin based writer was first marked as a writer to watch in Playmarket’s New Zealand Young Playwrights Competition in 1999 (runner up with Lips). Following that early success, Duncan has been the recipient of further numerous awards and accolades, including winning the Dunedin Write Out Loud competition (2006, 2007, and 2010), and Playmarket’s Plays for the Young for Eloise in the Middle (2013, published by Playmarket in 2015) and runner up in the same competition for Le Sujet Parle: And Then He Shot Me (2014). She is currently under commission for the 2017 Young and Hungry Festival, and studying towards a PhD in theatre.
Duncan has been referred to as “clearly one to watch” [Barbara Frame, ODT], her work as that which “should’a, could’a’ reached wider audiences” [Mark Amery, Playmarket 40], and her play Palliative Care, “deserves to become part of the national canon” [Peter Entwistle, ODT].
As a writer, director and actor, Duncan is no stranger to the stage, but this will be the first time that a full length play of hers has been produced in Wellington. Former artistic director of Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre, Lara Macgregor, also stands behind Duncan’s work, and says, “Emily should stand out as an inspirational female playwright to keenly support.”
Hold Me is a twisting, surrealist tale of love, money and war. Directed by Tabitha Arthur of Lightshade Creative, it promises twists, turns, extraordinary beauty, and a dark humour that will leave audiences contemplating concerns that are global and domestic, communal and personal.
Hold Me by Emily Duncan
The Propeller Stage at BATS
1 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Presented By: Prospect Park Productions
Directed By: Tabitha Arthur
6th – 10th September
Further information:
https://bats.co.nz/whats-on/hold-me/
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/hold-me
https://prospectparknz.com/