The cast of ‘As You Like It,’ 1980. Rear from left: Peter Henderson, John Ross, Anona Dawick, John Dawick (Director, and lecturer in drama in the MU English department), Jacqueline Rowarth, Nick Broomfield. Front: Penny Guy, David Guy.

‘Enthusiastic, talented people: Fifty years of drama at Massey University’: so runs the title of an article just published by Lucy Marsden about  the rich and innovative tradition of theatre at Massey University.  Marsden writes: “drama has been very popular at Massey; since the 1960s hundreds of Massey staff and students have collaborated with others … to stage a wide variety of plays, and found acting a creative and satisfying experience. They and their audiences look back on their productions with great pleasure and for some it has become a career”.

Marsden goes on to list a who’s-who roll-call of creative industry figures – from comedians and television producers to actors and beloved drama teachers – who got their theatrical start at Massey, as well as many public figures who although employed in other fields, enhanced their public speaking and performance skills through participating in theatre at Massey.

The article draws on a wealth of archival material that Marsden studied during and after her time as Massey University archivist.  She has a particular interest in the extracurricular productions delivered by the Massey University Drama Society (established as a drama club in 1960, and by 1964 designated MUDS and described as Massey’s “major cultural society”) in which students from every discipline have participated, but the article also explores the integral role of English department staff, who introduced drama to the English curriculum in 1962 and worked intensively from the 1960s onwards to facilitate and support MUDS productions and encourage extracurricular theatre as a complement to the theatre curriculum. The article traces the introduction of Summer Shakespeare and the Festivals of New Arts by Angie Farrow in the mid-1990s, and notes that School of English & Media Studies theatre staff continue that strong relationship with the cluster of additional theatre activities that surround the curriculum to this day, as directors, writers, producers and crew now not just at Manawatu but on every campus.

Herself a wonderful and evocative storyteller with an ear for the dramatic, Marsden documents the human moments of this rich history – the unexpected comedy of falls from the stage, the sudden moments of poignancy when a ruru calls during a soliloquy at an outdoor performance, the use of innovative staging and venues including actors wading through ponds and crawling under spectators’ chairs. In a companion article, titled ‘Smut, Satire and Hairy Fairies: Massey University Student Capping Reviews,’ she records the hilarious tradition of the irreverent Massey Student Reviews that ran from the 1930s to 2004.

If you’ve ever been part of a play, performance or review at Massey, both these articles are well worth a read (and your name may well be mentioned in them – there’s a long list of credits and acknowledgements to the many stalwarts of the theatrical tradition at Massey). Both articles feature in the latest special issue of Manawatu Journal of History. To see more, get your copy of Manawatu Journal of History, Massey Commemorative Issue, 2014 (only $25) by emailing manawatujournalsales@inspire.net.nz or pick one up from the Alumni shop on any campus.