BATS Plays Format: Paperback

Six seminal plays from Ken Duncum and Rebecca Rodden, whose playwriting partnership powered the vibrant theatre scene round Wellington’s BATS Theatre in the 1980s and 90s. Boldly inventive, darkly comic and ceaselessly imaginative, the plays collected here present a chilling one-woman vision of alienation (Polythene Pam); the comic and tragic impossibility of human connection (Truelove); and others. Supporting the plays are introductions and selected images from the writers and other BATS practitioners which vividly recapture a crucial time and place in New Zealand’s theatre history.

Ken Duncum was awarded the 2010 New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize and is recognized as one of New Zealand’s leading playwrights. His plays include a loose trilogy looking at the impact of music on New Zealand—from 50s rock ’n’ roll versus Beatles-era British Invasion (Blue Sky Boys) to 70s glam (John, I’m Only Dancing) and punk (Waterloo Sunset). After studying theatre, film and English at Victoria University in the 1980s, Rebecca Rodden wrote and performed in plays and film projects around Wellington. Acting roles include the Fool in Simon Bennett’s King Lear, the Queen in Salve Regina, and Polythene Pam and Nadine in various productions of Polythene Pam and Flybaby.