The role of women in the culture and context of a developing New Zealand theatre 1920-1950

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of women in the development of New Zealand's theatre identity, focusing in particular on the period 1920-1950, at the height of amateur theatre's popularity in New Zealand. It explores the relationship between amateur theatre (in particular the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League) and some of the leading women's organisations of the time including the Women's Institutes and The Women's Division of the Federated Farmers. It also looks at the individual women who were particularly proactive in developing New Zealand's own theatre culture, in particular: Rosemary Rees, Ngaio Marsh, Kiore King, Elizabeth Blake, Amy Kane, Violet Targuse, Isobel Andrews, Mary Scott, Maria Dronke, Nola Millar, Roseanne Rutherford and Kathleen Ross. The thesis concludes that the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League and the individual women named above were crucial to the subsequent development of professional theatre in the 1960s and 70s.