Alison Quigan: Kiwi Actress and director on directing ‘End of Summer Time’

Queen of the stage, Alison Quigan is a mainstay in New Zealand’s performing arts scene.  

You may know her best as Yvonne Jeffries, Shortland Street’s maternally-minded receptionist, or from one of her many theatre productions, as Quigan has spent her career creating stories that portray the real lives of Kiwis on stage.  

She’s back to her theatrical ways, directing a brand-new production by Sir Roger Hall, ‘End of Summer Time’. 

It’s the story of retired cow cocky Dickie Hart and his wife Glenda’s move to Auckland, a decision Dickie thinks is the beginning of the end. 

Quigan told Jack Tame that Hall’s a great observationist, and it’s his understanding of his audience that allows them to connect with his works. 

“He’s been telling the story of this particular generation for 50 years, and he is very loyal to them and they are very loyal to him.” 

She started directing his plays in the late 80’s when she took over Centre Point Theatre in Palmerston North, but as a solo show, this one is a little bit more complex than normal. 

“You’re actually trying to create all the other characters with the actor, and obviously with the writer, and so it’s a case of making sure that he’s, he can get from A to B to C to D, to all of that, so he can get through to the end of the play,” Quigan explained.  

“So there’s the practical part of understanding how a solo show works, but also reassuring and just loving what this other person can bring to the play.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Queen of the Stage. Allison Quigan is a main stay
in New Zealand's performing arts scene. You will have seen
her all sorts of things over the years in all
sorts of theater productions, many of which she has written herself.
You might have seen her in Shortened Street playing fan
favorite Yvonne Jeffries. And Allison is back to her theatrical
ways directing a brand new production by Sir Roger Hall

(00:34):
called End of Summertime. And and what is a great
privilege for us, Allison is here in the studio with
us this morning. Kelder. Welcome to the show, kid. It
is so good to see you and thank you for
being here. So tell us about End of Summertime.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
End of Summertime is a play by Roger Hall which
is part of a trilogy that he wrote. The first
one was called Come On Black, and then it was
You've got to be Joking and Dicky Hart is the
only character in it. Actually that's not true. There are many,
many characters and our wonderful actor Andy Granger is playing
all of the characters right. And so this particular time,
and Dicky Hart has gone from being a great farmer

(01:11):
in Taranaki, and then he goes to Wellington, goes from
the farm to the city. And now his wife Glinda
has says, right where, off to Auckland, the place he
doesn't want to live in any time of his life.
Auckland is full of all these people. Now all they
talk about is money, The traffic is terrible, all of
those things. And so he arrives curmudgeonly, and through the

(01:33):
play he falls in love with Auckland.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
OK, to me, that's the wonderful thing about Auckland is Auckland.
People are terrible at selling their own city.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
This is true.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
And so when they arrived they say, oh sor about
that the traffic. I'm sure it must be awful for you.
But actually, when I arrived here after several times of
coming to live here, and I came with my family
to do Shortland Street in two thousand and four, people
said you'll hate it. And when I arrived here, we
loved it. The first weekend.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Wow, because it's impressive.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, it's because of the water is amazing, the volcanoes
are amazing, The city is gorgeous, and you survive by
the kindness of strangers. And that's what Auklands about.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
See.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
It's funny you say that because I'm born and raised
in christ Church and we're like all cards on the table.
AM still a parochial Cantabrian, And so when I grew up,
we always love beating Auckland and everything and all comes
of the worst it out. And then when I came
and moved to Auckland, I do think, well, you know,
you have two unique harbors, a city built around the water.

(02:34):
You have these conical volcanoes sticking up everywhere, which gives
it the most unique landscape. You've got the White Targeting Ranges,
which is this incredible backbone of native bush. You have
more Pacific people than any other place in the world.
It's really more salmon and people, more Tongan people than
in Somemore or tong It's really a Pacific capital exactly.
That's you know, there are some upsides to be in

(02:56):
Auckland as well. So I mean, people will hear the
name Dicky Hart and immediately be smiling because that is
a Sir Roger Hall classic. But what is it about
Sir Roger's plays you think connect with people in the
way they do.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
It's because he understands his audience. He's been telling this
story of this particular generation for fifty years. Yeah, and
he is very loyal to them, and they are very
loyal to him. But he is a great observationist. He
will as he knows these people so so well. And
he because he's a great comedic writer and a tragedyan writer,

(03:32):
because in order to tell comedy you need to understand tragedy.
And so he understands the pitfalls of their lives, the
extraordinary things in their ordinary lives. And that's that's us
all over. And so he is he is a hes
a great storyteller of this country.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, his supposes are so much fun. I've been to
heaps of Roger Hall plays over the years, and you
always get a like barely laugh after bally laugh after
bally laugh, you know it is. It always kind of
delivers in that sense, I suppose. So tell us about
your role in directing this and how that compares to
your other theatrical roles over the years, because you write,

(04:14):
you perform, and you direct, yes and produce everything. Well,
after this long in the business, of course, you've done it.
I've swept the stage, and I've been on the board.
You know, you run the gamut.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And I started directing his plays in the late eighties
when I took over Center Point Theater and Palms to
North And because Rogers plays need to be in the
program because you know you'll bring in that audience and
that audience will sustain everybody everything else in the program.
And so yes, I've been telling his stories right from then.
I mean, this particular one is a solo show, and

(04:45):
so as a director for a solo actor, you were
actually trying to create all the other characters with the
actor and obviously with the writer. And so it is
a case of making sure that he can get from
A to B to C, tod all of that so
he can get through to the end of the play.
So there's a practical part of understanding how solo show works,

(05:06):
also reassuring and just loving what this other person can
bring to the play. It's well interpretation.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
So does that how does that complexity with with a
one person play compare to a play that has more
moving parts and more actors.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well, the complexity is that you're intensely involved with the
with the one actor and when when you're directing a
lot of people, every single person has a different requirement.
You know, some people you provoke, some people you tease out,
some people you just leave alone. But all the time
you're as a director, you're the person who's in the
middle of the theater going, I can't hear you, or

(05:45):
you know you're you're you're using the time to be
the audience for that particular part of the revessal and
the and as you get further and further into the play,
you're getting further and further away from the actors. I
said to anactor to somebody the other day, I said,
when you direct at first, there's only a piece of
masking take between you and the actor, right, and then

(06:06):
when you go into the theater there's several rows of seats,
and when the audience comes in, you're in the back row.
Yeah right, so you you first step all hands on,
yeah right, constantly.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah. So you mentioned point you were artistic director for
eighteen years. I was, that's amazing. So how to talk
to us about the kind of significance of that place
for you.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
I was born in Palmerston, North and I went back
because I had a twenty month old baby, and I
was off at a job basically that was it. I'd
worked there before, but the idea of going back to
Palston North was was one of those on oh no.
And then of course I was offered the job and
it was brilliant, and because it taught me how to dream,
because it taught me how to read an audience. I

(06:48):
had a marketing manager eventually, and there was only four
of us running the theater, so everyone was a manager.
And so he sort of said he didn't. He helped
me do a strategic plan, which taught me how to
dream and taught me how to do the things that
meant the most to me and therefore the audience, and
so it was. He was great at teaching me how

(07:10):
to do that. He was very young, yeah, straight out
of university. But he said, I'm good at this, and
I thought, fine, I'm hopeless.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Am I right? And thinking is a five? Go Bamie
and PARMI was a five? Go Bamie and Parmi, You wrote.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean we didn't. We hadn't written the play. We
wrote the title.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yes, I can see that the title role.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
You mentioned Ross Gumbly before Ross Gumblie was and so
he and I worked together and we said, okay, we'll
write a surprise Christmas show, right, and then somebody said,
oh god, the actors go crazy go Bami when they're
living in Parmi. And we went, oh, my god, did
you see that thing about the Famous Five? And so
it was five Go Bami and Parmi and we wrote
the title and people rang up and said what you

(07:49):
got on for Christmas? And we went, oh, the show
was called five Go Bami and Parmi. And we said
and they said, we know exactly what that's about. We go,
what is it about? So they told us, oh, it's
about the Famous Five. It's during the Second World and
they sold they sold a crime.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Good, good done.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
That's written, then.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
I should say for our audience. Ross Gumbli was, of
course the director of the Court Theater in christ Church,
which is where I grew up, and so I used
to absolutely love going and going to the Court Theater
and seeing Ross Gumbley's performances and plays as well. So
I know you and Ross have worked so closely together
over the years. I also wanted to ask you about
Shorten Street. I hope that's okay. Yes, you were Levonne
on Shortened Street was a firm fan favorite, and interestingly,

(08:30):
you had a younger love interest, Ben for several years.
I think it was several years, right it was, I
recall it being yeah, okay, anyway, so Ben was played
by the one of the drama teachers at my high school,
which I just wanted to say to you. I cannot
tell you how much joy that gave the students of
Cashmere High School to see you and Ben's fledgling relationship

(08:53):
on screen every night at seven o'clock. Just what an
absolute joy that was. But do people still come up
to you and ask about Yvonne every day? Really every day? Amazing?

Speaker 3 (09:02):
It is amazing. But usually they say I know you,
I know you don't where did you go to school?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
And I'm thinking, oh, here we go?

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Long is this going to take? It's worse when you're
having a smear tests and I don't have to have
those anymore, thank heavens, But yeah, it is. It is
the times where somebody you just know this is going
to be a long conversation. So sometimes I cut to
the chase and say Shorten Street and they go, oh,
He's like I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, and no, no, no,
I'm glad that you remember it. I'm glad you watch Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, it's funny to kind of think about the place
of Shorten Street, you know, in this day and age
where three episodes a week now three three episodes a week.
Do you have concern about the kind of the pathways
for New Zealand writers and performers given the state of
the industry and the state of the kind of economy
at the.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Moment, of course I do. I mean, I think that
it is really important that we tell our stories and
we need to do it with our voices, with our writers,
with our concerns and our values, because the real problem
is that we could actually only hear American vowels, consonants,
accents on our screens, and that is a real problem

(10:05):
because then we lose our identity. What theater does, what
film and television does, is that reaffirms who we are.
And that's why it's really really important in education as
well that arts are there as part of part of
our education.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
That's such a valuable message. Okay, the show is accessible,
so you've got cheaper tickets for seniors and for under thirties. Yes,
you've got New Zealand sign language interpreters audio described performances.
So how are you trying to adapt and trying to
bring in more people to live theater.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
I think theatre will always survive because we need to
see things as a group, We need to see it
as a community. We laugh louder, we cry deeper when
we see something together because that's when we know we're
not alone. Because when COVID taught us a lot of
things about being isolated, and theater actually teaches us about
being a community.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
It's a collective experience.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Absolutely, you laugh with something with a whole room full
of people and you go, it wasn't just me, Oh
my god, that is so you. And then if you
watch the same same thing at home on your couch,
then you go, oh that's nice.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
But when you laugh together, you break the seating.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
And that's when I worked at Mangoa Art Center. That's
what I learned there was that when they really enjoy
in the South Aukland, they love something, they throw themselves
physically at the show and love it to that to
that extent, and that's what that's.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Who we are. Fantastic, Hey, thank you so much for
being here. We really appreciate it all the very best
with the end of Summertime and you can't wait to
see it great. Thanks Allison. That's Allison Quigan. She's directing
End of Summertime. Tickets are available at ATC dot co
dot NZ ATC for Auckland Theater Company. We'll make sure
we've got all the details up on the News Talks

(11:53):
EDB website.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.