HBAF 2021 - Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes

Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes

A richly autobiographical monologue in which an adolescent boy tries to find his place in an adult-dominated world; a young man retraces an intensely felt boyhood experience of bullying; and a playwright, in his last days, reconciles the value of an artistic life and challenges the idea of New Zealand identity.

Comic disasters and confronting your own hubris, Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes is a richly autobiographical search for self-expression. Profound and true, it is a set of variations about over-reaching, cheekily confronting our very own Tall Poppy Syndrome.

Bruce Mason was one of the most significant playwrights in Aotearoa’s theatrical history. Writing with courage and insight, he was a lover of language and a champion of the underdog. Between 1959 and 1978, Bruce toured the country, telling uniquely Kiwi stories about emerging identity, cultural cringe and social difference. From church halls to country shearing sheds to the Edinburgh Festival, Bruce would play anywhere to any audience. 2021 marks the centenary of his birth. To celebrate his extraordinary legacy, actor Stephen Lovatt is collaborating with director Shane Bosher and the Bruce Mason Estate to make his greatest solo works resound for a new age. Timeless. Universal. Distinct. This double-shot is a not-to-be-missed theatrical encounter with a master craftsman.