The Lee Letter (Play Reading)

The Lee Letter (Play reading)
Part of the NZ Fringe Festival 2021

Sat 13 March
2pm
Circa One

Written by Claire Robinson
Directed by Ross Jolly

It will come as a surprise to many today, that Michael Joseph (Joe) Savage, the Labour Party’s first ‘rockstar’ leader, was likely also New Zealand’s first closeted gay Prime Minister. Set during the turbulent 1935-‘40 period, The Lee Letter explores the deadly power struggle between an increasingly unstable and medication-reliant Savage and his “frenemy”, popular socialist MP John A (Jack) Lee.
Once sharing a radical utopian vision for New Zealand, both men eventually destroyed each other’s political careers before either could realise that vision.