Roger Hall : prisoner of Mother England : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University

Abstract

For nearly thirty years Roger Hall has been a dominant figure in New Zealand theatre. His plays have been enthusiastically received and the new audience he has attracted into the theatre in large numbers has made a major contribution to the survival of both amateur and professional theatre in this country. However critical opinion has been divided and has not always reflected popular acclaim. Theatre critics, largely, have been more generous than professional critics who, while appreciating the qualities of his first five plays, appear to have found less of significant interest in his later work. In this thesis I consider Hall's plays written for theatre performance and suggest some reasons for the neglect of the professional critics.