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Bruce Mason presents the first of his celebrated solo performance plays, recorded in 1981.
Double CD boxed set BMCD 1003
Bruce Mason ranks high among the most important individual contributors to the New Zealand theatre to date. When he died in 1982 he left a superb repertoire of plays, including The Pohutukawa Tree, Awatea, Blood of the Lamb, and the quartet of unique solo performance pieces: The End of the Golden Weather, To Russia, with Love, Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes, and Courting Blackbird .
The End of the Golden Weather was written and first performed in 1959. "...that territory of the heart we call childhood." With this single phrase at the outset of his introduction, Bruce Mason defines both the spirit and the location for the work, in which he peoples the beach at "Te Parenga" with an array of fabulous — yet familiar — characters and events during its four parts: "Sunday at Te Parenga," "The Night of the Riots," "Christmas at Te Parenga," and "The Made Made". Bruce Mason made this recording in 1981, and this recording is published by arrangement with Victoria University Press, Wellington and Dr Diana Mason.
The Production of this transcription is by Tony Vercoe, with assistance from Rebecca Simpson and John Gray.
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