Jan Bolwell's @Bill Massey's Tourist's' Tonight, 7.30pm Old Lodge Theatre
A granddaughter tells her grandfather’s story
Consummate performer Jan Bolwell plays her adolescent self, encouraging her grandfather Arthur to talk about the First World War. What follows is a gripping, painful and sometimes hilarious tale of a young Kiwi soldier from the Otago Mounted Rifles (one of Bill Massey’s tourists) and his survival from the tragedy of Passchendaele. It is a story that also features song and dance.
“This exceptional performer, Jan Bolwell, is blessed with an irrepressible joie-de-vivre that communicates itself instantly to the audience, so that her grandfather’s story is illuminating and memorable, but also surprisingly enjoyable.” -Terry McTavish
“A terrific script. A great performance. A tale well told. Knocked me for six.”- Raymond Hawthorne
Biography
Jan Bolwell is a playwright, performer, choreographer and director of Wellington’s Crows Feet Dance Collective. In 2014/15 the Collective presented The Armed Man, a full-length dance work about WW1.
‘Bill Massey’s Tourists’ is Jan’s fifth play and the third in a trilogy of solo plays. Standing on my Hands told the story of her father’s WW2 experiences and Here’s Hilda! was the dramatisation of her grandmother’s life. In 2013, together with Sacha Copland and John Smythe, to much acclaim, she toured her play Dancing in the Wake with AOTNZ. Double Portrait, her play about Frances Hodgkins, also toured extensively throughout New Zealand.
In late 2015 Jan was awarded a writer's residency at the Robert Lord Writer's Cottage in Dunedin. She is currently writing a play about Freda du Faur, the first woman to climb Aoraki/ Mount Cook in 1910, and Lydia Bradey the first woman to climb Mount Everest solo without oxygen. The play Taking the High Ground opens at Bats Theatre in Wellington this December. A the moment Jan is directing and choreographing the political satire Destination Beehive 2017 opening next month at Circa Theatre, Wellington.
…conveys with a compelling simplicity what it was like for a 20 year-old New Zealander to be thrown into the maelstrom of bloody war.
Laurie Atkinson
Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?
The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.
Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.
We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?
-
9.3% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
-
43.6% I want to be able to choose.
-
47.1% Against. I want to deal with people.
Time to Tickle Your Thinker 🧠
If a zookeeper had 100 pairs of animals in her zoo, and two pairs of babies are born for each one of the original animals, then (sadly) 23 animals don’t survive, how many animals do you have left in total?
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm on the day!
Want to stop seeing these in your newsfeed? No worries! Simply head here and click once on the Following button.
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Loading…
