BOYS
BOYS
"It's just locker room talk"
BOYS is a deconstruction of Greg McGee's Foreskin's Lament (1980), New Zealand's state of the nation play about rugby culture and masculinity. Using contemporary material ranging from the Chiefs ‘stripper scandal’ to Wellington College’s online incident, a group of sixteen young people take New Zealand's iconic locker room play and ask "what has changed since 1980?" Or more importantly, "what hasn't?"
““BOYS takes Foreskin’s Lament and slices the Kiwi classic into a postmodern maze of modern masculinity, each act digging deeper into our collective psyches […] what remains is as vital and urgent as the original, evoking anger and empathy in equal measures.””
PRESENTATIONS
ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland Theatre Company part of the 2017 Here & Now Festival, 21 - 24 April, 2017
Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, Wellington, 8 - 20 June, 2019
Court Theatre Youth Company, Christchurch, 12 - 15 March, 2021
Auckland Theatre Company Digital Classroom 2 May - 8 July 2022
Unitec Acting Programme, Herald Theatre, Auckland, 29 September - 2 October 2022
“The most important work on that stage? Not the main bills, but BOYS, the centrepiece of Here & Now, ATC’s rebranded youth festival. Deconstructing Foreskin’s Lament (which put the boot into rugby’s toxic masculinity in the 80s), the cast decisively tackled this country’s contemporary rape culture. Playing over just one weekend, it deserved to run for weeks. ”
CREATIVE TEAM
Adapted by Eleanor Bishop from Greg McGee's Foreskin's Lament
Direction: Eleanor Bishop & Julia Croft
Performance: Matthew Kereama, Arlo Green, Kyle Shields, Bronwyn Ensor, Kierron Diaz-Campbell, Dylan Thuraisingham, Simon Gilchrist, Isaac Kelly, Kevin Chen, Anita Erikson, Tatum Warren-Ngata, Kaitlin Mahar, Cailtin Smith, Ava Diakhaby, Todd Waters, Jaya Beach-Robertson
Set Design: Dan Williams
Sound Design: Te Aihe Butler
Lighting Design: Ruby Reihana-Wilson
Costume Design: Rose Miles-Watson
Producer: Lynne Cardy
REVIEWS
"BOYS tells us we haven't come so far after all", Janet McAllister, NZ Herald, April 24, 2017
"Moira's Lament: A conversational review of Boys", Kate Prior, Pantograph Punch, April 23, 2017
"A refreshing breath of youthful energy, craft and commitment that still asks "Whaddarya?"" Johnny Givens, Theatreview, April 22, 2017
"Review: Boys", Nathan Joe, Theatrescenes, May 3, 2017
“The best of Auckland 2017, Metro, December 27, 2017
“A powerful interrogation of our nation’s state”, John Smythe, Theatreview, June 9, 2019
PRESS & CITATIONS
“Why Make Theatre in the South Pacific? A Personal View of Theatre in Aotearoa/New Zealand” by David O’Donnell in Why The Theatre: In Personal Essays, College Teachers, Actors, Directors, and Playwrights Tell Why the Theatre Is So Vital to Them, Ed. Sidney Homan, Routledge, 2021.
“Fluff’s Lament: The Dramaturgy of BOYS as a Feminist Intervention into Foreskin’s Lament.” by James Wenley in Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL), no. 38.1, 2020.
"Eleanor Bishop - Foreskin's Lament revisited", Kim Hill, Radio NZ, April 1, 2017
"Boys: The new play tackling Tony Veitch, the Chiefs Scandal and Ponytail-gate", Alex Casey, The Spinoff, April 20, 2017
"BOYS: the play inspired by our Kiwi toxic masculinity problem", Lizzie Marvelly, The Villainesse, April 21, 2017
"They Have Some Shit To Say: Creating Work with Young People" Kate Prior, The Pantograph Punch, April 19, 2017
"It's just locker room talk" Gay Express, April 11, 2017