Colin McColl (director)

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Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the governor-general, Sir Anand Satyanand
, in 2010

Colin William McColl

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010. McColl was born in Lower Hutt in Wellington
, the country's capital.

Since 2003, he has been the artistic director of Auckland Theatre Company, this tenure ends after 18 years in 2021.[2]

Career

As a theatre director, McColl has directed more than 50 plays. He is the only New Zealand director who has been invited to showcase a production at the official

Edinburgh Festival
. Award winning productions include A Doll’s House (1993), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2000) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2002).

Early in his career, he worked as an actor in England and in the late 1970s moved to Australia where he became artistic director at Hole in the Wall Theatre in Perth and project director for Sydney’s Toe Truck Theatre’s Outback projects. He returned to New Zealand, where he held the position of director of the Wellington Performing Arts Centre. McColl played a major role in the growth of

Peter Wells,[3] based on stories by Katherine Mansfield. In 2003, he became the artistic director of Auckland Theatre Company, where his many productions include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Where We Once Belonged adapted from the novel by Sia Figiel, End of the Rainbow, Doubt, The Duchess of Malfi, Equus, Waiting for Godot, Uncle Vanya, Daughters of Heaven and Pohutukawa Tree[4] by Bruce Mason.[5] Award winning actress Rena Owen, who played the lead role in the 2009 production of The Pohutukawa Tree spoke of McColl as the top director in New Zealand. McColl's other productions include Arthur Miller's The Crucible[6]

International

McColl has been a director for the Norwegian National Theatre, the Dutch National Theatre, as well as leading theatres in Australia and Europe. His production of Hedda Gabler at the Edinburgh Festival was received with great acclaim.[7]

Opera

He has directed opera including Quartet (2004) for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, La Boheme, The Italian Girl in Algiers, The Marriage of Figaro and The Prodigal Child.

Honours and awards

McColl has been a director of numerous award winning productions including multiple Best Director awards at the

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the theatre, film and television.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Colin McColl, Theatre Director". Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  2. ^ "Auckland Theatre Company". Auckland Theatre Company. Archived from the original on 6 December 2001. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Peter Wells". New Zealand Book Council. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  4. ^ "The Pohutukawa Tree season". Creative New Zealand news. Retrieved 9 November 2009.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Colin McColl, Director". Auckland Theatre Company. Archived from the original on 3 April 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  6. ^ "Theatre Review by Natasha Hay". The Listener, Vol. 209. No. 3506. July 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  7. ^ "ATC appoints Colin McColl as Artistic Director". Scoop. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  8. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2010". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 7 June 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
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