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One of Aotearoa's most daring and decorated playwrights, Victor Rodger's award-winning 2013 play Black Faggot is back at the Court Theatre. More than a decade on, the play remains painfully relevant.
Playwright and producer Victor Rodger has reread Alan Hollinghurst's 2004 Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty ahead of interviewing Alan at the Auckland Writer's Festival.
Peter Wells was a well-known author and filmmaker in Aotearoa New Zealand. He was a gay man who made a huge impact in both the screen industry and the literary world in this country. He died at the age of 69 in 2019 after a battle with cancer. While undergoing treatment and facing his mortality, Peter published a series of posts about his experience with illness on Facebook. These were subsequently published as a book called 'Hello Darkness' shortly after his death. This week, a theatrical adaptation of the book will be staged during the Auckland Writers Festival. The show is written by Victor Rodger, directed by Shane Bosher, and stars Roy Ward. In this interview, Shane and Roy discuss this important work with Andrew Whiteside.
Many ancestral currents, past and present, carried Pasifika peoples from Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa to Aotearoa. Whilst each Pacific identity is unique, experiences of migration, colonialism, and courage are shared, and vividly expressed in a thriving performance scene. Pasifika playwrights Oscar Kightley and Victor Rodger are just two of the many whose work reflect the Pasifika migrant spirit and the relationships with Māori as tangata whenua. How are the multiple waka of Pasifika theatre navigating current global storms, and what does the future hold? They share their thoughts with Lana Lopesi. O le tele o folauga i vaitaimi ua tuanai e oo mai i le asō, na folau mai ai tagata Pasifika mai le Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa seia taunuu mai i Aotearoa. E tofu lava atumotu o le Pasifika ma lona faasinomaga, ma e ui i le eseese o nei faasinomaga, o talaaga i femalagaiga, faiga faakolone, ma le loto toa o tagata Pasifika, ua mafai ona faasoa ma faamatala manino i se faaaliga maoa‘e ma matagofie. O tusitala i faaaliga faa- Pasifika, le susuga Oscar Kightley ma Victor Rodger o nisi o tomai mai le toatele o tusitala, ma o loo atagia i a la galuega le agaga o tagata folau mai le Pasifika ma le sootaga ma Māori o tagata o le laueleele. O faapefea i le tele o sā o le Pasifika ona faatautaia folauga i matagi malolosi i le taimi nei, ma o le ā se taunuuga o loo agai atu i ai i le lumanai? Na faasoa o la manatu ma Lana Lopesi. Talanoa series curated by Gina Cole. AUCKLAND WRITERS FESTIVAL WAITUHI O TĀMAKI 2021
Our first season of Elements we talk about Place and what it is to write where. In this episode Pip Adam talks to Victor Rodger about Club Paradiso. https://better-read.com/2021/01/20/ep-88-victor-rodger/
Mr Victor Rodger is an award-winning playwright whose works deal with race, racism and identity including issues confronting Pacific peoples and voicing issues for the gay community. He has worked with Pacific secondary school students through Tautai Arts Trust Fresh Horizons workshops. Within the screen industry he has worked variously as a writer and actor on New Zealand television shows ‘Shortland Street’, ‘Mercy Peak’, and the Māori television series ‘This is Piki’. He was awarded the Creative New Zealand Contemporary Pacific Arts Award in 2013. Mr Rodger has been awarded several writers residencies, including the Robert Burns Fellowship in 2016. This year he has been recognised for services to theatre and Pacific arts receiving Officer of the NZ Order of Merit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
26 August 2019 | WORD Christchurch Shifting Points of View In his first book, 'The Other Side of Freedom: Race and justice in a divided America', Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson lays down the intellectual, pragmatic, and political framework for a new liberation movement. Mckesson places an idea of shared hope for a better future at the core of his activism. He encourages us to take responsibility for imagining, then building, the world we want to live in. Mckesson appears in conversation with Victor Rodger, followed by audience Q&A, where among other wisdom, he offers advice to white people on how to become a better ally.
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.Book newsWomen’s Prize for Fiction shortlist -- the Prize’s 25th year. The shortlist was announced on the Women’s Prize for Fiction social channels:Dominicana by Angie CruzGirl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoA Thousand Ships by Natalie HaynesThe Mirror and the Light by Hilary MantelHamnet by Maggie O’ FarrellWeather by Jenny Offill#BookshopsAreBack!!Newsroom has a list of retailers around the country.Ockhams Out LoudThe 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards was to be the first event of Festival week and will now be broadcast via the #theockhams YouTube channel.In the lead up over the next few weeks, you can listen to each of the finalists reading from their shortlisted work, with one added each day until the winners are announced at the online ceremony on the evening of Tuesday 12 May. Take a look, and subscribe for updates.Auckland Writers Festival 2020 Winter Online SeriesIncludes Bernardine Evaristo, Lisa Taddeo, Amy McDaid, Anthony Byrt and more.9am on May 3rd and running live once a week for 13 weeks.Three writers including at least two from the 2020 programme will chat with series host Paula Morris, read from their work and answer audience questions.Watch via live the Festival’s YouTube and Facebook channels, and then on their website.BookBound 2020An 'antiviral' online literary festival, already in progress until 3 May 2020.Includes a number of New Zealand authors, including Freya Daly Sadgrove, Pip Adam Becky Manawatu & Renée, who join literary talent such as Max Porter and Emma Glass from around the world.The festival is raising money for a number of charities, and events are free on the BookBound 2020 YouTube channelVerb CommunityVerb Community members will ensure artists are paid for their work, help create content and experiences and lots of other good stuff. In return, they'll get access to the Verb Community hui where you can feed your ideas into what they do, discounts on ticketed events and festival sessions, and again lots of other good stuff!They launch alongside three new pieces of writing by Sinead Overbye (a reading list on love in isolation), Victor Rodger (love and quite a bit of sex), and essa may ranapiri (gender and language).Book reviewsKD: White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World by Geoff DyerLK: Torpor by Chris KrausJT: Aue by Becky ManawatuNot booksKD: Record shops!LK: Home Cooking: a podcast from Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway to help you figure out what to cook (and keep you company) during the quarantine. Thanks to Papercuts listener David for the recommendation!Circus of Books on Netflix -- the charming and sometimes heartbreaking story of a middle-class Jewish family who ran a hardcore gay porn bookstore from the eighties up till the time of filming.JT: Brideshead Revisited (1981 TV series)The TBR PileKD: In the Fold and The Temporary by Rachel Cusk, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia LaingLK: You'll enjoy it when you get there: the stories of Elizabeth Taylor, I'm working on a building by Pip Adam, Screen Tests by Kate Zambreno, Fake Baby by Amy McDaid (out June)JT: Ripiro Beach by Caroline Barron (Bateman), Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (4th Estate). Tennis Lessons by Susannah Dickey (DD)Also mentioned:Green Girl by Kate... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Oh no, Uncle has left his surgical gloves behind! That's okay because Doctor Esera can take his place in the operating theatre. Saving lives is all part of the job. Is Esera ready for the challenge? Written by Victor Rodger with the voice of Lahleina Feaunati as Esera. Produced for RNZ by POW Studios | Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation Fund
Esera skips to the stage, leaving her audience in awe of her amazing voice. Her fanau are impressed, but her dog Chummo isn’t a fan. Written by Victor Rodger with the voice of Lahleina Feaunati as Esera. Produced for RNZ by POW Studios | Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation Fund
Aunty Upu tells Esera that her eyes are bigger than her stomach! If Esera’s eyes were actually bigger than her stomach, just think of all the amazing things she could see. Written by Victor Rodger with the voice of Lahleina Feaunati as Esera. Produced for RNZ by POW Studios | Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation Fund
Wow, the ocean is so sparkly today, it looks like a huge blanket of diamonds. Esera the seagull flies out across the water to collect enough riches to buy whatever she wants. Written by Victor Rodger with the voice of Lahleina Feaunati as Esera. Produced for RNZ by POW Studios | Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation Fund
An in-depth conversation with Wellington-based, Christchurch-raised playwright Victor Rodger. We preview his new work, Uma Lava and talk through some of his earlier works (At The Wake, Black Faggot, Sons) as well as his background in TV writing (Shortland Street), acting (Toi Whakaari) and working in newspapers as a film critic and arts reporter.
An in-depth conversation with Wellington-based, Christchurch-raised playwright Victor Rodger. We preview his new work, Uma Lava and talk through some of his earlier works (At The Wake, Black Faggot, Sons) as well as his background in TV writing (Shortland Street), acting (Toi Whakaari) and working in newspapers as a film critic and arts reporter. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe
A conversation with playwright Victor Rodger
1 September 2017 | WORD Christchurch Shifting Points of View 2017 in association with Christchurch Arts Festival ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’ Samuel Beckett Join us for a night of stories in the beautiful Great Hall as six speakers share tales of failure and its role in their lives and careers. Whether it’s a building block to creative success as Beckett asserts, a sorry rock-bottom tale, or a philosophical pondering on the nature of failure itself, is it safe to fail? And can we ever fail better? Featuring Australian feminist writer Clementine Ford, esteemed author Witi Ihimaera, storyteller and corporate warrior Hana O’Regan, everyone’s favourite poet/doctor Glenn Colquhoun, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel, and playwright Victor Rodger.
5 September 2017 | WORD Christchurch Shifting Points of View in association with Christchurch Arts Festival When award-winning British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog post about the way discussions of racism were being led by those not affected by it, her words hit a nerve. Galvanised, she dug into the source of her feelings and kept writing. The result was Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. We invite you to come and listen as Eddo-Lodge discusses, with playwright Victor Rodger, issues such as eradicated black history, whitewashed feminism, and the inextricable link between class and race, while offering a framework to see, acknowledge and counter racism.
Victor Rodger explores the personal, cultural and political aspects of transgender and non-binary identity with Georgina Beyer, Lexie Matheson, Nikolai Talamahina and Aych McArdle.
The 2016 University of Otago Fellows: Victor Rodger (Robert Burns Fellow), Miranda Parkes (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Chris Gendall (Mozart Fellow), val smith (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Barbara Else (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts. 17 July 2016
The 2016 University of Otago Fellows: Victor Rodger (Robert Burns Fellow), Miranda Parkes (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Chris Gendall (Mozart Fellow), val smith (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Barbara Else (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts. 17 July 2016
The 2016 University of Otago Fellows: Victor Rodger (Robert Burns Fellow), Miranda Parkes (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Chris Gendall (Mozart Fellow), val smith (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Barbara Else (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts. 17 July 2016