Resident with his wife Diane 26 Jan 2015 – 30 April 2015
Born in England, Roger Hall emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 19 and has gone on to become one of this country’s best known playwright, dramatist and writers for over five decades. He was awarded his Knighthood in 2019 for Services to Theatre. Roger cleverly holds a mirror to the kiwi (and human) psyche and in doing so helps us to understand who we are as New Zealanders. His work spans plays (many box office hits), musicals, pantomimes, radio dramas, books and plays for children and over 70 sitcom episodes for television. His plays have been performed in many other countries including ‘Middle Age Spread’ which went to the West End, London where it ran for 15 months and won Comedy of the Year. His hit play and television series ‘Gliding On’ went on to become one of New Zealand’s most loved series. His awards are too numerous to list here but include: Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction) Lifetime Achievement Award Hackmann Awards; Lifetime Achievement Award, Dunedin Theatre Awards; Visiting Fulbright Professor, Georgetown University, Washington); Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship; Hon. Doctorate of Literature, Victoria University; Turnovsky Prize for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts; Fulbright Travel Fellowship, USA; Robert Burns Fellowship, University of Otago.
During his residency Roger undertook undertook several writing projects focused on plays and wrote an article about Janet Frame. He gave two public talks at Central Stories, Alexandra and led a workshop on writing in Queenstown (2015).
Roger donated a number of his books to the Henderson House Art Collection and donated two bikes for the pleasure of future residents.