A MASTERFUL DOUBLE ACT RETURNS BRUCE MASON’S TRAILBLAZING WORK TO THE STAGE

Tender, fierce, and deeply human, the writing of Bruce Mason is given new life in a rare, unmissable theatrical event at Auckland’s Q Theatre from 22 July – 2 August. In EVERY KIND OF WEATHER, director Shane Bosher and actor Stephen Lovatt present two of Mason’s most beloved works not as museum pieces, but as living, breathing stories that resonate today.

Presented Brilliant Adventures with Q Season Support, this mini festival of sorts features THE END OF THE GOLDEN WEATHER and NOT CHRISTMAS, BUT GUY FAWKES, performed in repertory, following a celebrated Wellington season.

A prolific writer, Mason had a rare gift: he turned ordinary New Zealand lives into something luminous – full of humour, awkwardness, tenderness, and an unflinching eye on who we really are. His storytelling is alive with people we know and experience we’ve lived through: the gossipy aunty, the school bully, the frazzled mum that’s trying to hold it all together. We all know the pleasure of that first lick of ice cream on a hot summer’s day, the thrill of wrapping paper coming off a Christmas present, that moment where we begin to understand our place in the world.

The End of the Golden Weather transports audiences to a perfect summer on Takapuna Beach, seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy and his unlikely friendship with Firpo – an outsider chasing an impossible Olympic dream. Moving effortlessly between flights of imagination and everyday speech, it is a story about growing up, empathy, and that quiet moment when childhood begins to slip away.

A defining work of New Zealand theatre, it was performed nearly 1,000 times by Mason himself across three decades since 1959. It has become a touchstone for generations of actors, performed in solo and ensemble iterations by actors such as Cliff Curtis, Robyn Malcolm, Theresa Healey, Ian Mune, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Michael Hurst, Fern Sutherland, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Stephen Lovatt.

This 2026 season marks the first time in 15 years the full work has been seen in Auckland.

Its companion, Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes, offers something rarer still. A richly autobiographic work, written and exclusively performed by Mason towards the end of its life, and never performed by another actor, until now. It is a bold, personal and quietly cheeky reflection on identity, ambition, the purpose of art, and what it means to find your voice in a culture that struggles with tall poppies.

At the centre of it all is Stephen Lovatt, delivering a tour-de-force solo performance across both works. He has joined forces with director Shane Bosher, fresh from his success directing ATC’s smash hit production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, which played to over 20,000 people across two seasons. The result is theatre at its simplest and most powerful: one actor, extraordinary writing, and the quiet thrill of letting language take you on a nostalgic and emotional journey.

Together, Bosher and Lovatt have built a reputation for transformative, critically-acclaimed work, including Long Day’s Journey into Night, Things I Know to Be True, When the Rain Stops Falling and Angels in America. With Every Kind of Weather, they come together to offer up a not-to-be-missed theatrical encounter with a master craftsman.

With two pieces that bookend his career, this mini festival is a fitting tribute to a writer who changed theatre in this country forever. Audiences can experience the plays on their own, or as part of a theatrical double-shot with both plays performed alongside each other on Saturdays and Sundays.
 

“Pure theatrical joy … Lovatt is energetic, chameleonic and highly engrossing.”
– Regional News

“A masterclass … a performance of deep conviction and almost orchestral subtlety.”
 – The Post

“A precious gift … a joy to behold.”
– Theatreview

BIOS
Performer: Stephen Lovatt
Stephen Lovatt is one of Aotearoa’s most accomplished stage and screen actors. His extensive theatre work includes Angels in America, When the Rain Stops Falling, Things I Know to Be True, and Long Day’s Journey into Night, earning multiple Best Actor awards. On screen, he is widely-recognised for Shortland Street, Neighbours, Ash vs Evil Dead, and The Making of the Mob. His long connection to The End of the Golden Weatherincludes a 1990 ensemble version at Downstage Theatre, a 2006 solo tour of Aotearoa and Edinburgh, as well as performing the excerpt Christmas at Te Parenga on Takapuna Beach nearly every Christmas Day since 2006.  In 2025, he won the NZ Screen Award for Best Actor for his performance as Emmett Whitman, Shortland Street’s abrasive emergency doctor.
 
Director: Shane Bosher
Arts Foundation Laureate Shane Bosher is one of New Zealand’s leading theatre directors, known for bold, emotionally resonant productions across classical and contemporary works. His recent credits include Auckland Theatre Company’s sell-out season of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. His body of work includes productions of Tartuffe, Top Girls, Private Lives, Angels in America, Both Sides Now, Homos or Everyone in America, Everything After, and Long Day’s Journey into Night.
 
EVERY KIND OF WEATHER plays:
Q Theatre, Auckland
Thursday 23 July – Sunday 2 August
The End of the Golden Weather: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm, Saturday and Sunday at 4:30pm
Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes: Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7pm
 
Book at qtheatre.co.nz  
 
CREDITS
Playwright: Bruce Mason
Director: Shane Bosher
Performer: Stephen Lovatt
Production Designers: Jane Hakaraia and Sean Lynch
Composer: Paul McLaney