Greg McGee
Encyclopedia
Biography
McGee was born in 1950 in the South IslandSouth Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
town of Oamaru
Oamaru
Oamaru , the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connects it to both...
. In his early 20s McGee was a Junior All Black and an All Black trialist. He graduated from the University of Otago
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
with a law degree in 1972.
In 1980 his first play, Foreskin's Lament
Foreskin's Lament
Foreskin's Lament is a landmark play in the history of New Zealand theatre. It was the breakthrough play for its writer, Greg McGee, and was initially workshopped at the New Zealand Playwrights' Conference in Wellington in 1980, and has since become a staple of New Zealand theatre...
, was an immediate success. A drama set in rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
changing rooms, and the after match party. The theme is the title nickname's attempt to fit in with university liberals and rugby playing conservatives. In New Zealand a rugby player is an everyman, and the game and play present a model of society in the end of the 1970s, and on the eve of the 1981 Springbok Tour
1981 Springbok Tour
The 1981 South African rugby union tour of New Zealand was a controversial tour of New Zealand by the South Africa national rugby union team, known as "the Springboks"...
. The play has a stylistically unusual ending, with the main character directly addressing the audience with a very long speech — or rather interrogation — questioning their own values; "Whaddarya?".
McGee has struggled to achieve the same success in later works.
- Tooth and Claw, 1983, retained the same microcosm, but used the courtroom as a metaphor.
- Out in the Cold, 1983, moved the scene to a freezing works, and extended the women's rights sub-themes of earlier plays.
- Whitemen, 1986, returned to rugby, tackling the Cavaliers' tour, but was a box-office failure.
McGee script wrote for television, notably two well-written mini-series (Erebus: The Aftermath
Erebus: The Aftermath
Erebus: The Aftermath was a 1988 New Zealand television miniseries about Air New Zealand Flight 901, which crashed in Antarctica in 1979. The miniseries, a docudrama, was produced by Television New Zealand, and was broadcast in New Zealand and Australia...
, an examination of the inquiry following the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901 was a scheduled Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight that operated between 1977 and 1979, from Auckland Airport to Antarctica and return via Christchurch...
in Antarctica, and Fallout, a dramatisation of David Lange
David Lange
David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
's government and the end of ANZUS
ANZUS
The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty is the military alliance which binds Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States to cooperate on defence matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though today the treaty is understood to relate to attacks...
), but also more mundane work for shows such as Cover Story
Cover story
Cover story may refer to:* a story in a magazine whose subject matter appears on its front cover* a fictitious account that is intended to hide one's real motive, e.g. when a terrorist pretends to be farmer to buy fertilizer or to provide an explanation in case it is found; the story in the case of...
, Marlin Bay, Street Legal
Street Legal (2000)
Street Legal is a New Zealand drama focused on the lives of a small group of lawyers. A total of 52 episodes were aired and reruns currently can be seen around the world...
and, more recently, Orange Roughies
Orange Roughies
Orange Roughies is the name of a New Zealand drama television show created by Auckland-based film company Screenworks, the first season of which screened on TV ONE from May to July 2006. The second season has recently finished filming and is, according to TVNZ, due to screen sometime between...
. He co-wrote movie scripts for Crooked Earth
Crooked Earth
Crooked Earth is a 2001 New Zealand film directed by Sam Pillsbury and starring Temuera Morrison. The film opened to negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.-Plot:...
, Via Satellite (1998), with Anthony McCarten and the Kiwi Welsh rugby comedy Old Scores
Old Scores
Old Scores is a 1991 film jointly produced by New Zealand and Wales, based around the two countries' mutual national sport of rugby union. It is notable for the appearance of a large number of legendary Welsh and New Zealand international rugby players in supporting roles...
with Dean Parker. He returned to the theatre with This Train I'm On in 1999. Foreskin's Lament is being reprised for the screen, as Skin and Bone.
McGee was a founder of the Screenworks TV production company, is a member of the New Zealand Film Council and a past President of the New Zealand Writers' Guild. He has most recently been revealed as the writer Alix Bosco
Alix Bosco
- Life :'Alix Bosco is the pseudonym of New Zealand writer Greg McGee, as revealed in the Sunday Star Times on August 14th. McGee writes in a variety of other media, and therefore wanted to keep his crime-writing persona separate.- Writing :...
who has written two highly successful crime novels.
Principal Work
- Foreskin's Lament. Wellington : Price Milburn, with Victoria University Press, 1981.
- Tooth and Claw. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1984. First performed March 1983.
- Out in the Cold. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1984. First performed May 1983.
- Whitemen, unpublished play, performed 1986.
- Erebus : the aftermath. Script by Greg McGee, produced by Caterina de Nave
- Old Scores (film, screenplay written by Greg McGee and Dean Parker), 1991.
- Fallout, television docudrama, with Warren Barton, 1994.
- Cut and Run, crime novel, written under the pseudonym Alix BoscoAlix Bosco- Life :'Alix Bosco is the pseudonym of New Zealand writer Greg McGee, as revealed in the Sunday Star Times on August 14th. McGee writes in a variety of other media, and therefore wanted to keep his crime-writing persona separate.- Writing :...
, 2009. - Slaughter Falls, crime novel, written under the pseudonym Alix BoscoAlix Bosco- Life :'Alix Bosco is the pseudonym of New Zealand writer Greg McGee, as revealed in the Sunday Star Times on August 14th. McGee writes in a variety of other media, and therefore wanted to keep his crime-writing persona separate.- Writing :...
, 2010.