Roger Hall

:"This article is about the playwright. For the American spy see Roger Wolcott Hall."

Roger Leighton Hall, CNZM, QSO (b. Essex, England, 1939) is described as the most successful playwright of his generation ["The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature"] . He writes comedies with a serious vein of social criticism and a feeling of pathos running through them.

Hall's best-known work in New Zealand is probably "Glide Time" (1976), which depicts the frustrations and petty triumphs of a group of workers in a government office. It gave rise to the popular 1980s television series "Gliding On" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480491/ Gliding On] ] and a sequel play, "Market Forces" (2005), set in the "restructured" public service environment of the early 21st century.

The characters of "The Share Club" (1987, before the Stock Market crash) and "After the Crash" (1988) were also translated to television in "Neighbourhood Watch".

Hall's best-known works internationally are "Middle Age Spread" (1978, revised 1980), which had a run in the West End and was also filmed in 1979 [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079552/ IMDB entry for Middle Age Spread] ] , and "Conjugal Rites" which was made into a situation comedy series in the UK. [ [http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/conjugal/index.html COnjugal Rites] ]

Hall was a Burns Fellow in 1977. He was the subject of a television documentary in 2006. [ [http://www.pointofview.co.nz/RogerHall.htm Who Laughs Last - Point of View Productions] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/hallroger.html Biography (including photo) at NZ Book Council site]
* [http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/nzp/nzlit2/hallrog.htm Listing of material by and about Hall]