Bruce Mason, CBE, played quite vital roles in the building-up of a body of New Zealand drama, in the establishment of sustainable professional theatre in that country, and in the stimulation of sufficient numbers of theatre-goers who would patronize them. Essentially these three entities came into being through processes that began in the 1950s, advanced in the 1960s, and achieved serious momentum in the late 1970s, notably with the commercial successes of the comedies of Roger Hall. Sadly, Mason’s death from cancer in December 1982 meant that he did not witness, or participate in, later developments, and his own plays have had too few professional productions.
To grasp Mason’s achievements, one needs to examine their contexts. The relatively belated emergence in New Zealand of a
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Citation: Ross, John C.. "Bruce Mason". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 November 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5033, accessed 23 April 2024.]
