Greg McGee Biography

New Zealand playwright, born in Oamaru in the South Island, educated at the University of Otago, Dunedin. Both McGee's experience as a law student and his time as a Junior All Black (rugby player) contributed to the creation of his successful first play Foreskin's Lament (1979/81). Its first half is set in the changing shed on practice night; the action is about young Foreskin's unsuccessful attempt to introduce some altruism into a brutal team strategy. The play was welcomed as a questioning of the values of the wider society. McGee's other stage plays continue strategic attacks on contemporary values; both Tooth and Claw (1984) and Out in the Cold (1984) deal with issues of sexism and racism. Whitemen (1986) was less successful. McGee has also produced original screenplays, and adaptations, for television. These include Free Enterprise (1982); the series Mortimer's Patch (1984) and Roche (1985); and a dramatization of the controversial inquiry into the aircrash on Mt Erebus in Antarctica.