Mercury director to leave N.Z.

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 15

Mercury director to leave N.Z.

The director of the Mercury Theatre, Auckland, Tony Richardson, will leave New Zealand in December, when his contract expires. Mr Richardson has been offered a new contract, but feels he needs a change of scene and a rest from the responsibility of running a theatre. He said in Auckland on Saturday that he would go home to England and have a rest before deciding his future, the Press Association reported. Mr Richardson said he hoped his successor would be sought in New Zealand as well as abroad. “I expect a large number of applicants," he said. “The Mercury is the envy of every regional theatre throughout the Englishspeaking world.” Mr Richardson, who has been described as one of the six leading directors in English theatre, became director of the Mercury eight i years ago. His task then jwas to establish the new : theatre. Now, “the whole Mercury team is very able to provide a high standard of theatre,” he said. I The inclusion of the perI forming talents of the Maori had been one of the pleasing i achievements of the Mer-

cury, Mr Richardson said. “New Zealanders have a particular strength of talent within the performing arts, and one of the things that has happened, starting with George Henare, is that we were able to add the particular performing talents of the Maori."

One of the other important achievements of the Mercury, he said, was that for the first time in NewZealand it was able to offer full-time employment in theatre. “In one way or another we now employ 50 full-time

people, whereas when I first came here theatre had to rely a lot on people who were doing other things as well.

"There are now something like eight community theatres in the country employing professionals.” The Mercury Theatre will also lose the services of Mr Richardson’s children, Kate, aged 18, Matthew, aged 17 and Martin, aged 14 and his wife, Jane. Mrs Richardson has been with the company full-time about two years, and the children have taken part in several shows. They are all in the cast for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat,” the Mercury’s present production.