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Sian Davis

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The House of Angels first came to my notice back in 2015. Ruth Mayo had written the play the year before and sent it for comment to a mutual friend in New Zealand. He gathered a group of actors together to read and to make suggestions about possible changes to the script and I was one of those participating. I was much taken by the play’s quirkiness and strong characterisations, loosely based on some of the Mercury Theatre actors of the ’70s, with whom Ruth had acted and knew well. Folk I remembered also.

In late 2016, I was in London and met with Ruth to discuss its possible presentation in New Zealand. It had a well-received, rehearsed reading in London and now she was amenable to the idea of its stage presentation. On my return to New Zealand, I approached Ellerslie Theatrical Society with an offer to direct it and, so, here it is – a ‘world first’ on stage.

Sian Davis has attachments to ‘the territory’ and from much the same time. After much stage experience, Sian turned to directing in 1998. (Not totally true as she had directed at school as a teacher.) The 1998 opener was Hedda Gabler, which really gave her a taste for ‘quality stuff’. Since then she has directed a melange of the classical and most wonderful (in her book) and, occasionally, the not-soentrancing – an eclectic mix in any case. From Twelfth Night for the Auckland University’s Summer Shakespeare (2004) to The Mousetrap for Company Theatre (2012) – her ‘ditziest’ in her accounting – which was probably the most popular of her productions with audiences.

Sian is particularly interested in promoting the staging of New Zealand plays, and over half of the 33 productions (up to the time of writing) have been of local plays she is proud to own. She has directed extensively throughout the Auckland am-dram scene and is, hopefully, quite well remembered at Ellerslie for such offerings as The Farm in 2002, through Wit, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Doubt, Cherish, Loot, to Social Climbers in 2015.


For Ellerslie TheatreThe House of Angels (2018)director
Social Climbers (2015)director
Loot (2013)director
Cherish (2011)director
Doubt: A Parable (2009)director
Picasso At The Lapin Agile (2005)director
Wit (2003)director
The Farm (2002)director