Beate Wiebel

This is Beate’s debut as a director at Ellerslie Theatre. However, she has directed student theatre in both German and English in schools in Sydney and Auckland, directing Molière, Agatha Christie and modern plays. Beate hopes that adults are just as “obedient” as students are. Beate has been involved in several productions at ETS, assisting with props (Lion in Winter), costumes (The History Boys) and she acted as assistant to the director (The Shape of Things and Albert Make Us Laugh). When first reading the one act play “Seat of Power’ by Sally Sutton, Beate thought of a quotation of French playwright Tristan Bernard “In the theatre the audience wants to be surprised but by things that they expect”.

This is Beate's second experience as director of a one-act play at Ellerslie Theatre, the last one being Seat of Power by Sally Sutton in 2011. In the past, she has been involved in several productions at ETS, assisting with props for Lion in Winter, costumes in The History Boys and as assistant to the director in The Shape of Things and Albert Make Us Laugh. Dinner for One has a special meaning for Beate, as a German, because it has been played on German television every New Year's Eve since 1963. It became the 'same procedure as every year' until she moved to Australia in 1993, and then to New Zealand in 2003, where no one seems to know about it.