Girls & Boys - A Note From Our Artistic Director & CEO, Jonathan Bielski

Welcome to the sixth production of our 2025 season.  Playwright Dennis Kelly’s Girls & Boys has been a sensation in London and New York.  Our version has been made by a group of artists I have the highest regard for.

We are delighted by the return of the very in-demand director Eleanor Bishop.  While in Auckland directing this production, Eleanor has another at the Edinburgh Fringe, and has just completed her first short film, made as part of A Wave in the Ocean, Dame Jane Campion and Philippa Campbell’s visionary film intensive. 

Actor Beatriz Romilly, a well-established name in London, now resident in Aotearoa, caught our attention with her star turn as Edmund in 2023's King Lear.  I had to find Beatriz a play to showcase her extraordinary range, and in Boys & Girls, Beatriz is nothing short of astonishing.

Joining Eleanor and Beatriz is a powerhouse of artists in composer Victoria Kelly, making her debut with Auckland Theatre Company, and much-loved retuners in set and costume designer Tracy Grant Lord, mime director Barney Duncan, sound designer Te Ahi Butler, and lighting design by Filament Eleven 11’s Rachel Marlow and Bradley Gledhill.

In Girls & Boys, Dennis Kelly is provoking us to think about the potential catastrophic consequences of toxic male identity.  He asks us to consider what led to the particular events of this story.  This story is fictional, but rooted in the brutal facts.  In the tradition of ancient Greek theatre, most pertinently exemplified in Euripides’ Medea, we, the spectator, look directly at the tragedy.  By staring it in face we may not find an answer, as art rarely offers a neat solution, but in the apotheosis we experience theatrical catharsis; a release of emotions.

Artistic Director & CEO
Jonathan Bielski

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