Peter Robert Hawes (30 September 1947 – 29 October 2018) was a New Zealand playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter.

Peter Hawes
Hawes in 1994
Hawes in 1994
BornPeter Robert Hawes
(1947-09-30)30 September 1947
Westport, New Zealand
Died29 October 2018(2018-10-29) (aged 71)
Koitiata, New Zealand
OccupationWriter
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
GenresNovel, playwriting, scriptwriting
Years active1974–2018

Biography

edit

Born in Westport, Hawes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch.

Whilst living in Barcelona, he wrote—in Spanish—a best-selling novel about the Spanish Inquisition: La Hoguera (The Bonfire), published in 1974.[1] After returning to New Zealand in 1975, he worked for television, as a researcher and journalist, and as a scriptwriter for various series, including Fraggle Rock, and Against the Law.

Several of his plays remain unperformed; for example, A Higher Form of Killing.

Hawes died at Koitiata on 29 October 2018.[2][3]

Selected works

edit

Novels

edit
  • La Hoguera (in Spanish) (The Bonfire), 1974
  • Tasman's Lay, 1995
  • Leapfrog with Unicorns, 1996

Plays

edit
  • Alf's General Theory of Relativity, 1981
  • Ptolemy's Dip, 1982
  • Armageddon Revisited, 1983
  • Goldie: A Good Joke, a portrait of the early New Zealand painter C. F. Goldie, 1987
  • 1946 The Boat Train, which examines the effect of the World War 2 on the lives of four women, 1991
  • Aunt Daisy, 1989
  • The 1944 Olympic Games, one-act play
  • A Higher Form of Killing, about physicist Ernest Rutherford
  • The Inquisition Dies, developed from material in La Hoguera

Other

edit

Peter Hawes (2014), Forty Years of Centrepoint Theatre: The History According to Hawes (PDF), p. 77, Wikidata Q107708826, a history of Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North

References

edit
  1. ^ "La Hoguera". Iberlibro. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Hawes, Peter". Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ Thomas, Carly (31 October 2018). "The final curtain falls for playwright Peter Hawes". Stuff. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
edit