29 May - 2 June 1984, Free Theatre, The Arts Centre
7-9 June 1984, Dunedin Tour, Allen Hall
19-21 July 1984, Free Theatre, The Arts Centre, Return season
The play, written by Stuart McKenzie, a member of the Free Theatre group, explores the subject of rape through a series of mental images which make up the private world of Suzannah, a woman who is raped. Highlights are the grimly stylised rape scene and the brutally realistic police and medical examinations which follow.
The production is structured as a relentless mechanism in which the six actors take on various characters in varying degrees of sylisation. These characters become components of Suzannah's mind - people she has met, situations she has experienced. She is thus a recording machine. When the overt physical act of rape occurs, it is a direct reult of subtler emotional and mental manipulation by a male-dominated society in which role-playing and deceit are the norm.
Members of the group are aware of the sensitive nature of the subject and are adament that their aim is not to make a moral judge,ent or to point the finger at men. They aim to examine the phenomenon of rape within a theatre format. The theatre becomes a laboratory-workshop in which the motivations of people are placed under a microscope.
Mr McKenzie gathered his material directly from the experiences of the cast. Responsibility for direction of the play has been undertaken by the group as a whole.

Press Release

Press Release

Reviews

...brief but intense...

​Experiment in cause and effect
​Richard Corballis, NZ Times
​​
The performance is strong and painful. Julia Allen could hardly play the difficult part better than she does.

​Painful view of a rape
John Goulter, The Star
This short, concentrated, avant-garde presentation is one of the best productions to come out of the Free Theatre.... an intelligent, unconventional, well crafted piece of theatre which is much to the credit of both writer and cast.

'Rapist over Suzannah'
​John Farnsworth, The Press
​
...one of the best plays I have seen for a long time.... one of the most intelligent and intelligible treatments of the theme free of any emotional or intellectual extravagance and mercifullly honest.... an appointment with a theatrical event of lasting value.

​Short play rewarding
D.H.E., ​Otago Daily Times, June 8, 1984​
This play, and its production, is full of interest both for what is achieved and what is not.

The Rapist Over Suzannah
​Simon Garrett, NZ 'Act' Magazine, Aug 1984

Articles

Free Theatre tour
publication unspecified

Play about rape
The Press