In January 1976, I was invited by Ralph McAllister, to address a session of a Summer School of Drama, sponsored by the New Zealand Theatre Federation, at Porirua, near Wellington city. My theme was to be a general one – an informal chat about my life in New Zealand theatre. I prepared some notes, then thought suddenly of a bonne bouche, an account of how I came to write my first and appallingly bad play, All is Not Gold. I had to rummage to find it; it formed part of Variation I of an abandoned work called Courting Blackbird: A theme and variations in the baroque style, which I had laid aside in 1952, after completing the first two variations and the coda. The extract went so well, the students falling about, that I realised that I might have here the germ of a new piece for solo theatre. When in Christchurch in March 1976, to present Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes for the Christchurch Festival of Arts, I tentatively approached the management of the Court Theatre: would they be interested in presenting all my solo works in sequence, including the première of a new one, Courting Blackbird? They were, and graciously put their beautiful new theatre at my disposal.
Other commitments prevented my completing the last four variations until July, and Downstage, Wellington were good enough to offer me a Sunday night preview, to an invited audience, on 9 August. The première took place as scheduled on 18 August 1976, at the Court Theatre, Christchurch, after single performances of The End of the Golden Weather, Men of Soul and Not Christmas, but Guy Fawkes.
The première went well, and I have since given seasons of Courting Blackbird at the Gateway Theatre, Tauranga, the Fortune Theatre, Dunedin, at Downstage, Wellington, at the Maidment Theatre, Auckland, at Centrepoint, in Palmerston North, and at the Four Seasons Theatre, Wanganui.
Thus Ralph McAllister acted as unwitting midwife to a new work, for which I thank him and warmly dedicate this piece to him, in acknowledgment of the sustained devotion and energy he has given to New Zealand theatre.
February 1977