Erin Harrington reviews End of Summer Time, written by Sir Roger Hall, directed by Dan Bain, and starring Ross Gumbley, at the Court Theatre, Saturday 21 June 2025.
Sir Roger Hall’s latest play End of Summer Time revisits curmudgeon Richard ‘Dickie’ Hart, an ex-cow cockie who finds himself, deep into retirement, living with his wife Glenda in an upscale apartment on Auckland’s North Shore so that they can be closer to the grandkids. This is the third one-man show about rugby-mad Dickie, after C’mon Black (1996), in which he travels to South Africa in a rugby supporters’ group, and You’ve Gotta Be Joking (1999), which transplants Dickie from the farm to Wellington city when Glenda decides she wants a more urban, cultural lifestyle.
In those earlier plays Dickie looks around at modern life with disbelief, comments about how things were back in the day, and has his horizons ripped open, all the while standing in for a certain type of ‘real Kiwi bloke’, whatever that is (mostly Pākehā and conservative) . It must be tempting to want to eke every cantankerous laugh out of this script and character, and to lean on stereotype. That way danger lies. Director Dan Bain’s production, performed with energy and empathy by Ross Gumbley, thankfully pulls right back. It takes a holistic view and brings the absolute best out of Hall’s script, offering a funny and moving portrait of an older man who finds himself again a fish out of water, and faced with life-altering shocks.
The first half establishes Dickie and Glenda’s new life in Auckland, in a nice apartment with a sea view. Gumbley’s Dickie is a little crotchety and stuck in his ways, but also curious about people and his new home. He’s warm and open to new things. There are some very strong choices in interpretation that explore the depth of Hall’s comedy and characterisation. While Glenda lives her best retired life, flitting between yoga and book club and coffee with the girls, Dickie (with a bit of prompting) starts to branch out. He explores Auckland, dragging the grandkids up the volcanoes, navigating busses and ferries, and braving city traffic. He befriends – or perhaps is befriended by – a few other retired locals, and is roped onto the board of the body corporate. He makes the city home. Even an ex-farmer can come to love daylight saving.
Then, the pandemic hits. It is followed by a series of omnicrises – lockdowns, the floods, Cyclone Gabrielle – that upend Dickie’s life. This roll call of disasters is a little didactic, script-wise, but we see bright, energetic Dickie chipped away bit by bit. The play explores sadness and isolation in a compassionate manner. It illustrates an all-too-common physical and emotional slippery slope that’s usually hidden from sight, especially amongst men who have relied heavily on their wives. The light, open apartment becomes more of a prison. Bain’s production really takes its time through these sequences, letting these shifts, and their impact on Dickie, settle slowly on the audience. It’s very effective, and very affecting.
Bain and Gumbley make excellent use of the well-appointed set, designed by Harold Moot. The apartment’s fancy kitchen comes complete with fridge, a well-stocked pantry and a fully plumbed island sink. Simple shifts in light, or changes in clutter, mark the passage of time and Dickie’s emotional state, which at times falls apart like the fragmented edges of the laminate floor. It also helps that the space of the Front Room is tight and intimate, allowing for a direct relationship between performer and audience. I am not sure how things look from the mezzanine, but where I am the immediacy is powerful. Those sitting in the lowered benches of the front row can pretty much reach out and touch things – and after the play a surprising number of people go and explore the kitchen, so that’s clearly going to be a fruitful relationship for the set supplier Kitchen Concepts.
This proximity means that Gumbley, a performer with a big stage presence, can pull right back knowing that the most subtle of shifts will register. This is also long, as far as a one-person, one-act show goes – close to 90 minutes. It’s demanding in terms of energy and emotion. Gumbley paints these shifts ably, using every colour in the box, carrying the audience through with him.
Parts of End of Summer Time are melancholy, but the play is not intended to be a downer. It finds the sadness behind the comedy, and vice versa. Its final message is about the way connection, with the world and with other people, can give people life. It illustrates the power of friendship without judgment.
The play’s title and Takapuna setting nod to Bruce Mason’s The End of the Golden Weather, which recently finished its run on the Court’s mainstage. However, where Mason’s play closes with the loss of innocence and the end of childhood, this thoughtful and sweet show offers hope as Dickie looks to the future with optimism. End of Summer Time opens on the shortest day of the year, and will certainly warm audiences through the winter.
End of Summer Time runs at the Court Theatre until Saturday 16 August 2025.
Flat City Field Notes 