A Red Mole Sketchbook

Red Mole was made up in 1974 ‘to keep the Romance alive’. From deep base in Wellington, this theatrical syndicate toured New Zealand with a volatile mix of satire, rhythm ’n’ blues, slapstick, shouting and Cubo-Futurist performance. Four years later fifteen of the troupe decamped to New York and gathered a name acting for themselves on 2nd Ave. Later seasons were passed in Santa Fe, Austin and Los Angeles. It was a midnight flight on a nameless airline to Amsterdam that got Red Mole turned for home.

A Red Mole Sketchbook catches the energy of that ‘Lost Decade’. Here are eight great scripts selected from the seminal shows of those formative years; the leap from Carmen’s Balcony to East Broadway and from there to a kind of beatitude in Island Bay.

Alan Brunton (1946–2002) was a New Zealand poet, playwright, performer and teacher.