Andre Surridge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Surridge, Andre (1951-2019) is an award-winning playwright whose subject matter has ranged from road safety to Katherine Mansfield.

Born in Yorkshire, England he worked as a civil servant before the desire to act in the theatre took him to Shakespeare's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon. 'I was interested in becoming an actor but a lot of very good actors were out of work and I didn't really have the confidence or the credentials to become a professional actor.'

Surridge married a New Zealander and emigrated here, arriving in 1972. In 1974 he wrote his first play, 'Psyche', which was placed in the Hamilton Competitions Society drama section and had a short season at Hamilton Playbox. 'When I look back on it, it is very raw,' Surridge says, 'but one has to start somewhere.'

Since that start Surridge has written a further fourteen playscripts, winning the Shell Playwrights Award in 1984, the Lantern Theatre Trust Award (London) in 1987 and the Minolta Playwriting Award in 1995. His road safety play 'Smashed' toured New Zealand in 1997 and 1998 with over 250 performances. He was President of the Playwrights Association of New Zealand from 1998-2000.

Andre Surridge's self-published playscripts are: Obscenes from Shakespeare (1991); Zugzwang (1991); Repossessed (1991); Freeze (1991); Child of the Sun (1991); Orinoco Flow (1991); The Interview (1991); Shadow Self (1992); Agatha and the Invisible Giant (1993); Those Who Dwell On The Beach (1993); Global Village (1998); Why The Kiwi Can't Fly (1998); Swiss Cider (1998); If I Said You Had A Heavenly Body (1999); Smashed (2000). Surridge has also published two collections of poetry, Estimation Destination (1982) and Wings For You (1993).