But Nigel McKinlay, who shared a room with Hall during the 1995 Rugby World Cup supporters tour of South Africa, says Hall is a master at separating fact from fiction.
Hall's play C'Mon Black opened to a sell-out audience at Wanaka's Festival of Colour last night, and the season continues at the Cromwell Memorial Hall today and Glenorchy Hall tomorrow.
The new production of the 1996 play stars actor Gavin Rutherford as cow-cockie Dickie Hart and has been revived for this year's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Mr McKinlay says it had never occurred to him to go on tour and Hall talked him into it.
The men are firm friends now but in 1995 knew each other only through tennis, Mr McKinlay, a retired Dunedin shoe manufacturer, said.
It did not cross Mr McKinlay's mind he could end up as a character study for his room-mate. Hall says his friend is "suitably disguised" in the play but was not the muse for Dickie Hart.
Each day on tour typically ended with Mr McKinlay in the bar while Hall wrote up his notes in their room.
"It was quite interesting for me, travelling with Roger, bearing in mind he had a work purpose.
Roger is very organised and disciplined in his work habits. That's a compliment.
What it demonstrated to me is that to be a playwright you have to have the trade skills, like any other trade, and the discipline," Mr McKinlay said.
Other supporters reacted with suspicion when they found a writer was on the bus.
"I can remember Roger standing up and people were thinking `Who is this strange beastie?' But Roger tells dirty jokes very well and told a very dirty joke and I could feel the palpable relief - `Oh, he's one of us after all'," Mr McKinlay recalled.
"I was not a spy. Just an observer," Hall said.
When the All Blacks did not win the World Cup, Hall thought his play was dead.
But then Dickie Hart emerged, from an article he later wrote for the Listener, and stayed with him until the play took form in 1996. The play explores the agony of supporting a team that really should have won the cup.
"It is a very interesting slice of New Zealand. It was a very big deal for people. It was their retirement trip, a big chunk of money and time," Hall said.
The friends believe New Zealanders retain the same desire for the All Blacks to win the cup at home this year but are slightly more guarded in their passion.
They still harbour strong feelings for the 1995 team, which was felled by food poisoning.
"I think we can rationalise it now. We didn't win the World Cup, but we were the best team. And the All Blacks were clearly the best team for a country mile," Mr McKinlay said.
Hall is also taking part in the Aspiring Conversations programme on Friday, April 15, at 10.30am at the Crystal Palace in Wanaka. In "Fifteen years to be an overnight success", Hall will share his insights into developing a writing career, including dealing with knock-backs, freelancing and the art of writing.
His new play, A Short Cut to Happiness, will be at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre in November or December. It was also scheduled for Christchurch's Court Theatre in July, but another venue is now being sought after February's earthquake.
