Dunedin theatre doyenne Louise Petherbridge, QSO, had an outstanding talent for acting and an abiding love of theatre and literature, spending her life immersed in the magic of the stage and inspiring others to follow in her footsteps.
Born Louise Durant Harris on May 11, 1931, Louise Petherbridge died on January 18, aged 92, at the same Musselburgh property where she was born and which had been in the Hudson-Harris family (of biscuit and confectionery fame) for generations.
Son David Petherbridge said the house and large garden were "in her DNA".
"Mum was born in an old villa on the property, which was demolished to make way for the later Art Deco house, and grew up as the only child in a multi-generational household," he said.
Filled with light and beautiful family heirlooms, the house was built by Louise’s maternal grandparents, the Hudsons, who employed a live-in housekeeper, Winnie Stickles.
As a child, Louise developed a close relationship with Winnie, and stayed in touch throughout Winnie’s life.
The young Louise did not feel lonely, creating her own little theatre near the greenhouse in the garden, letting her vivid imagination run free and beginning to develop the remarkable range of creative skills that would shape her life and career.
During her studies at St Hilda’s Collegiate, which recently honoured her as a distinguished alumna, Louise seized opportunities to act or direct plays, and was swiftly recruited by the Repertory Society to play juvenile leads.
She was enthusiastically involved in many Otago University Drama Society performances, while studying for her bachelor of arts degree at the university.
While at the Northern Theatre School she met actor and writer Edward Petherbridge, and the couple married — just before Edward was incarcerated in Wormwood Scrubs as a conscientious objector.
After graduating from the course, which included performances with the Northern Children’s Theatre, Louise quickly gained employment with established repertory companies in Lincoln and Ipswich, living in primitive "digs", but gaining glowing reviews
In 1958 and 1959, Louise and Edward joined the New Zealand Players and the NZ Players Drama Quartet for highly successful tours of this country, most memorable in The Importance of Being Ernest, before returning to the UK.
There, one of her most significant roles was as Alison in the first performance of Look Back in Anger to be shown outside London. Louise was quite proud that the controversial "kitchen sink" play was booed by some old-fashioned patrons.
During her 20 years of professional theatre experience in the UK, which included lecturing for London University and broadcasting for BBC radio, Louise worked with well-known directors such as Roy Battersby, David William, Peter Coe, Bernard Miles, William Gaskill, George Devine and Noel Coward.
A precious possession for Louise in later life was the framed letter written for her by Coward, describing her as "a brilliant actress, with a masterly grip of every conceivable accent, capable of incredible industry!".
Patric and Rosalie Carey were delighted to welcome her back to the Globe Theatre, where one of the first productions she directed was Pinter’s Silence, later drawing university professors of science, philosophy and theology into her startlingly original Symposium on Nothing.
Louise was also able to lend her talents to the Fortune Theatre in its infancy, stunning audiences with her performance as Katherine Mansfield in a sellout season of The Two Tigers (1974).
Incredibly, to give an authentic performance of Mansfield’s tuberculosis symptoms, in particular coughing up blood, Louise had her own blood drawn at the hospital and put into capsules to bite into on stage.
In the ensuing years, she was involved in many productions at the Fortune, directing plays including Private Lives as well as chamber operas, and taking lead roles in a long list of plays, including Travels with My Aunt, Agnes of God, Duet for One, Tree Tall Women, The Lion in Winter, Lettice and Lovage, Lucky Numbers, Dangerous Liaisons, the hilarious Auntie and Me and naturally Roger Hall.
Whether as imprisoned queen or comical bag lady, her expertise gave the Fortune the opportunity to mount truly professional productions for 40 years, and she was duly recognised by the New Zealand Theatre Industry with the Gold Award for 100-plus professional productions.
As a performer and creative artist, Louise was inventive, vibrant and bursting with energy — she revelled in creating the magic of the stage.
A playwright herself, in devising her own strikingly original work, Louise drew artists, musicians, designers and dancers into her vision.
Her faith in local talent led her to commission masques and operas from leading musicians Edwin Carr, Gillian Whitehead, and Anthony Ritchie as well as plays, such as The Perfumed Business Woman (Mata Hari) by Brian McNeill.
The pair inspired each other, working with Shona’s Dunedin Dance Theatre and music professor John Drummond on authentic re-creations like The Mozart Harlequin, as well as productions which made strong social statements: feminist and transgender issues in Orlando, fascism and racism in While Grandmother Played Bridge, which coincided with the 1981 Springbok tour.
For Amnesty International, Louise and Shona created a memorable dance-drama Bars that challenged the apartheid situation Shona had experienced first-hand in South Africa.
The close relationship between the Petherbridge and MacTavish families over many decades has been deeply enriching, both creatively and personally.
Actor and director Terry MacTavish, daughter of Shona, said her life in theatre had been "immeasurably enhanced by Louise — she devised so many wonderful productions and gave me so many great opportunities, the greatest of these being the role of Sylvia Ashton-Warner in her amazing piece, Coup de Folie."
"Moreover, she was immensely kind and generous, knowing well how brutal theatre can be, and would go out of her way to support her cast members and her students during her time as a drama lecturer at university."
As a beloved patron of the Globe Theatre, Louise directed Hay Fever, Rookery Nook, Joyful and Triumphant, The Beggar’s Opera, Ghosts, Vita & Virginia, and more, including a bun raku interpretation of The Tempest.
Sometimes, she would undertake cameo roles, such as the professor of English literature in Wit.
For the 2010 Otago Festival of the Arts, she directed the premiere of Renee’s moving play, Shall We Gather at the River, and later, aged nearly 90, an Irish play she had always loved, Riders to the Sea.
In 2007, she gave a luminous performance at The Globe as Miss Helen in The Road to Mecca, directed by Lisa Warrington, a role she had originally played at Palmerston North’s Centrepoint.
Louise was in demand beyond Dunedin, from the Court Theatre in Christchurch to Bats Theatre in Wellington, and toured throughout Otago and Southland.
New Zealand film and television also benefitted from her skill, with Louise bringing to life bizarre characters like con artist Amy Bock, and taking lead roles in The Flight of the Albatross, filmed on Great Barrier Island, and the award-winning Cake Tin.
Despite coming from a privileged background, Louise was the opposite of elitist, her social conscience shaped by her childhood during the Great Depression, when "the heartbreaking levels of poverty" informed her thoughts on the world.
In England, protesting in Trafalgar Square at the end of the famous Ban the Bomb Edgbaston march, Louise was torn between the desire to remain seated and risk arrest, and the need to get back to her theatre job in time for her stage entry.
Theatre won, but it was close.
Once home in Dunedin, she lent her support to campaigns against war and climate change, and for the environment, minority groups, refugees, the rainbow community and especially the fight to save her beloved St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool, gathering signatures and addressing the council in powerful rhetoric.
A quiet, but profound faith was another important feature of Louise’s life — she became an Anglican in her teens, regularly attending services at St Michael’s and All Angels Church, to which she introduced her friend Paul Oestreicher, who subsequently made his life in the church.
Far from dogmatic, she was "ecumenical in her thinking", and brought her liberal attitudes to her friendships with English bishops John Robinson and John Taylor, in whose church she was invited to read.
Whether she was based at the family home she cared for over many years, or at the ramshackle crib studio at Otakou where she often wrote, Louise Petherbridge was a true free spirit, filled with joy and a gratitude for her life, her son David said.
"She had a great appreciation for nature and the beauty of things, which she has bequeathed to me."
Her gratitude extended to the caring ladies, especially Sharon, whose devotion made it possible for her to remain in the house she loved.
A gracious hostess, Louise loved to welcome friends to her famous Boxing Day parties, or for afternoon tea and cakes, where she entertained with lively anecdotes, her rich chuckle, and occasionally, on request, her own arresting poetry.
Louise Petherbridge has received several awards for her exceptional contribution to theatre, including the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) in the 2000 New Year’s Honours.
For the past 15 years, she courteously undertook the role of "living taonga" for the Dunedin Theatre Awards — lending dignity and gravitas to the celebrations.
At this year’s awards ceremony, David was able to stand in for his mother as Louise’s special place in the life of Dunedin theatre was acknowledged.
Dunedin owes a great deal to this outstanding actor and gracious lady, who loved to support and encourage fellow artists, and was always generous with her time and skills, and inspirational with her talents and passion for theatre.
— Brenda Harwood
