Arthur Meek (playwright)

{{Short description|Actor and playwright in New Zealand}}

{{Hatnote|For Arthur Meek (army officer) see Arthur Meek}}

File:Arthur Meek 2021.jpg

Arthur Meek, born in 1981, is a New Zealand playwright and actor. He is a graduate of Theatre Studies at Otago University and of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School.{{Cite web|title=Arthur Meek {{!}} Arts Foundation Harriet Friedlander Residency|url=https://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/arthur-meek?token=658|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Arts Foundation|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710003939/https://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/arthur-meek?token=658|url-status=live}} He graduated from Toi Whakaari with a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting ) in 2006.{{Cite web|title=Graduate|url=https://www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz/graduate|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710042217/https://www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz/graduate|url-status=live}}

Plays include: Charles Darwin: Collapsing Creation (2009). Fight the Fat (2011), commissioned for Allen Hall Theatre's Lunchtime Theatre programme, Sheep (2011), Dark Stars (2012), On the Upside Down of the World (2013), Trees Beneath the Lake (2014). Erewhon Revisited (2017), a co-commission between Christchurch Arts Festival and Magnetic North (Scotland).{{Cite web|title=Production Information: Black Romedy|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=3801|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-10|website=www.theatreview.org.nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710002936/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=3801}}{{Cite web|title=Theatre Aotearoa|url=https://tadb.otago.ac.nz/theatre/Login/Index.php|access-date=2021-07-10|website=tadb.otago.ac.nz|archive-date=2021-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711022736/https://tadb.otago.ac.nz/theatre/Login/Index.php|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=EREWHON REVISITED - Reckless pace reverses Victorian restraint|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=10554|access-date=2021-07-10|website=www.theatreview.org.nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710002936/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=10554|url-status=live}}

Meek is also the co-creator of comedy band The Lonesome Buckwhips, who have performed on stage and had their own radio series, The Lonesome Buckwhips, commissioned by Radio New Zealand, and originally broadcast in July 2009.{{Cite web|title=The Lonesome Buckwhips from Comedy and Satire|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/comedy-satire/the-lonesome-buckwhips|access-date=2021-07-10|website=RNZ |language=en-nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710002934/https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/comedy-satire/the-lonesome-buckwhips|url-status=live}}

Adaptations: On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking me as her Young Lover and On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking me as her Young Lover,{{Cite web|title=Arthur Meek|url=https://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/arthur-meek/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=www.playmarket.org.nz|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210223626/https://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/arthur-meek|url-status=live}} and Richard Meros Salutes the Southern Man (2012), with Geoff Pinfield. Meek was the performer in each of these solo shows.{{Cite web|title=On the conditions and possibilities of Hillary Clinton taking me as her young lover|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=4328|url-status=live|access-date=11 August 2021|website=Theatreview|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811011619/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=4328}}{{Cite web|title=Gifted Meek|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=7756|url-status=live|access-date=11 August 2021|website=Theatreview|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811011620/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=7756}} As one reviewer noted, "Meek is the ideal thespian suitor to Meros' satyric satire."{{Cite journal|last=Chinn|first=Anna|date=26 April 2008|title=Loving Helen|journal=New Zealand Listener|pages=44–45}}

As an actor, his roles have included performing in several of his own works, such as the solo show Erewhon Revisited, Dean Parker's The Hollow Men, Emily Perkins' New Zealand adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House{{Cite web|title=PRODUCTION INFORMATION: A DOLL'S HOUSE|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=5898|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-10|website=www.theatreview.org.nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710002934/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=5898}} and Lungs by Duncan McMillan.{{Cite web|title=PRODUCTION INFORMATION: LUNGS|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=5449|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-10|website=www.theatreview.org.nz|archive-date=2021-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710002938/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=5449}}