Richard Campion (theatre director)

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Richard Campion
Born13 December 1923
Died2 July 2013
CitizenshipNew Zealand
EducationVictoria University of Wellington
Occupation(s)Theatre director and actor
Known forCo-founding The New Zealand Players
Spouse(s)Edith Campion, Judith Phipson
Children3, including Jane Campion
HonoursNew Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours

Richard Meckiff Campion ONZM (13 December 1923 – 2 July 2013) was a New Zealand actor, theatre director, and producer.[1] Campion and his wife Edith Campion co-founded New Zealand's first professional theatre company, the New Zealand Players.

Early life and education[edit]

Born into a family well-established in Wellington's Mt Victoria,[2] he was the second son and third child, of John Stanley Campion (1893—1950) and his wife born Eleanor Wright, who he had brought back to New Zealand from London after serving in the first world war. The Campion family belonged to the Exclusive Brethren Christian Evangelical movement.[3]

Campion attended Clyde Quay School and Wellington College. He studied at Victoria University College, where he met his future wife and trained as a secondary school teacher. After graduating, Campion taught at Wellington College.

Career[edit]

Under the influences of playwright Bruce Mason, theatre director Ngaio Marsh, and German refugee Maria Dronke who was a talented actress, producer and teacher[2] he developed into a theatre and opera director.[4][5][6]

At the close of the 1940s Campion and his wife Edith spent three years in the Old Vic in London where he took the production course.[7][2] Campion and Edith co-founded the New Zealand Players, New Zealand's first professional theatre company, in the spring of 1952. Ngaio Marsh agreed to return from London and produce one of their plays.[8][1][9][10]

In 1990 Campion was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[11] In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the theatre.[12]

The Academy Award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director Jane Campion is his daughter.

The Ngā Whakarākei O Whātaitai / Wellington Theatre Awards annually an award called The Richard Campion Accolade for Outstanding Performance.[13]

Personal life[edit]

Campion married heiress Edith Hannah in December 1945 at Wellington's Anglican pro-cathedral when they were both 22 and still attending university.[14][15] Their children, Anna, Jane, and Michael, grew up in the world of New Zealand theatre.[5] Their marriage came apart and Campion remarried Judith Phipson then headmistress of noted girls' boarding school, Woodford House.[2]

Campion died in July 2013 at the age of 89. He had continued to attend the theatre though, Jane Campion said, by then he could neither hear nor understand the words. Downstage (in the Hannah Playhouse) and Circa theatres and ballet and opera all benefitted hugely from his life's work.[2]

Richard was the leading figure of New Zealand theatre during the latter part of the 20th Century and we are privileged to remember him as an important part of our history and the first man of New Zealand professional theatre as we know it today. Ray Henwood[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Death of Richard Campion, theatre pioneer who founded NZ Players". Wellington Scoop. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e Diana Dekker All the world was a stage for New Zealand Players founder published 15 July 2013, accessed 15 February 2022
  3. ^ Fox (2011). Jane Campion profile. p. 26. ISBN 978-0253223012. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  4. ^ Fox (2011). Jane Campion profile. p. 25. ISBN 978-0253223012.
  5. ^ a b McHugh, Kathleen (2007). Contemporary Film Directors: Jane Campion. United States of America: University of Illinois, Urbana. ISBN 978-0-252-03204-2.
  6. ^ Canby, Vincent (30 May 1993). "FILM VIEW; Jane Campion Stirs Romance With Mystery". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "Old Vic" Wanganui Chronicle 17 June 1950 Page 5 ]
  8. ^ The Christchurch Press 22 October 1952 Page 2
  9. ^ "Story: Theatre companies and producers – The rise of professional companies". Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  10. ^ Dekker, Diana (13 July 2013). "All the world was a stage for NZ Players founder". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  11. ^ Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 90. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  12. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2004". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Wellington Theatre Awards 2019". The Big Idea. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  14. ^ Wedding at St Paul's The Evening Post 26 December 1945 Page 8
  15. ^ Personalities Manawatu Times 22 February 1932 Page 6
  16. ^ Ray Henwood, "A Tribute to Richard Campion"


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