Phillip Mann (Pegg, 1954-62) has been awarded an MNZM (Member of New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to Literature and Theatre.
He won an Open Scholarship to the College which proved to be a good choice for, apart from introducing him to Latin and French, English Literature, History and the sciences -all of which he enjoyed, it allowed Phil’s love of theatre to be given full rein. Under directors as inspired as Peter Burton, who taught English and John Lane who taught Art, the school embarked on annual productions of Shakespeare. He was able to take roles as varied as MacDuff, Bolingbroke in Richard II, Antonio in The Tempest and the greatest challenge of all, Hamlet.
After College, he studied Drama and English at Manchester University. He has worked extensively in Theatre in Europe and America and established the first programme of Drama Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in 1970, where he was later made Professor of Drama. He takes a special pleasure in directing new plays and in finding ways of making Greek Classical Drama available to modern audiences. In addition to his theatre work, Phillip is a freelance writer and has published eleven Science Fiction novels as well as essays, plays and works for younger readers. Phillip states that two main external influences on him were the North Yorkshire Moors and the North Sea and drew on memories of these areas in his writing.