Merton Hodge
Merton Hodge | |
---|---|
Born | Merton Emerton Hodge 28 March 1903 Taruheru, Poverty Bay, New Zealand |
Died | 9 October 1958 Dunedin, New Zealand | (aged 55)
Nationality | New Zealand |
Occupation(s) | actor, medical practitioner, playwright |
Merton Emerton Hodge (28 March 1903 – 9 October 1958) was a playwright, actor and medical practitioner.
Born in Taruheru, Poverty Bay, New Zealand, he studied at Kings College in Auckland, Otago Medical School in 1925, graduated in 1928 (M.B., Ch.B), completed post-graduate studies at Edinburgh University.
As well as continuing his medical studies Hodge pursued his lifelong interest in theatre and continued to write plays throughout his working medical life.
Plays
Hodge is best known for The Wind and the Rain, which was performed 1000 times in London's West End, six months on New York's Broadway, toured the world and was translated into nine languages. Plays produced in London:
- The Wind and the rain, St Martin's Theatre, 1933, 1934, 1935;
- Grief goes over, Globe Theatre, 1935;
- Men in white (anglicised form), Lyric Theatre, 1935;
- The Orchard walls, St James Theatre, 1937;
- The Island, Comedy Theatre, 1938;
- Story of an African farm, New Theatre (from Olive Schreiner's novel), 1938;
- To Whom we belong, Q Theatre, 1939;
- Once there was music, Q Theatre, 1942;
Recordings
- My Life in the Theatre, series for overseas broadcast for British Broadcasting Service.
His suicide by drowning came in Dunedin in 1958.
Publications
The plays The Wind and the rain, Grief goes over, Men in white, The Island, Story of an African farm and a novelised version of The Wind and the rain, 1936.
External links
- Hodge's personal papers are held by the Alexander Turnbull Library [1], Wellington, New Zealand
- Merton Hodge at IMDb
- Use dmy dates from July 2013
- 1903 births
- 1958 deaths
- New Zealand male stage actors
- University of Otago alumni
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights
- New Zealand male actors who committed suicide
- New Zealand male writers who committed suicide
- Suicides in New Zealand
- Suicides by drowning
- 20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century New Zealand male actors
- 20th-century New Zealand male writers
- 20th-century New Zealand medical doctors