About a civil liberties organisation (Partisan) boss and a young Auckland lawyer dealing with two cases; A new mother refused to permit an operation on her baby and was compelled to surrender it to Child Welfare; a father objected, on religious grounds, to a blood transfusion which saved the life of his small son after an accident.
Civil liberties basis for N.Z.B.C. play
Much has been made; recently of the erosion of human rights and free speech in New Zealand.
John Maynard, formerly a writer for the B.B.C. series Z Cars and script editor for Dr Finlay’s Casebook, points out that unlike the United States and Canada, New Zealand has no Bill of Rights and consequently the rights of the individual in New Zealand are based on the negative concept that anything is lawful unless it is expressly forbidden by Act of Parliament or Common Law.
However, as most people are completely unaware of the extent of their rights, they are often frightened of government departments and local authorities. In Partisan: Bound to Assist two families discover that George Orwell’s frightening predictions about Big Brother
are all too accurate — and there are still 10 years to go to 1984.
Partisan
in this play is a civil liberties organisation dedicated to protecting the rights of people in general and individuals in particular. It is based in Auckland and has an office in the centre of the city.
Heading the organisation is John Armstrong who got his start in civil liberties during the wharf strike two decades ago, when a state of emergency was declared and New Zealand came, in his eyes, as close as it has ever been to becoming a Fascist state.
Since then he has embarked on a solo fight for the recovery and maintenance of civil liberties and the enlargement of them. Amidst these activities he has worked as a part-time journalist, part-time lecturer and occasional playwright.
The part of John Armstrong is played by Walter Brown who will be remembered as Captain Dan Wells, in the Adventures of Seaspray a children’s adventure series screened a few years ago. He has a strong background in British television also having played in series such as Police Dog, The Saint, Gideon’s Way and No Hiding Place.
Assisting him in Partisan
is Michael Grant, an up-and-coming lawyer played by Chris Shiel, an Australian with television experience in light entertainment shows. Michael Grant has a quick legal brain and whether he’s in court, facing an employer, a militant union chief or television interviewer he can always put up a good fight.
While at university he became involved with Jill Collier and although the affair is long since over, he has persuaded her to become the third member of the Partisan team — a sort of secretary-cum-general factotum. The role of Jill is played by Ilona Rodgers, a Yorkshire girl who has had parts in Dr Who, Sherlock Holmes, The Saint and The Avengers as well as facing the daunting task of playing opposite Spike Milligan in ad-lib repertory.
Featured in a cameo role as a television interviewer is Craig Little, familiar to Aucklanders from his stint with the former regional news programme This Day.
The producer-director was Donald Hope Evans and the programme was filmed in colour in and around Auckland.
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