Fond Love and Kisses
A dramatised account of the The Furlough Incident where soldiers refused to return to the Desert War.
Downstage theatre, Wellington, 2003
Extracts, NZ Drama School, 2005
Director – Murray Lynch.
Dramaturg – Philippa Campbell
With: Kelson Henderson, Danielle Mason, Mick Rose, Danielle Mason, Jo Smith, Paulo Rotundo.
Script history
Extracts performed NZ Drama School 2005.
Produced 2003 at Downstage.
Studied in NZ Literature course at Victoria University 2003.
Downstage workshop; 2001.
Public reading at Playbox Theatre (now the Malthouse), Melbourne; 1998. Directed by Peter Evans.
PlaymarketNZ supported workshop; 1999.
Fond Love and Kisses received development support from PlaymarketNZ for a workshop and some money towards my travel
From the reviews
“Bravo to Allen O’Leary for telling a bitter truth about wartime New Zealand, and doing so with such insight and compassion.” – Sunday Star Times
“Fond Love and Kisses is a multi-faceted drama that comprehensively takes its central characters through confrontation, crisis and catharsis… a consummate work of theatre art that demands you ask questions of it. And the more you think the answers through, the more it rewards you…. Anyone who has grown up in New Zealand will have someone in the family or a neighbour, teacher or colleague who was directly affected by what the play covers. Both times I saw it, the audience was riveted, appreciative and still engaged beyond its short two-hour running time.” – National Business Review
Full credit must go to O’Leary for his well researched play, which encompasses divergent locations of ‘war is hell’ on the front lines and the difficult domestic environment which the soldiers encountered… Absorbing and honest throughout, this was a play of soaring emotions.” – Capital Times