Elisabeth Easther

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Elisabeth Easther
Born1970 (age 53–54)
NationalityNew Zealander
Occupations
  • Actor
  • broadcaster
  • journalist
  • playwright
Years active1993–present
Known for
ParentShirley Maddock

Elisabeth Easther (born 1970) is a New Zealand actor, broadcaster, journalist and playwright. She played Carla Crozier on New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street from May 1995 to July 1996, and has since had a varied career in television, radio, journalism and playwriting. Her play Seed won the Adam NZ Play Award for Best Play in 2014.

Early life and education[edit]

Easther is the daughter of Shirley Maddock, New Zealand's first female television producer and pioneering broadcaster, and her husband Michael Easther, general practitioner.[1] She attended Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.[2]

Easther initially planned to study law at university, but ended up graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and film.[2] She subsequently attended drama school Toi Whakaari and graduated in 1992 with a Diploma in Performance.[3][4][5]

Television and radio career[edit]

Easther's first notable acting role was in 1994 as the costume actor of a dinosaur called Victoria on the Australian children's television show Johnson and Friends.[3][4]

Easther played the villainous character Carla Crozier on New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, from May 1995 to July 1996.[3] The character was notable for being the show's first murderer,[6] and featured on one of the show's highest-rated episodes of all time, which aired on 31 May 1995 and was watched by nearly a quarter of the New Zealand population.[7] In February 2021, Easther returned to Shortland Street to play Crozier (now Dr Carla Summerfield) on a short-term contract.[8]

She has continued to act on television and in commercials, including playing the supporting role of Fran on the show Outrageous Fortune in series 3 and 4,[9] and appearing on sketch comedy Funny Girls in 2016.[10] Since March 2008 she has been a regular host on weekly radio show The Week That Was with fellow radio personality Te Radar for Radio New Zealand.[11] Easther has also done voice-over work for the Power Rangers Jungle Fury television series[3] and commercials for Whittaker's chocolate and Sky TV.[2] She was the voice-over artist for the character The Maven in an update to the video game Path of Exile released in January 2021.[12]

In 2018, Easther was the host of a remake of Islands in the Gulf, New Zealand's first documentary series, that had been produced and hosted by her mother in 1964. Easther visited islands in the Hauraki Gulf that her mother had visited and re-interviewed surviving interviewees.[13][14] Reviewer Greg Bruce, writing in the NZ Herald, described it as a "a loving homage to the original", and "classic Kiwi heartland television set in an increasingly expensive bit of Auckland's waterscape".[15]

Writing career[edit]

Easther has written a number of plays, including Raw and Salt.[16] Her play Famous Flora, about dress designer and brothel-owner Flora MacKenzie, was staged at Auckland adult entertainment venue the White House in November 2014.[17][18] The NZ Herald review praised Easther's creation of "two incarnations of Flora", both as an older "fiercely independent woman with a shrewdly realistic understanding of the human condition", and her younger self "as a youthful entrepreneur who has embraced the liberation of gender roles and is swept up in the live-for-the-moment spirit of the war years".[19]

Easther's play Seed, about four women's experiences of pregnancy, won the Adam NZ Play Award for Best Play in 2014, as well as Best Play by a Woman Playwright. It was described by the judges as "highly entertaining, funny and sophisticated".[2] It premiered at the Basement Theatre in Auckland in June 2014,[20] and was subsequently performed at the Circa Theatre in Wellington from 17 January to 14 February 2015.[21] The NZ Herald review described Seed as a "sophisticated, witty and very contemporary meditation on the timeless processes of procreation".[22] In July 2018, a production toured New Zealand as part of an Arts On Tour NZ event,[23] including performances in Auckland, at the BATS Theatre in Wellington, at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch and at a number of regional theatres.[24][25][26]

Easther has written extensively as a journalist for the NZ Herald since 2012,[27] as well as a book critic on radio and in print since 1993.[28] She edited an anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry about New Zealand birds called Bird Words, published in 2017.[29] The anthology features NZ authors such as Denis Glover, Hone Tuwhare, Janet Frame and Easther's mother, Shirley Maddock.[30]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Shirley Maddock – Biography". NZ On Screen – Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Mather, Mike (31 March 2014). "'Sophisticated' Seed earns Easther top play award". Waikato Times. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Elisabeth Easther". NZ On Screen – Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Elisabeth Easther". Gail Cowan Management Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  5. ^ Nealon, Sarah (20 February 2018). "Ex-Shorty star Elisabeth Easther fronts new doco series". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Carla murders Bernie during the quake". Shortland Street. Television New Zealand. 2004. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012.
  7. ^ Hunkin, Joanna (25 May 2017). "Shortland Street ratings uncovered: The stories that gripped New Zealand". NZ Herald. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  8. ^ Harvey, Kerry (18 February 2021). "Shortland Street's first killer returns in a new guise". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Outrageous Fortune: cast". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  10. ^ Grieve, Duncan (25 October 2015). "Television: The Spinoff Exclusive – The First Full Scene From TV3's New Sketch Comedy 'Funny Girls'". The Spinoff. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Tags: Elisabeth Easther". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  12. ^ "Echoes of the Atlas Lore: Creating The Maven". Path of Exile. Grinding Gear Games. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  13. ^ Gracewood, Gemma (23 February 2018). "A daughter remakes her mother's iconic TV series". The Spinoff. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  14. ^ Williams, Shani (27 August 2017). "New Zealand's first-ever documentary series remade". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  15. ^ Bruce, Greg. "Greg Bruce: Bridging years in the gulf". NZ Herald. No. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  16. ^ "Elisabeth Easther". Playmarket. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  17. ^ Delilkan, Sharu (14 November 2014). "REVIEW: Famous Flora (Playtime Theatre)". Theatre Scenes. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  18. ^ Cohen, Nomi (14 November 2014). "REVIEW: Famous Flora – Cheers, laughter, tears". Theatreview. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Theatre review: Famous Flora, The White House". NZ Herald. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  20. ^ Byrnes, Vanessa (19 June 2014). "Seed: Well-conceived take on modern life, love and reproduction". Theatreview. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Seed". Circa Theatre. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  22. ^ "Theatre review: Seed, The Basement". NZ Herald. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  23. ^ "Arts on Tour NZ (AOTNZ) announce their programme for 2018". Creative New Zealand. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  24. ^ "Production Information: Seed". Theatreview. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  25. ^ Quinn, Vivienne (7 July 2018). "Seed – Prepare to laugh a lot and maybe cry a little too". Theatreview. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  26. ^ Clark, Lindsay (15 July 2018). "Seed: The comedic and poignant cleverly balanced". Theatreview. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  27. ^ "Elisabeth Easther". NZ Herald. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  28. ^ "Bird Words by Elisabeth Easth". The Women's Bookshop. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020.
  29. ^ Easther, Elisabeth, ed. (October 2017). Bird words : New Zealand writers on birds. Auckland: Random House New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-1437-7031-2.
  30. ^ "Bird Words - from Standing Room Only". Radio New Zealand. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2020.

External links[edit]

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