Lançamento de The Airotive Papers, no cinema Passos Manuel.

Leitura de ‘Rabbits’ (1932) de Violet Targuse.

André Guedes com Lígia Roque e Miguel Loureiro.

Editors’ Note: “Rabbits”, written by Violet Targuse in 1932, was published in Seven One-‑Act Plays, a compilation of theatre plays made by the New Zealand Radio Record under the auspices of The British Drama League (N. Z. Branch), Wellington, in 1933.

Violet Targuse was born in 1883 (under the family name Healey) in Timaru, New Zealand, moving later to Christchurch where she eventually died in 1937. The category regarding “Rank, Profession or Occupation” as listed on her Death Register states only that she was “Married”, but Targuse achieved during her brief life great popularity and a strong reputation as her plays were often read and produced, not only within Canterbury, but also throughout the country. In a short period of only four years (early 1930s) she won three prizes at the South Canterbury play-writing competition which was open to entries from all over the country. Still, in spite of belonging to an important generation of New Zealand one-act play-writers, further references to her works only appear in very few books on the history of theatre in New Zealand, such as John Thomson’s New Zealand Drama 1930–1980 and Peter Harcourt’s A Dramatic Appearance, New Zealand Theatre 1920–1970. During the second half of the 20th century Targuse’s plays progressively disappeared from the theatrical contexts and were only again re-played in 2000 by the Circa Theatre in Wellington during an evening organised by Sue Dunlop, which was composed of one-act plays written by women between 1931 and 1952.