Violet Targuse

Violet Targuse (née Healey, 1884–1937) was an early female playwright in New Zealand. She has been described as "probably New Zealand's most successful and least acclaimed one-act playwright", and "the most successful writer in the early years" of the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League. “It is not hard to decide who is the best-known New Zealand playwright—among the women at any rate,” wrote the Australian Women’s Mirror in 1936: Violet Targuse.

Active during the 1930s when her plays were widely performed by amateur drama groups, they focused on women, especially the experiences and concerns of rural women in New Zealand. Set in locations such as a freezing works, a sheep station, a shack on a railway siding, and a coastal lighthouse, her plays were seen as essentially New Zealand in setting, character, and expression. (Exceptions to this are Prelude, which revolves around the life of Anne Boleyn, and Auld Lang Syne, which is set in Scotland).

Targuse wrote at least 18 plays, 16 of which were one act, and 2 of which were three acts. At least 12 of these were performed in New Zealand, meanwhile some of her plays have been performed in Australia, England, Portugal, Spain, and Wales. Among her plays, 8 are now described as "lost," as surviving copies of the text cannot be currently located.

During the second half of the 20th century, Targuse's plays slowly disappeared from repertoires, until her work received renewed attention–initially by feminist scholars–starting since the 1990s. In 2000, both Fear and Rabbits were revived and performed at the Circa Theatre in Wellington. A version of Rabbits was translated and performed as part of a multimedia production in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal, in 2009. She was the seventh of nine children of two English immigrants.

Violet Healey studied at school until Standard Seven—an additional year offered by some primary schools at the time for children who could not access or afford secondary school. On her death certificate, Targuse’s “profession or occupation” was listed as “married.” But obituaries printed around the country stated that many critics considered her “to be among the first rank of one-act playwrights in New Zealand.”

Drama Career Along with her youngest daughter, Targuse was a member of a group that would play during scene changes at the festivals organized by the South Canterbury Drama League, one of the amateur theatre clubs that emerged in New Zealand in the late nineteenth century, and which became widespread in the 1920s and 1930s. It was in this way that in 1930 she learned of the South Canterbury Drama League’s inaugural original playwriting competition. She wrote Rabbits within three days, and won first place and was awarded a prize of ten guineas.

In August 1932, Targuse again won the South Canterbury Drama League’s one-act play competition—against 24 other entries—with The Touchstone. Cast of "The Fugitive" performed by the Horncastle and District Amateur Dramatic Society, in Alford, UK, March 1938Rabbits, Fear, and The Touchstone were soon being performed around New Zealand. Targuse’s plays proved particularly popular with women’s community groups. An important activity for the local area branches of the British Drama League was to organize an annual festival of one-act plays in which local groups competed as teams; Targuse’s plays were also popular choices for such competitions. Her plays are now viewed as foundational in the history of New Zealand theatre and women’s dramatic literature.

Dramatic Style Targuse's plays are characterized by their realism, focus on rural domestic life, and psychological depth, especially in female characters. She was adept at capturing the vernacular and social concerns of 1930s New Zealand, including unemployment, isolation, and women's roles within the family. She often incorporated contemporary references and set her plays in recognizably New Zealand environments.

Plays Rabbits (1930): When Mrs. Benson visits her friend Maggie Blake, she finds her dishevelled yet giddy in expectation of good news from her husband about an opportunity to move away from their isolated shack in the Canterbury plains. When Maggie’s husband returns in the evening, he indeed has good news. But it is not what Maggie was awaiting. Sentiment (1931; unpublished; currently considered lost) Wild Oats (1933; performed but unpublished, currently considered lost): Responding to Treatment (1933; performed but unpublished, currently considered lost): Ebb and Flow (1934): At a lighthouse off the coast of New Zealand, Rachel Watts is mourning more than just the recent loss of her younger sister, whom she had raised since childhood following the death of their mother. The Fugitive, performed in New Zealand as Beyond the Walls (1934): Felicia Drummond is busy working on parish paperwork, but her maid Lucy is eager to share news of a woman who has escaped from Lyttelton jail. When Felicia spots the fugitive outside in the garden, the clergyman’s daughter, who has lived her life always expected to toe the line, is forced to make some big decisions. Men for Pieces (1934): Jean Goulding is at home anxiously awaiting the return of her husband, Sam, after serving 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Jean has worked hard and struggled in her husband’s absence, and has tried to keep the home just as it was before Sam left for prison. Almost as soon as Sam arrives home there is a knock at the door and a one-time friend, Mrs Dobson, arrives with a request for Sam that Jean cannot support. Auld Lang Syne (1934; unpublished during Targuse's lifetime, published 2025): Based on the novel Nancy Stair by Elinor Macartney Lane. Nancy Stair is a fiercely intelligent, accomplished, well-educated, charming, and beautiful young woman, with a strong belief in justice. When, within the course of just one day, she meets two eligible suitors, it appears that she will have a difficult choice to make. But a rivalry develops between the two men, and soon Nancy must deal with a more consequential moral dilemma. Passing Discord (1934; unpublished, currently considered lost) Mopsey (1935): Peter is the guardian of his younger sister, Mopsey, who has been left with an intellectual disability since an accident as a young girl. When Peter falls in love with Barbara, he suddenly feels pulled in different directions. The Hikers (1935; performed but unpublished, currently considered lost) Scene Macabre (1935; unpublished, currently considered lost) The Reaper (1936; unpublished, currently considered lost) Prelude'' (1936): Anne Boleyn is a maid of honour to Catherine of Aragon, wife of England’s King Henry VIII. When the queen refuses to intercede on Anne’s behalf so that she can marry the man she loves, Anne loses her temper and reveals her Protestant leanings. The queen banishes Anne from court and Anne’s fate appears sealed until a chance encounter changes the course of history.