Auckland Theatre Company presents triple treat

The Auckland Theatre Company literary unit's annual play reading series, formerly known as Final Draft, now named The Next Stage, will showcase three original New Zealand plays in development at the Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, from tomorrow until July 2.

The new works are My Name is Gary Cooper by Victor Rodger, Finding Murdoch by Margot McRae and The Oil Factor by Geoff Chapple. Each will be presented as semi-staged readings.

My Name is Gary Cooper jumps from the American idol filming in Samoa in 1952, to Los Angeles in 1973 and a young man bearing the Cooper name, to an Auckland screening in 2000 of the original movie made in Samoa. Directed by Roy Ward, the cast includes Robbie Magasiva, Goretti Chadwick and Larissa Matheson. Performances are on Thursday and Saturday at 8pm.

Finding Murdoch is a dramatisation of the colourful life of former All Black Keith Murdoch, who was expelled from the team in 1972 during a tour of Britain, and was tracked down in Outback Australia in the 90s by TV journalist Margot McRae. It's directed by Paul Gittins and the cast includes Sara Wiseman and Geoff Dolan. Shows are on Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 2pm.

Geoff Chapple's The Oil Factor centres on 1920s entrepreneur Joseph Hatch and his Macquarie Island business which saw him attacked in an international row over cruelty to penguins - over three million had been rendered down for their oil. The one-man show recreates the magic lantern lectures given by Hatch in Hobart and Dunedin in 1920 in an attempt to convince the public and the Tasmanian Government to restore his revoked oiling licence.

Directed by Colin McColl, Stuart Devenie plays Hatch. He compares his character to today's stance by pro-whaling nations like Japan. "Hatch slaughtered penguins," he says. "The Japanese slaughter whales and for both, the justification was less about the animals than about their own dignity." The Oil Factor is staged on Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 7pm.