Dean Parker
Encyclopedia
Dean Parker is a screenwriter, playwright, journalist and political commentator based in Auckland
, New Zealand
.
Parker has worked as a writer for much of his life and been prominent in his union, the NZ Writer's Guild. His plays include Midnight in Moscow (which The Press
reviewer Alan Scott called "entertaining and thought-provoking" and "one of his best to date"), 2005's Iraq-set Baghdad, Baby, and an adaptation of Nicky Hager
's expose The Hollow Men. Amongst his screenwork, he has won awards in New Zealand for tele-play Share the Dream (starring Joel Tobeck
), and co-writing successful big-screen comedy Came a Hot Friday
. The 1985 film centered around two conmen in small town New Zealand, and was adapted from the novel by the late Ronald Hugh Morrieson
.
Parker's theatrical CV includes The Feds, Two Fingers From Frank Zappa, and adaptations of Great Expectations
, and The Trial
. He has also written many radio plays, among them Joe Stalin Knew My Father and Engels F: A History of the Ould Sod.
Arguably his best-known television work is Welsh-Kiwi rugby tale Old Scores
, which Parker co-wrote with ex All Black triallist and occasional soccer player Greg McGee
. The two also co-created 80s trucking series Roche, whose cast included John Bach and Andy Anderson
, and goldmining drama Gold
, a co-production between New Zealand and Canada. Parker has also worked on episodes of police drama Mortimer's Patch
, Betty's Bunch, and documentary Just Slightly, A People Apart: The Irish in NZ.
In 1990 Parker co-directed Shattered Dreams, a documentary on the years leading up to the '51 Waterfront strike
.
Parker was born in Napier. By 1969 he was living in London. While of mainly Irish ancestry, he knew little of the Irish struggle until "troubles" began that year in Northern Ireland. Parker joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign, led by the International Socialists
(now known as the Socialist Workers Party
), and immersed himself in literature on the Irish struggle. He continued his involvement with the IS into the early '70s', attending branch meetings in West London, with his old Napier friend, Blair Peach
. Peach was later killed while participating in a 1979 anti-National Front rally.
By 1975, Parker was back in NZ. Horrified at the election of National Prime Minister, Rob Muldoon, Parker joined the pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party
and soon became chairman of its Auckland City Branch. He was active in the Campaign for an Independent East Timor and played soccer for the Halt All Racist Tours
team for a number of years, though the quality of his play was purportedly variable.
In July 1977 he penned the first of many articles on Ireland for the SUP's paper, Tribune. By the late '70s the SUP had decided to ally with the Labour Party
. Parker resigned from the SUP in 1978, though he remained a supporter into the late '80s.
In 1979 Parker travelled to Northern Ireland
, visiting West Belfast
and trouble spots like the Falls Road. Back in NZ, Parker helped form H Block/Armagh in 1980/81 as a support group for republican prisoners in Irish jails. Parker served on the editorial board of the organisation's publication Saoirse from 1982 until its demise in 2000. Parker contributed regular articles on Irish issues to SUP publications until the party split in 1990.
In 1991 Parker was a member of the Editorial Group of the socialist journal Agenda. He has also been active in the Workers' Charter
Movement, a joint project of Socialist Worker, SPA, John Minto
's Global Peace and Justice Auckland and Matt McCarten
's Unite Union
.
He also contributes to the New Zealand Listener
and the New Zealand Herald.
Parker makes no bones about his Marxism-Leninism and injecting his politics into his art.
In the socialist journal Sites No 16 Autumn 1988 he wrote; "I would describe myself as a class-conscious writer. I'm with Lenin. I'm for the working class seizing control of the wealth it creates, for the replacement of parliament, the army, the police, the judiciary - all those deadly manacles of state control - with workers' committees and militias, and all this done as part of a world-wide struggle.."
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Parker has worked as a writer for much of his life and been prominent in his union, the NZ Writer's Guild. His plays include Midnight in Moscow (which The Press
The Press
The Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is owned by Fairfax Media.- History :The Press was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage in Montreal Street, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the South Island of New Zealand. The first...
reviewer Alan Scott called "entertaining and thought-provoking" and "one of his best to date"), 2005's Iraq-set Baghdad, Baby, and an adaptation of Nicky Hager
Nicky Hager
Nicky Hager is an author and investigative journalist born in Levin, New Zealand and now resides in Wellington. He generally writes about issues involving intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics. He has degrees in physics and philosophy...
's expose The Hollow Men. Amongst his screenwork, he has won awards in New Zealand for tele-play Share the Dream (starring Joel Tobeck
Joel Tobeck
Born in 1971 in Auckland, New Zealand, He is a well known actor in New Zealand and Australia with over 20 years acting experience.He comes from an acting background, his mother Liddy Holloway was a well known theatre and TV actress in New Zealand...
), and co-writing successful big-screen comedy Came a Hot Friday
Came a Hot Friday
Came a Hot Friday is a 1985 New Zealand made comedy film starring some of New Zealand's best-known actors and comedians, based on the 1964 novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson.-Plot:...
. The 1985 film centered around two conmen in small town New Zealand, and was adapted from the novel by the late Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Ronald Hugh Morrieson of Hawera, Taranaki was a novelist and short story writer in the New Zealand vernacular. He earned his living as a...
.
Parker's theatrical CV includes The Feds, Two Fingers From Frank Zappa, and adaptations of Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
, and The Trial
The Trial
The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...
. He has also written many radio plays, among them Joe Stalin Knew My Father and Engels F: A History of the Ould Sod.
Arguably his best-known television work is Welsh-Kiwi rugby tale Old Scores
Old Scores
Old Scores is a 1991 film jointly produced by New Zealand and Wales, based around the two countries' mutual national sport of rugby union. It is notable for the appearance of a large number of legendary Welsh and New Zealand international rugby players in supporting roles...
, which Parker co-wrote with ex All Black triallist and occasional soccer player Greg McGee
Greg McGee
-Biography:McGee was born in 1950 in the South Island town of Oamaru. In his early 20s McGee was a Junior All Black and an All Black trialist. He graduated from the University of Otago with a law degree in 1972....
. The two also co-created 80s trucking series Roche, whose cast included John Bach and Andy Anderson
Andy Anderson (actor)
Andy Anderson is an actor best known for his roles on both Australian and New Zealand television.-Career:...
, and goldmining drama Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, a co-production between New Zealand and Canada. Parker has also worked on episodes of police drama Mortimer's Patch
Mortimer's Patch
Mortimer's Patch was a popular TVNZ police drama from the early 1980s. It featured actors Terence Cooper, Sean Duffy, Don Selwyn and Jim Hickey and depicted detective and police work in the fictional town of "Cobham". It was filmed in and around Henderson, New Zealand.**...
, Betty's Bunch, and documentary Just Slightly, A People Apart: The Irish in NZ.
In 1990 Parker co-directed Shattered Dreams, a documentary on the years leading up to the '51 Waterfront strike
1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting financial hardships and working conditions. Thousands more refused to...
.
Parker was born in Napier. By 1969 he was living in London. While of mainly Irish ancestry, he knew little of the Irish struggle until "troubles" began that year in Northern Ireland. Parker joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign, led by the International Socialists
International Socialists
International Socialists is the name of a number of Trotskyist organizations.Most organisations using this name are in the International Socialist Tendency...
(now known as the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
), and immersed himself in literature on the Irish struggle. He continued his involvement with the IS into the early '70s', attending branch meetings in West London, with his old Napier friend, Blair Peach
Blair Peach
Clement Blair Peach was a New Zealand-born teacher who was fatally assaulted by a police officer during an anti-racism demonstration in London, England....
. Peach was later killed while participating in a 1979 anti-National Front rally.
By 1975, Parker was back in NZ. Horrified at the election of National Prime Minister, Rob Muldoon, Parker joined the pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party (New Zealand)
The Socialist Unity Party was one of the better-known communist parties in New Zealand. It had a certain amount of influence in the trade union movement, but never won seats in Parliament....
and soon became chairman of its Auckland City Branch. He was active in the Campaign for an Independent East Timor and played soccer for the Halt All Racist Tours
Halt All Racist Tours
Halt All Racist Tours was a protest group set up in New Zealand in 1969 to protest against rugby union tours to and from South Africa.-Chronology:...
team for a number of years, though the quality of his play was purportedly variable.
In July 1977 he penned the first of many articles on Ireland for the SUP's paper, Tribune. By the late '70s the SUP had decided to ally with the Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
. Parker resigned from the SUP in 1978, though he remained a supporter into the late '80s.
In 1979 Parker travelled to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, visiting West Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and trouble spots like the Falls Road. Back in NZ, Parker helped form H Block/Armagh in 1980/81 as a support group for republican prisoners in Irish jails. Parker served on the editorial board of the organisation's publication Saoirse from 1982 until its demise in 2000. Parker contributed regular articles on Irish issues to SUP publications until the party split in 1990.
In 1991 Parker was a member of the Editorial Group of the socialist journal Agenda. He has also been active in the Workers' Charter
Workers' Charter
Workers' Charter was a broad-based, left-wing movement active in New Zealand, which produced a monthly newspaper of the same name. The paper's editor is well known New Zealand socialist and anti-racist John Minto, and its contributors range across the left wing spectrum- anarchists, revolutionary...
Movement, a joint project of Socialist Worker, SPA, John Minto
John Minto
John Minto is a New Zealand based political activist known for his involvement in various left-wing groups and causes, most notably Halt All Racist Tours. A 2005 documentary on New Zealand's top 100 history makers listed him as number 89. Today he is involved with the protest group Global Peace...
's Global Peace and Justice Auckland and Matt McCarten
Matt McCarten
Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...
's Unite Union
Unite Union
The Unite Union is a trade union in New Zealand. It is the sponsor of the campaign directed towards improving working conditions for fast food workers in the country, in addition to representing other hospitality and retail workers...
.
He also contributes to the New Zealand Listener
New Zealand Listener
The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...
and the New Zealand Herald.
Parker makes no bones about his Marxism-Leninism and injecting his politics into his art.
In the socialist journal Sites No 16 Autumn 1988 he wrote; "I would describe myself as a class-conscious writer. I'm with Lenin. I'm for the working class seizing control of the wealth it creates, for the replacement of parliament, the army, the police, the judiciary - all those deadly manacles of state control - with workers' committees and militias, and all this done as part of a world-wide struggle.."