Rose Beauchamp

Rose Beauchamp (26 October 1946 – 10 January 2022) was a New Zealand puppeteer, actress, musician, and member of the Red Mole and Hens' Teeth theatre companies.

Rose Beauchamp
Born(1946-10-26)26 October 1946
Died5 January 2022(2022-01-05) (aged 75)
Occupations
  • Puppeteer
  • actor
  • musician

Life and career

Rose Beauchamp Thomas was born in Auckland in 1946.[1] In her 20s and 30s she travelled and lived in the Middle East and England, attending puppetry festivals in Europe.[2] She married poet Ian Wedde at age 20; they were married for 20 years and had three sons.[2][3]

She began performing, mostly as a musician, with White Rabbit Puppet Theatre, a branch of the Red Mole Theatre Company.[4] She joined Red Mole in 1975 and began doing puppetry.[5]

Beauchamp studied and performed puppetry in Japan. She attended the UNIMA World Puppet Festival in 1988 and was funded by the New Zealand–Japan Exchange Programme to study and perform with a puppet company in 1989.[6] In 1990 she made her third trip to Japan to perform at a puppet festival on Shikoku Island.[6] She travelled around Japan performing her puppet show with an anti-nuclear environmental message in schools and kindergartens. She observed similarities between Noroma puppetry and Māori puppetry (karetao, karari or toko raurape as they were respectively known to Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou and a far North tribe).[6]

In 2015 she organised a puppet festival in Wellington.[5][7]

Beauchamp performed as a comedy duo with actress Helen Moulder. In 1997 they wrote a full-length show The Legend Returns with Michael Wilson, based on a sketch for Hen's Teeth, which they toured in New Zealand and to San Francisco.[8] Moulder played the opera singing heroine Miss Cynthia Fortitude and Beauchamp her accompanist, Miss Gertrude Rallentando.[8] Their second production was Cynthia & Gertie Go Baroque! (2015). The Legend Returns was recorded by Radio New Zealand and is a popular audio, often requested.[9][10] These characters were developed by Beauchamp and Moulder in Hens' Teeth, a women's comedy group.[11] Beauchamp performed in Hens Teeth for a decade alongside many other performers including Lee Hatherly, Bub Bridger, Sue Dunlop, Lorae Parry, Rima Te Wiata and Kate Harcourt.[1][12] Most recently Beauchamp performed at Circa Theatre in the show The Older the Better (2020).[13]

She died in January 2022, at the age of 75.[5]

References
  1. "Obituary: Rose Beauchamp, the activist who believed in the power of puppetry". Stuff. 4 February 2022. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  2. Boyd, Sarah (12 August 2006). "Their generation". Dominion Post. p. E1-2.
  3. "Michele Hewitson Interview: Ian Wedde". NZ Herald. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. Hawkins, Barry (7 November 1990). "Images for the environment". Evening Post.
  5. "Wellington puppeteer, pianist and performer Rose Beauchamp to be farewelled". Stuff. 9 January 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  6. Beauchamp, Rose (Summer 1991). "A Journey to Sado Island". Illusions. 18: 32–34. ISSN 0112-9341.
  7. "Pulling all the Strings". RNZ. 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  8. Manson, Bess (7 November 2003). "Silly season of opera". Dominion Post. p. B11.
  9. "Cynthia and Gertie Go Baroque!". The Big Idea. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  10. "The Legend Returns from Major Plays". RNZ. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  11. "Other Productions (Helen Moulder & Sir John Trimmer in "Meeting Karpovsky")". Willow Productions. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  12. "Circa Theatre: [Programmes and fliers. 1990-1999]". National Library of New Zealand. 1 January 1990. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  13. "Middle C » "The Older the Better" – a triumph of age and experience at Circa Theatre". Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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