Middle Age Spread

Adapted from Roger Hall's play, this acclaimed 1979 movie is viewable in full on NZ On Screen. A rare Kiwi theatre hit that became a film, Middle Age Spread asks whether adultery is inevitable (and whether it can stay secret). "Antipodean Woody Allen"(said Variety) Grant Tilly plays a stressed deputy headmaster whose affair is revealed at a memorably horrifying dinner party. Shot on 16mm film in 22 days, this was the first feature for many rising talents — including Tilly, director John Reid (who played Robert, when the play first debuted), and cinematographer Alun Bollinger. It was the first Kiwi movie to screen on the BBC.

...[Grant Tilly] captures completely the gentle susceptibility and momentarily disturbed soundheadedness of Colin in the manner of an antipodian Woody Allen. With his expertise, the film cannot fail.

– Variety reviewer Mike Nicolaidi on Grant Tilly's performance in Middle Age Spread, 31 December 1978

Key Cast & Crew

Dorothy McKegg

As: Elizabeth

Roger Hall

Original Author

Keith Aberdein

Writer

Grant Tilly

As: Colin

Donna Akersten

As: Judy

John Reid

Director