Wolfgang Creative

The Pill Box is the latest play from critically-acclaimed playwright Ben Hutchison. Set in a pharmacy in early 1900s, it is a dark, seething comedy about an entrepreneurial pharmacist who sees the opportunity to capitalise on the sale of addictive over-the-counter medicine as a thinly-veiled substitute for alcohol.

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Chlorodyne was notorious patent medicine of the 19th century. Advertised widely as a treatment for cholera, diarrhea, insomnia, neuralgia and migraines, its principal ingredients included laudanum, cannabis and chloroform. At the heart of The Pill Box is the paradox that such a powerful drug was readily available over the counter in the midst of the fiercely contested Prohibition debates regarding the production and sale of alcohol in early 20th-century New Zealand. As alcohol and drug debates continue to be waged today, the play offers an historic lens through which to reflect on these issues.

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Great theatre evolves through investing in the development of a script.  Directed by Andrew McKenzie and supported by the Dunedin City Council Professional Theatre Fund, the Division of Humanities Performing Arts Fund and Bluewater Products., the October 2019 workshop  and public reading in Dunedin tested audience response and gathered feedback for Ben to complete a new draft of the play and work towards a professional production.

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