Foreskin's Lament

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Foreskin's Lament is a landmark play in the history of New Zealand theatre¹. it was the breakthrough play for its writer, Greg McGee, and was initially workshopped at the New Zealand Playwrights' Conference in Wellington in 1980, and has since become a staple of New Zealand theatre. Being produced as it was immediately before and during the social unrest of the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand, it hit a nerve with the public and was named Best New Zealand Play of 1981.

The play is a drama set in rugby changing rooms, and the after-match party. The theme is the title nickname's attempt to fit in with university liberals and rugby playing conservatives. The play has a stylistically unusual ending with the main character directly addressing the audience with a very long speech - or rather interrogation - questioning their own values, ending with the repeated question, "Whaddarya?".

In New Zealand a rugby player is an everyman, and the game and play present a model of society. Set in 1976, it looks forward to the 1981 Springbok Tour. It has been suggested the misnamed character "Clean" was based on Robert Muldoon. The script was updated after the 1981 tour and was later heavily revised by the author for filming as Skin and Bones.