Terry MacTavish

MacTavish was born in Taiwan in 1950, where her parents MacDonald MacTavish, a Scottish Free Church minister, and Shona Dunlop MacTavish, were working at the English Presbyterian Church Mission in Tainan.^[2][3] Her mother taught English and ballet to the local children.^[3] The family later moved to South Africa, where MacTavish's parents worked as missionaries: her father died there in 1957, and she returned to New Zealand with her mother and two siblings to live in Dunedin.^[4]

MacTavish's acting career started with the Southern Players at age 18. She went on to perform in productions at the Globe Theatre and the Fortune Theatre.^[5]

For 47 years MacTavish taught at Queen’s High School, Dunedin, including being head of drama.^[5][6] She was part of the educational group that developed drama in a new arts curriculum in New Zealand including establishing drama as an NCEA subject.^[6]

MacTavish was also part of Allen Hall at the University of Otago in the 1960s.^[7]

In 2008, MacTavish and Ross Johnston revived a play they had performed in 1975 at the Fortune Theatre, Pinter's Old Times, directed by Lisa Warrington.^[8] MacTavish's 1975 performance had been described as "dark, textured and petulant", while her 2008 interpretation of Anna was "sophisticated and mysterious".^[9]

In 2011, she played the "flamboyant medium" Madame Arcati, in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Globe Theatre, Dunedin.^[10]

In May 2013, MacTavish and Emerita Professor Jocelyn Harris presented Women Behaving Badly, a selection of readings from Jane Austen, at the Globe.^[11]

One reviewer called MacTavish's performance as Elizabeth I in Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart at the Globe in 2016 "mesmerising".^[12]

In the 2019 New Year Honours, MacTavish was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to theatre and education.^[13] In 2021, she was recognised as a distinguished alumna of Columba College.^[5]