While studying Theatre at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Eleanor Bishop found creative freedom and a place within Wellington’s thriving theatre community. These experiences helped shape her early ambitions.
“I chose Victoria because I wanted to study in a city with a vibrant theatre scene and the program felt very connected to the city at that time. It was great fun and inspiring to go watch our tutors’ directing shows at BATS Theatre,” Eleanor says.
Reflecting on her time at Te Herenga Waka, Eleanor is grateful she was given the space to express herself and explore her creativity.
“In my second year devising class, our group made a small feminist piece. I remember we used lines from Cosmo magazine about waxing and ripped apart two pieces of velcro into a microphone. It felt radical and powerful and I couldn’t believe I could use my voice in this way,” she recalls.
“In my final year I directed a production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed, a very radical play about institutions and violence. I remember sitting in the dark watching these sunflowers fall from the sky and a feeling that I could do this. I think the fact that we got to do these things and no one stopped us was the best part.”
Eleanor is now an award-winning director and writer, with her work touring Australia, North America, UK, Europe, and widely around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Most recently Eleanor spent time in New York, where she and her creative partner Karin McCrakin, who she shares theatre company EBKM with, debuted their play Heartbreak Hotel.
“Karin came to me and said what if we made something about heartbreak? As someone who adores romantic comedies, and has a Spotify playlist called ‘sad girls’, the concept appealed to me.”
“To have the play in New York is very surreal. I did my Master’s in directing in America and lived in New York afterwards. I absolutely adore the city. It is a great source of pride that our work can sit alongside other shows in the best city for theatre in the world,” Eleanor expresses.
Eleanor’s talent was recognised by internationally acclaimed director and fellow Vic alumna Jane Campion when she was selected to take part in A Wave in the Ocean, a two-year pop-up film intensive for ten filmmakers supported by Netflix.
“I describe A Wave in the Ocean as the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I was able to learn how to genuinely work alone as a writer and director. My theatre practice up until that point had been very collaborative, but I was aching to go deeper into myself as an artist.”
The course involved making mini short films, initially working entirely alone shooting images, writing, and performing voiceover. Eleanor’s short film Girl Time had its world premiere at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in 2025 and was recently shown in the 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival.
For Eleanor this experience opened a new realm of creativity that has been invaluable to her career.
“We got to watch a lot of films together so sometimes it felt like a slumber party I couldn’t believe was real life. And of course, to work with Jane whose work I have revered ever since I studied The Piano in high school was very special,” she says.
When asked about career highlights, Eleanor shared that presenting at festivals she watched growing up has been a memorable experience.
“When Karin and I adapted Chris Kraus’ book Gravity & Grace for premiere in the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts and The Auckland Festival of Arts in 2024 it certainly was a career highlight. I grew up on the festival as a kid in Wellington, and Chris Kraus was a seminal influence during my time living in New York, so the project felt like the merging two worlds.”
Along with the wins come the challenges, and Eleanor explains that in theatre there are many, with rejection being especially difficult.
“The challenges are myriad! Rejection is tough when getting knocked back for opportunities or funding. It can be hard to take those things in stride. Making theatre in a small country often requires taking your work offshore to make a sustainable career, but being at the bottom of the world makes that a challenge,” she acknowledges.
Eleanor says that studying alone might not lead to a job in theatre, but the opportunities she had to explore all facets of the discipline at Te Herenga Waka gave her the best start to go on and succeed.
“Victoria was very good for me. To be immersed in all aspects of theatre, reading plays, studying experimental companies, passionately arguing about the purpose of theatre, and most importantly making theatre, it all meant that when I graduated, I had a path open for me. I just grabbed everyone that was around that wanted to do this and we started doing it.”