“Welcome to that very rare thing—a New Zealand play about famers and farming,” wrote Denis Welch in the Listener of one of the most significant works by New Zealand’s most popular playwright. Covering a span of 80 years, A Way of Life follows a major strand of New Zealand’s twentieth century history, making this an important story for both reading and performance, for young people and adults alike. From the land ballots after World War One through to the diversification of tourism in the 1990s, this poignant portrayal of rural life reveals the fortunes of three generations of the McDonald family on their Hawke’s Bay farm.