Menlove and Esquilant's intention in forming the company had been to focus on the South Island towns that were too small to merit a visit by the New Zealand Players.
After the success of the first two shows, Charley's Aunt and Noel Coward's Private Lives, the company toured nationally with the musical Salad Days.
[6] By 1965 there had been four national tours - Salad Days (1959), Free As Air (1960), Watch it Sailor (1961) and Johnny Belinda (1962), nine South Island tours - Charley's Aunt (1957), Private Lives (1958), Sailor Beware (1958), Doctor in the House (1958), While the Sun Shines (1959), The Cat and the Canary (1959), Blithe Spirit (1959), Love in a Mist (1962), House on the Cliff (1964), three productions at the Playhouse (The Pohutukawa Tree, The Shifting Heart (1963) and The Living Room (1964)) and a revival of Salad Days staged at His Majesty's Theatre, Dunedin, in 1963.
[4][5] The Southern Players' productions were Portrait of A Queen, The Public Eye / The Private Ear, Rattle of a Simple Man, The Knack, The Creeper, Johnny So Long, The Boyfriend, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hedda Gabler and Pygmalion.
[5] In Slyfield's time the major productions were See How They Run, A Streetcar Named Desire, King Lear, A Resounding Tinkle / Black Comedy, Say Who You Are, There's a Girl in my Soup and The Anniversary plus two popular Music Halls.