When ‘Joyful and Triumphant' opens at 16th Avenue Theatre next week, one audience member will be all too familiar with the tale.

Written by acclaimed Kiwi playwright Robert Lord, the play tells the story of the Bishop family and covers a 40-year period through a series of scenes all set on Christmas Day.

'Many of Robert's plays are based on the family,” says the playwright's brother Richard Lord. 'I hear the voices of family members, what they've said, how we conducted ourselves at the time. It can be quite uncanny.

'This playishilarious, I can see us all in there, in fact, some of the scenes actually happened to us during different Christmases.”

‘Joyful and Triumphant'was first staged in 1992 and would go on to win the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for Best Production that year, with Robert also winning Playwright of the Year.

But tragically, Robert never saw the play on stage or got to revel in its success. He died only weeks before ‘Joyful and Triumphant'took to the stage at the age of 46.

'Robert was such a happy-go-lucky man, a fun type of person and very much a people person. He always showed a passion and talent for writing, he had a remarkable gift,” says Richard.

16th Avenue Theatre presents Joyful and Triumphant from November 25 to December 12. Tickets are available from Creative Tauranga or online at www.iticket.co.nz