By Jeff Clark in Christchurch

The cold snap may have dropped a huge amount of snow on Christchurch, but several groups are ploughing on with productions to warm things up in the garden city. The Court Theatre has had a flurry of activity in the past month, but with just four months before their new venue opens, there isn’t time to rest on their laurels.

Wedding Blitz

Almost as quickly as it started, The Court’s month of productions has been and gone. All in all, I’d have to say it went well: Carry On Court sold out (and raised a hefty sum of cash), Five Women Wearing The Same Dress had over 90 percent attendance which, particularly for a show that isn’t a summer musical or written by Roger Hall, is a phenomenal result. Our kids’ show Hansel And Gretel had just over 2700 parents and kids come along to a four day (i.e. seven show) season.

Credit must go to the production teams, casts and crews of these productions, but one thing we can’t take for granted is the support of the community and the circumstances we’re under. When Five Women Wearing The Same Dress was first scheduled (i.e. when it was included in the 2010/2011 season, approved well before the September earthquake) it was never assumed it would attract full houses almost every night.

Personally, I think it’s a combination of two factors: first, there hasn’t been a lot on. A lot of performing arts organisations are still getting back on their feet and trying to find venues – and while there have been some shows and performances (and some of those have been quite good), there haven’t been many. Second, people want to support The Court. After forty years the “brand” the Theatre has is one for presenting excellent theatre; which in turn attracts excellent practitioners, and thus the cycle continues. It’s a reputation of quality that means that, when we find ourselves in this extraordinary situation (and a venue that may not be as well suited to intimate character-based comedy), we have a large amount of goodwill from our patrons.

Shortly before Five Women Wearing The Same Dress opened, one of The Court’s sponsors, Julian Harding Lifestyle Jewellery, donated a pendant to be auctioned off, with the proceeds going toward the fundraising appeal. That auction raised $1060 for the cause.

And, as quickly as it started, The Court’s short sharp season of shows are over so once again we turn all our efforts to the fundraising. Construction has started, the bills will start rolling in, so our only option is to raise the money needed to keep on track. Our next “proper” show will be in The Shed, which has, of course, been designed to recreate (and improve upon) the intimacy and experience of The Court and return to the “brand” everyone has spent four decades to build.

Filled Roles

There have been a large number of shows that, having lost their venues, have been cancelled or postponed for an as yet undetermined amount of time (for instance, I was particularly looking forward to Showbiz Christchurch’s Spamalot but the closure of the Isaac Theatre Royal until 2013 at least has squished my hopes slightly). The issue now is how various groups adapt to their new circumstances to ensure their survival. After all, it is one thing for an arts group to exist: they can quickly wither, however, without productions activities or (most importantly) people.

Possibly the most heartening thing I’ve seen lately has been an increasing number of audition notices, which suggest that a number of groups have found new venues or productions to present and ways to get people back on board. A lot of those shows are from amateur and university groups – who are as a matter of course used to working in small spaces and operating on the smell of an oily rag.

Dramasoc has just cast 3Some, a showcase of original works now over a decade old (and I shudder to type this as I recall how I was there for the FIRST one) and Musoc is in rehearsals for The Threepenny Opera. Canterbury Children’s Theatre are casting for a new take on Cinderella. The Loons have embraced the damage to their venue with an appropriately themed “post-apocalyptic” Macbeth scheduled to run during the Christchurch Arts Festival. The Riccarton Players (who have lost their home in the Mill Theatre) are advertising upcoming productions in October (venues TBC) and Christchurch Repertory (also homeless) will be staging Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in the Elmwood theatre later in the year. The Elmwood Players (now sharing their venue with a variety of organisations) are also having auditions for their own production, Roger Hall’s Middle Aged Spread. Canterbury Celebration Theatre has completed its Wintergarden season and is no doubt gearing up for its next collection of productions.

As we push through winter, it is nice to have some indications that Spring will bring some new cultural life to the city.

Second Site

Finally, I’m happy to say that I am now working in a shed. Or The Shed, to be exact. It’s not the final office (the portacoms are yet to be delivered) but we are working in a temporary office on site. It is great to be working with the rest of the team close at hand as opposed to having to cram everything into our weekly meetings. It’s also nice not to have a crawling baby chewing on my laptop’s power cord (I’m kidding, of course. Please don’t tell CYFS).

It is a hugely motivating (and heartening) thing to be surrounded by people passionate about the same thing. Already it has lifted some of the “hard work” feeling as we keep working towards raising funds and getting The Shed finished. Over the next few weeks more staff will join us in the office and we can begin to pull the company back together and re-establish that feeling of common purpose. By the end of the year, when everyone is in the same building, it will definitely be a fresh start for The Court Theatre.