Dear Friends,
As I write this, so many things are still constantly changing but with fingers crossed, we go on planning for the good times including the summer musical and a garden day in Ohoka (Friday 3rd December from 9:00- 12:00).
Be our guests: We would love to invite you and your friends to a morning in Ohoka to thank you for your ongoing support.
Come and visit the renowned Ohoka Farmers Market and then walk down the road for coffee and a wander around Richard and my garden (15 Keetly Place) - a stream bound garden with woodland under mature oak trees.
I can suggest other places to visit nearby should you want to extend your visit.
Magpie: Unfortunately, the fashion shop “Magpie” is no longer just over the stream. It is now situated in Rangiora, but still worth a visit.
Millstream Garden: 21 Keetly Place. This exceptional garden is just next door and will be open to the public. ($10)
Rusty Acre: Sculptures in the garden and gallery. 1 Roscrea Place Mandeville. ($10)
We are pleased to welcome Andrea Bankier as a new member to our committee. Andrea is a consultant with Sheffield. Sheffield have been sponsors of The Court Theatre for many years and Andrea has been very involved in staff recruitment for the Theatre. She comes with much enthusiasm and knowledge of the Theatre’s business.
The new season was launched at a special lunch hosted for The Friends by The Court in October. Dan Pengelly spoke about each of the planned shows and was met with great enthusiasm, giving us all lots to look forward to.
We will not be sponsoring a show in this coming season. The Theatre have informed us they do not need this traditional sponsorship for the 22/23 season and suggest we concentrate on our promised contribution of $250,000 towards the Green Room in the new Theatre.
It is interesting to reflect back on our 50th year celebrations and re-engage with Roger Hall’s effusive words in his foreword for the book The History of The Court Theatre.
FOREWORD from playwright Roger Hall:
The Court was founded in 1971, that giddy era when professional theatres were opening up all over the country for the first time (including, it now seems surprising, in Whanganui and Tauranga). And from that era, The Court is the only one to survive.
It’s worth considering why this is so. My theory is that its programme was varied, its standards were always high and, in particular, The Court knew what its audiences wanted.
This was consistently true during Elric Hooper’s outstanding twenty-year reign.
As far as I know, no other director in the country spelled out their programming approach so clearly: the classic, the contemporary and the indigenous. In return, The Court’s audience is undoubtedly the most loyal in the country. It was surely a miracle that could have taken place nowhere else when The Court got itself up and running at The Shed just ten months after the February 2011 earthquake. Of course, a superb management effort, but the fact is the supporters got themselves out there.
The Court (thanks to Ross Gumbley bless him!) was the only theatre to commit to my large-cast, big-set farce Easy Money before the final draft was completed. As with my only previous farce, Hot Water, I found writing it so difficult that I decided I couldn’t finish it. I rang Ross to tell him.
An appalled silence.
Then, “But we’ve already sold so many tickets!”
There you are: that’s the loyal Court audience for you.
Thank you and Congratulations!
Roger Hall KNZM QSO
All our hopes and wishes are for a successful season of Little Shop of Horrors.
Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a much better New Year.
Ngā mihi
Annie Bonifant