Court Theatre in the black

Press, 1 May 1980, Page 6

Court Theatre in the black

Christchurch’s Court Theatre was the only professional theatre company in New Zealand which balanced its books at the end of last year. The annual meeting of the Christchurch Theatre Trust was. told last evening that the theatre had a surplus of $738 at the end of 1979.

■ With an increase in seat charges and an 8.5 per dent Increase in patronage, box office receipts for the theatre were up by almost 25 per cent.-;

The’Theatre Trust received 81mn«f <ti r n.onn in grants and R' ? ts. innl”d>ng $12,000 from th” Court Theatre Sup-pp’-tai-q The Elizabeth IJ Arte •Cnnnril jprwincftd its n-if c-om $""6 OOP -. to ginnnnp Hnwovor. the trust’s, chairman J. c. Garo?ttS's<»fd the only managed; to meet rising costs. a ' %

The artistic director of the Court Theatre (Mr Elric Hooper) told the meeting that the theatre’s ensemble production of “Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” had resulted in a 96 per cent attendence rate for the first two months of the year. That meant 11,000 people attended the theatre, together with another 2000 in the new Studio Theatre. Productions at the Court Theatre attracted almost 50,000 people last year.

■ Mr Hooper also said that the recent world premier production of “Blood of the Lamb,” by Bruce Mason, might go on a national tour. A date had already been fixed for Dunedin.

“The play was'l written for the three actresses who appeared in it, andjt would be good, for the country to see them in. it,” he sa|d. J