Group takes plunge to ‘save’ theatre

Press, 10 June 1980, Page 1

Group takes plunge to ‘save’ theatre

“They say that Paparua Prison is very comfortable if it all goes’wrong,” said Mr C. M. Robertson after the meeting that “saved” the Theatre Royal last evening. The meeting decided to seal rhe deal to buy the theatre from J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd, for $175,000, . even though “firm contributions” for buying the building were only slightly more than $lOO,OOO. “We had the option of saying, no. or yes,” said Mr Robertson. “We will go ahead and depend on community support.” ■ “We have .taken a risk, but somebody had to take the responsibility of owning the theatre for the sake of the community,” he said. “The decision was taken for two reasons: our faith in. the theatre and our faith in the community. We hope that people will come to the party and support us.” Mr Robertson said that members of the Friends of the Theatre Royal would man telephones from 9

a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday so that people could make donations towards the theatre. Telephones had been “red hot” at the week-end with offers of support and donations, he said. One woman rang “The Press” last evening to say that she would give $lOO if others would do the same. Mr Robertson said that contributors to the $lOO,OOO raised to buy the theatre included .four private . people, who each gave $lO,OOO, and some local companies. They would become shareholders in a company owning the theatre. It was originally hoped that 19 companies would each give $lO,OOO to raise the money. Mr Robertson said more .companies, would have joined in if they had been sure that there was enough support. Some companies, which would have liked to contribute, were prevented by the economic climate; . The funds of people who had contributed to buy the theatre were secure even

if the scheme did not get off the ground, Mr Robertson said. The purchase price was well below the $270,000 Government valuation on the property. The theatre group has three months to make the final payment to J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd. However, > Mr Robertson said that’it had asked to take possession of the building in a month, because it already had bookings for the theatre. He said he. was sure that there would be enough support to make the theatre viable. Without it, there was a void in Christchurch. Asked whether he saw any difficulty in raising the $500,000 needed to refurbish the building, Mr Robertson said that it would not be easy. The group of six Christchurch businessmen behind the proposal intend to have the theatre restored to its original Victorian condition. The telephone number for Saturdav’s appeal is 792-120.