Theatre’s gain and loss

Press, 9 May 1985, Page 5

Theatre’s gain and loss

The Court Theatre had record attendances and almost topped $1 million in revenue, but made a $2869 loss in 1984.

In spite of the loss, it was a year of achievement for the theatre and last year’s loss is an improvement on the $31,000 loss in 1983.

The chairman of the Christchurch Theatre Trust, which administers the theatre, Mr David Page, told the trust’s annual meeting last evening that attendance figures for productions in the main auditorium were 65 per cent of capacity and for productions in the studio were 60 per cent. The record attendances were achieved by a “programme of considerable variety, ranging from ‘Footrot Flats’ to ‘The Cherry Orchard,’ ” he said. The box office income for

the year had increased 55 per cent, which showed the public support the Court enjoyed. Support from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council had also increased 9 per cent, and metropolitan councils in Christchurch had reinstituted the grants they withdrew in 1983. The $5OOO in local grants was “important as tangible recognition of our importance in the local scene,” Mr Page said. The Arts Council grant had been $248,000. That, with box office receipts of $663,707 and $35,000 from the Court Supporters, had contributed to a total income for the theatre of $975,773. Total expenditure had been $978,642.

The biggest single item of expenditure was salaries and wages, which had increased 23 per cent to

$466,881. Touring expenses and royalties were also increased.

Mr Page described the Court as the strongest theatre in New Zealand in financial terms and said it was probably also the strongest in artistic terms. For the theatre to reduce a $31,000 loss to $2869 was a creditable performance by management and staff, he said.

The present industrial dispute over actors’ wages and funding concerned the theatre. Strike action taken by actors served no purpose other than to deprive them of their wages, Mr Page said. It did not influence the Government, which was the final arbiter in negotiations. Mr Page said that although the Arts Council grant had increased funding it had only kept pace with inflation. He

hoped the Labour Government would honour its election pledge of substantial increases in arts funding. He hoped also that the Arts Council would use the funds it was given to build up existing institutions, rather than funding new activities. Only then could the Court and other theatres increase the wages of its staff to realistic levels. The theatre’s accumulated fund at March 31, 1985, was $258,780. The $2BOO deficit for the year was met from this account, as was the $31,000 deficit last year.

For the first time in some years there was a ballot for trustees. Those elected are Dr Anna Holmes, Messrs Raymond Harrison, Gerald Lascelles, and Alan Mac Kay, Professor Gerald Orchard, and Messrs Bill Reid and Roderick Rutherford.