In his latest ‘Afterthoughts’ blog, Jeff Clark talks about performing in the first Scared Scriptless in Christchurch since the quake, relocating to Dunedin for a temp job at Fortune Theatre, and The Court Theatre’s search for a new home.

“The Court Theatre has always been more than buildings and our people are adept at taking limitations and creating art.”

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Before I left Christchurch I was lucky enough to perform in the first Scared Scriptless since the quake. I started working for The Court Theatre in 1996 as an apprentice Jester – the show has been running since 1990 and is the longest-running improvised comedy show in New Zealand.

Before the quake, Scared Scriptless had been attracting over 300 people over Friday and Saturday nights at The Court (Saturday shows had been added partway through last year as we literally couldn’t fit everyone into the theatre). However, big events could quite easily undercut audience numbers and theatre attendances in general had taken a downturn after the September quake. How would Scriptless audiences be after this larger quake? Would there be Scriptless audiences after the quake?

Thanks to the efforts of our manager and a jester who happens to work for the University of Canterbury Students’ Association, a large marquee erected in the UCSA car park was secured as a temporary alternative venue, and will continue to host the Jesters on Saturday nights for the rest of April before it moves to another, slightly better insulated, local community theatre. Friday shows are being hosted at The Open Stage at Hagley Community College.

Getting back on stage was a great experience for all involved; while the Nelson fundraiser was a way for the performers to feel a sense of normalcy again, performing in Christchurch was a catharsis for everyone on stage and off. Almost 100 people came along – a great start and welcome back to the city.

Since I left for Dunedin the Jesters have resumed performances on Friday and Saturday nights (albeit much earlier in the evenings than normal) and had audiences ranging from the thirties to over 200 at one performance. It’s a challenge, and one I envy the performers having – the sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm (as well as jokes about being “the only show in town”) is great to have in adversity.

Flying South for the Winter

My first two weeks in Dunedin have been something of a blur. I arrived midway through the Dunedin Fringe, meaning I entered a city abuzz in celebrating and supporting the performing arts. I caught up with some friends, recovered from the associated hangovers and stayed in a very nice apartment until my family arrived in town and we began our nomadic existence of staying with friends or family until we found longer-term accommodation. We have stayed in four different locations since the quake; our next move should be the last one before we return to Christchurch.

While I am in Dunedin I am working at the Fortune as the Acting Marketing and Communications Manager – a long title for essentially “getting bums on seats”. The Fortune and The Court, although almost the same age are two very different entities, reflecting the very different natures of the two cities they call home. Both, however, have solid cores of supporters and the Fortune is aiming to build this base and attract fresh audiences as they begin a new era in the theatre’s history.

The Fortune has recently changed its leadership, with Lara Macgregor its newly-appointed Artistic Director. I had the pleasure of working with Lara when she was Associate Artistic Director at The Court before she deservedly earned her new position (which may have factored into the Fortune’s offer to host me). There is also a new General Manager in Jeremy Smith, who I haven’t worked with before, but who already shows acumen for balancing “show” and “business”. I won’t speculate as to the past, but I will say that with two such motivated and passionate people at the helm, the Fortune’s future should be solid.

It is a smaller family at the Fortune, but a family nonetheless (as I believe it is with any theatre company that seeks to be greater than the sum of its parts). The comparatively limited resources they have are applied with as much gusto as The Court – and as Orson Welles said, the absence of limitations is the enemy of art. I’m learning a lot of lessons that, I suspect, will prove very useful once The Court resumes operations.

Off-centre

The thing about blogging (as it is with any kind of journalism, which I in no way purport to be writing) is that it is going to be out-of-date almost as soon as it’s published. On the same day my first blog post was published, the Arts Centre announced that it was terminating all tenancies, effective immediately.

We had already known The Court would need to operate outside the Arts Centre for some time and this announcement was not unexpected. But many people have seen the Arts Centre and The Court as almost the same entity for thirty five years and, even for the more prepared of us, it’s a dramatic paradigm shift. I was married at the Arts Centre – on the Court One stage, in fact - and our wedding photos are of places that may not exist again. Personally, it is a hard thing to process.

But The Court Theatre has always been more than buildings and our people are adept at taking limitations and creating art. Planned renovations to the theatre to accommodate increasing audiences and update our facilities had, in a heritage site, raised a number of issues that had delayed the process. Now we have a blank canvas from which to start – both for a short-term home and, potentially, a permanent facility back in the heart of the city.

The Court is still unable to make any official announcements (I don’t envy our chief executive having to navigate the legalities of leases and due diligence) but things are progressing positively towards finding a space from which to restore performances before the end of the year. Our longer-term plans are less certain but, from discussions we have had with those involved in the bigger picture, The Court and the arts will have an active role in the restoration of Christchurch. There is a sense of excitement that resonates even in the emails I read here in Dunedin.

Forty years after it began, The Court Theatre is in much the same position as it was at the start: searching for a place to call home (for the short to medium term, at least) but driven by passion and enthusiasm. It is, in many ways, a fitting tribute to the spirit of the people who founded it.