New Zealand's Fortune Theatre laid claim to being the world's southernmost professional

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and sole year round professional theatre group in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, until its closure on 1 May 2018, citing financial difficulties. The company ran for 44 years. The theatre regularly produced local shows and hosted touring performances. The company was originally located in the auditorium of the Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute in the Octagon, but when that proved too small, moved to the former Trinity Methodist Church on Stuart Street. Financial difficulties in 2000 threatened the theatre with closure, and forced the sale of the building to the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jules ...

, who leased the building back to the Fortune Theatre Trust.

Early years

The Fortune Theatre company was co-founded by David Carnegie, Alex Gilchrist, Murray Hutchinson and Huntly Elliot in 1973. The company was initially located in the 105-seat Otago Cine Club

theatrette A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works, performing arts and musical concerts are presented. The theater building serves to define the performance and audience spaces. The facility usually is organized to provide s ...

at the rear of the Athenaeum building in the Octagon. However, after hiring full-time acting staff in 1977, it was decided that the venue was too small to continue to be viable and in 1978 the company moved to the former Trinity Methodist Church where it remained until its closure in 2018. This provided room for two auditoria, Upstairs initially seating 230, and the Downstairs Studio opened in 1979 initially seating 120. Following a fire in late 1979 the Company moved for two months to the Playhouse (originally the home of the Fortune's predecessors as a Dunedin-based professional repertory theatre company, the Southern omedyPlayers / Southern Theatre Trust). For some years in the 1990s the Company also leased the Manhattan night club as an occasional third performance space and from time to time it also presented productions at the

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

and Mayfair Theatres, Allen Hall Theatre on the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

campus, and the Dunedin Teachers' College auditorium. From 1976 onwards it aimed to make an annual tour of Otago and Southland regional centres and in the late 1970s and also mid-1980s made schools' tours in those regions.

Productions

Productions by year

In 2006

Geraldine Brophy Geraldine Brophy (born 1961) is a New Zealand television, film and stage actress, theatre director and playwright. Biography Brophy was born in Birmingham, England to Irish parents. She and her family emigrated to New Zealand in 1972, when she ...

, who had acted at the Fortune in Tony Taylor's 1984 company, directed the world premiere of her play ''The Paradise Package''. The 2007 Fortune season included a co-production with the Wellington-based company, the Bacchanals, of Shakespeare's ''King Lear''. The production was to have featured famous English actor

Edward Petherbridge Edward Petherbridge (born 3 August 1936) is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's ''R ...

in the title role but he became ill shortly after arriving in New Zealand for rehearsals and had to withdraw. The title role was then taken at short notice by Mick Rose. The 2007 season also saw the New Zealand premiere of Sarah Ruhl's '' The Clean House''. In 2009 the Fortune staged its most successful ever single season of a play. This was Roger Hall's hit, ''Four Flat Whites in Italy'', which was seen by 6,606 spectators in its month-long season (around 7% of Dunedin's permanent resident population). The 2010 season included the New Zealand premiere of Marc Camoletti's farce, ''Ding Dong''. The Fortune also staged a revival of Camoletti's best-known piece, '' Boeing Boeing'', in 2013. ''The Motor Camp'' by Dave Armstrong (opened February 18), ''Red'' by John Logan (opened April 14), ''Two Fish 'n' a Scoop'' by

Carl Nixon Carl Nixon (born 1967) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and playwright. He has written four novels and a number of original plays which have been performed throughout New Zealand, as well as adapting both Lloyd Jones' novel ''The ...

(opened May 19), ''In The Next Room'' – ''Or the Vibrator Play'' by

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), ''The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the reci ...

(opened June), ''Heroes'' by Gerald Sibleyras (opened August 25), ''

Calendar Girls ''Calendar Girls'' is a 2003 British comedy film directed by Nigel Cole. Produced by Touchstone Pictures, it features a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi, based on a true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women who produ ...

'' by

Tim Firth Tim Firth (born 13 October 1964) is an English dramatist, screenwriter and songwriter. Life and career Firth was born in Frodsham, England. He spent much of his time at school writing songs and it was only a few weeks before going to Cambri ...

(opened November 10) made up the 2012 season. The Fortune's contribution to the 2012 Otago Festival of the Arts was a production of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

''. The 2013 season commenced with a co-production between the Fortune and Wellington's Taki Rua Theatre of ''Michael James Manaia'' by local playwright John Broughton. It continued with off-Broadway success ''Love, Loss and What I Wore'', the hit Roger Hall musical about grandparenting (''You Can Always Hand Them Back''),

Nina Raine Nina Raine is an English theatre director and playwright, the only daughter of Craig Raine and Ann Pasternak Slater, and a grand niece of the Russian novelist Boris Pasternak. She graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1998 with a First in Eng ...

's ''Tribes'', the long-running off-Broadway musical ''

Altar Boyz ''Altar Boyz'' is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and book by Kevin Del Aguila (based on an idea by Marc J. Kessler and Ken Davenport). Centering on a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio, the ...

'' in its New Zealand premiere, and the World Premiere of Patrick Evans's ''Gifted'' which toured to four arts festivals, several Otago / Southland regional centres and was revived at Wellington's Circa Theatre in 2015. The Fortune presented

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

's ''

The Caretaker ''The Caretaker'' is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers a ...

'' as its contribution to the 2014 Otago Festival of the Arts. To celebrate the Company's 40th anniversary it staged the New Zealand premiere of ''Jumpy'' by

April de Angelis April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School. De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regimen ...

. The 2016 season included ''Niu Sila'' by

Oscar Kightley Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley (born 14 September 1969) is a Samoan-born New Zealand actor, television presenter, writer, journalist, director, and comedian. He acted in and co-wrote the successful 2006 film ''Sione's Wedding''. Biography Kightley ...

and Dave Armstrong. This production also toured to seven regional centres. There was also a co-production with the Court Theatre in Christchurch of Paul Baker's play ''Winston's Birthday''. As its entry in that year's Otago Festival of the Arts the Fortune staged Samuel Beckett's ''

Krapp's Last Tape ''Krapp's Last Tape'' is a 1958 one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's experience of listenin ...

''. The 2018 season commenced with ''

Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense ''Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense'' is a play written by David and Robert Goodale based on the 1938 novel ''The Code of the Woosters'' by P. G. Wodehouse. After try-out performances at the Richmond Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Brighton i ...

''. The final mainbill production staged at the Fortune was ''An Iliad'' in April 2018. The production starred Auckland actor

Michael Hurst Michael Eric Hurst ONZM (born 20 September 1957) is a British-born New Zealand actor, director and writer. He is known internationally for acting in the television programs '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and companion series '' Xena: ...

with music by

Shayne Carter Shayne P. Carter is a New Zealand musician best known for leading Straitjacket Fits from 1986 to 1994, and as the only permanent member of Dimmer (1995–2012). Carter is a member of the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, and has been awarded the ...

Legacy and significant moments

Over its 44 years the Fortune Theatre staged 407 main stage productions, and sold over 750,000 tickets. On its closure in 2018 commentator Kate Prior said: "Fortune Theatre has been an essential engine of new writing in New Zealand, a launch pad for some of our best actors, and an Otago and Southland theatre home." The Fortune Theatre's costumes was purchased from the liquidators after they closed and are being looked after by the Stage South Charitable Trust. By 2004 the Company had presented 42 World Premieres (including nine plays written for children). Seventeen of these had received subsequent productions at other New Zealand professional theatres and five at international venues. The best known of these are ''Mothers and Fathers'' ( Joe Musaphia), ''Cinderella'' (Roger Hall), ''Love Off the Shelf'' (Roger Hall,

A. K. Grant Allan Keith Grant (11 February 1941 – 8 April 2000), generally known by his initials as A.K. Grant, was a New Zealand writer, historian, critic and humorist. Grant was born in Whanganui, and in 1964 he received his LL.B from the University of ...

, Philip Norman), ''The Share Club'' (Roger Hall), ''After the Crash'' (Roger Hall), ''Jeannie Once'' ( Renee), ''Making it Big'' (Roger Hall, Philip Norman), ''Anzac'' (John Broughton), ''By Degrees'' (Roger Hall), ''1981'' (John Broughton), ''Social Climbers'' (Roger Hall), ''C'Mon Black'' (Roger Hall), ''Dirty Weekends'' (Roger Hall, Philip Norman), ''The Book Club'' (Roger Hall) and ''Home Land'' ( Gary Henderson).

Brian McNeill Brian McNeill (born 6 April 1950, Falkirk, Scotland) is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new m ...

was the Company's Writer in Residence from 1980 to 1982 (writing ''Smelter Skelter'', ''What an Exhibition'' and ''The Perfumed Business Woman'' in that time) and Robert Lord in 1991. The latter was commissioned to write ''Academic Circles'' but his premature death meant that the script was never completed. The Fortune in its lifetime staged more of Roger Hall's plays (36) than any other theatre. A number of Fortune productions were toured to or staged at other professional theatres in New Zealand. These include ''Kaz: A Working Girl'' (by Leah Poulter, toured to Circa 1986), ''Children of a Lesser God'' (by

Mark Medoff Mark Medoff (March 18, 1940 – April 23, 2019) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play '' Children of a Lesser God'' received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award The Laurence ...

, Maidment Theatre Auckland 1986) and ''

Billy Bishop Goes to War ''Billy Bishop Goes to War'' is a Canadian musical, written by John MacLachlan Gray in collaboration with the actor Eric Peterson. One of the most widely produced plays in Canadian theatre, the two-man play dramatizes the life of Canadian World ...

'' (by John Gray and Eric Peterson, Circa Theatre 1987). In 2009 the 2008 Fortune production of ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...

'' was revived at a Tennessee Williams Festival in Williamstown USA. The Fortune presented the New Zealand professional premiere of the renaissance drama, ''

The Revenger's Tragedy ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is an English-language Jacobean revenge tragedy which was performed in 1606, and published in 1607 by George Eld. It was long attributed to Cyril Tourneur, but "The consensus candidate for authorship of ''The Reven ...

'' (

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

, previously attributed to

Cyril Tourneur Cyril Tourneur (; died 28 February 1626) was an English soldier, diplomat and dramatist who wrote ''The Atheist's Tragedy'' (published 1611); another (and better-known) play, ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' (1607), formerly ascribed to him, is now more ...

), in 1995. Campbell Thomas directed and designed the production and a score was specially commissioned for it from Anthony Ritchie.

Staffing

The Fortune was established by Murray Hutchinson, Alex Gilchrist, Huntly Eliott and Dr David Carnegie. The latter was the then Lecturer in Drama at the

and the others were television directors in the city. The last of the founders to leave was Alex Gilchrist in May 1980. He was succeeded by Anthony Richardson who had been the founder Artistic Director at Auckland's

Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury als ...

. Richardson died in May 1982. Ronald Branscombe was Acting Artistic Director until October 1982. The 1983 season was planned by Huntly Eliott and Keith Foote who was General Manager for that year. Anthony Taylor, who had been the Artistic Director at Wellington's

Downstage Theatre Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building. Former directors include Sunny Amey, Mervyn Thompson, and Colin ...

from 1977 to 1981, was Artistic Director in 1984 and the first half of 1985.

Lisa Warrington Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington (born 1952) is a New Zealand theatre studies academic, director, actor and author. She has directed more than 130 productions, and established the Theatre Aotearoa database. In 2014 she was awarded a Lifetime A ...

, Lecturer in Drama at the University of Otago, was Acting Artistic Director until the end of 1985. Campbell Thomas was appointed to commence as Artistic Director at the beginning of 1986 and was the Company's longest serving head, remaining until the end of 1999. He was succeeded as Artistic Director by Martin Howells from 2000 until 2004. Janice Marthen managed the theatre from 2005 until 2009. Karen Elliot managed the theatre in 2010. Lara MacGregor was artistic director from 2010 until 2015. Jonathan Hendry was Artistic Director from 2016 until it closed in 2018.

Other Staff

Associate Directors: Lisa Warrington, Richard Finn (1987 - 1993) Production Manager/Designers: Bruce Appelton, John Waite Business Managers: Lindsay Shaw, Lynette Gernhoefer (1987 - 2007), Nicholas McBryde Marketing Managers: Trish James, Peter Brown, Claire Dorking, Lisa Scott (2003-2008) Wardrobe: Maryanne Wright-Smyth Stage Managers and Technicians: Martin Phelan, Melinda Olykan, Erika Browne

Education

The Fortune Theatre provided a range of options for schools such as tours around the theatre, and opportunities to talk to the cast and crew of a production. It also offered education workshops which were show-specific. The workshops were designed to link to a range of subjects in the New Zealand Curriculum, including NCEA achievement standards in subjects such as Drama at NCEA levels 1–3. In addition, the Fortune Theatre hosted a drama ambassador programme to engage students with the theatre by offering opportunities to attend rehearsals as well as complimentary tickets. This programme began in 2005 with 19 schools in the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

region areas of New Zealand.

Larnach – Castle of Lies

In 1994, the Fortune Theatre performed a play about the tragedies of

William Larnach William James Mudie Larnach (27 January 1833 – 12 October 1898) was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He is known for his extravagant incomplete house near Dunedin called Larnach's castle by his opponents and now known as Larnach C ...

's family, titled "Larnach – Castle of Lies", before 100 invited guests in the ballroom of

Larnach Castle Larnach Castle (also referred to as "Larnach's Castle") is a mock castle on the ridge of the Otago Peninsula within the limits of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, close to the small settlement of Pukehiki. It is one of a few houses of this ...

. The play seems to have stirred up the reputed ghostly residents of the caustle

"It was a night to remember. As the guests arrived a terrible storm blew up from nowhere. The smoke from the fires blew back down the chimneys so that you couldn't see – and your eyes hurt. Hail crashed on the iron roof so that you couldn't hear. Doors mysteriously opened by themselves and it got very cold. In the play – just as Larnach shot himself there was a blinding white light. Afterwards at supper people were talking about the lightning strike as Larnach held the gun to his head. I said `Oh no that was stage effects.' We asked the stage manager. He said `It was none of our doing, it was lightning.' I think that Larnach was present that night. He didn't like the play."
-- Margaret Barker (Co-owner of Larnach Castle)

The former Trinity Methodist Church building is also reputedly haunted. As a result, it was the subject of a 2005 episode of New Zealand television reality series ''Ghost Hunt''.

References

{{authority control 1973 establishments in New Zealand Arts organizations established in 1973 Reportedly haunted locations in Dunedin Theatres in Dunedin Theatre companies in New Zealand 2018 disestablishments in New Zealand