Court Theatre (NZ)

The Court Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1971 and located in the Christchurch Arts Centre from 1976 until the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. It opened new premises in Addington in December 2011. It is currently New Zealand's largest theatre company and is led by CEO, Philip Aldridge and artistic director Ross Gumbley.

The company was founded by Yvette Bromley QSM and Mervyn Thompson in 1971 who served as Co-artistic Directors for the first three years of the company. Bromley chose the theatre's name out of affection for the Royal Court Theatre in London, which she knew well from her upbringing and drama education.

During the first eighteen months of its existence, The Court had three venues. The first was The Stone Chamber of the Canterbury Provincial Council Chambers (April – May 1971), where The Court's début production, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was staged. Occasionally the Māori Land Court would require the use of the chamber, necessitating the set being struck and taken to the Durham Street Art Gallery; the furniture being moved back into the chamber and the processed reversed for the next evening's performance. The Stone Chamber was one of the city's most magnificent structures, but it was impractical for a theatre company, as there was little room for an audience and a lack of toilets.

Next was the Durham Street Art Gallery (June 1971 – May 1972), which was used as an interim venue between the Canterbury Society of Arts vacating the premises and the Law Court expanding into the area. From June to August 1972, The Court was housed in the Beggs Theatrette and staged two productions in the space.

The next four years (September 1972 – February 1976) were a period of relative stability. The Court Theatre was housed at The Orange Hall on Worcester Street. In 1974, Mervyn Thompson stood down leaving Yvette Bromley as sole Artistic Director until 1975 when Randall Wackrow (who had joined the company as Business Manager in 1973) joined her as Co-artistic Director.

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