June 23, 2018
The Fortune Theatre 1974-2018
John Smythe posted 1 May 2018, 02:23 PM / edited 1 May 2018, 04:08 PM
THE FORTUNE THEATRE IN DUNEDIN HAS CLOSED
Theatreview is shocked and deeply saddened to hear this news.
Here are links to further media coverage:
STUFF
Last Act: Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre closing after 44 years
Hamish McNeilly
The Fortune Theatre in Dunedin is to close after 44 years.
Dunedin’s historic Fortune Theatre has closed its doors – effectively immediately.
The Fortune Theatre Trust announced the Stuart St theatre would be closed, after deciding it could no longer run under its business model and premises.
Staff were told the theatre would cease on Tuesday, at 9am, with no more shows.
A visibly upset staff member, who declined to be named, said staff were shocked by the sudden announcement.
Fortune Board of Trustees chairwoman Haley van Leeuwen said the board had been through an exhaustive process of reviews and decided it had to close the theatre company because it was no longer financially viable. [More]
RNZ:
Curtains for Fortune Theatre
Another blow for Dunedin with the Fortune Theatre being shut down this morning and no plans to reopen it. The iconic theatre was struggling financially and the board of trustees told the 11 staff this morning it could not go on.
The Fortune Theatre was founded in 1974 and has put on over 400 productions.
Haley van Leeuwen is the chair of the Board of Trustees and she explains to Jesse the financial problems which have led to the company being shut down.
The ODT adds the following tweet:
Grant Robertson
@grantrobertson1
We’ll (thru CNZ) work with Council, theatre community and others to build new model.
Richard Mudford posted 1 May 2018, 02:53 PM
Very sad to hear this.
Editor posted 1 May 2018, 09:59 PM
THE COURT THEATRE’S RESPONSE:
THE CLOSURE OF FORTUNE THEATRE
Published: 01/05/2018
The team at The Court Theatre are incredibly sad to hear that Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre has closed its doors this morning.
Fortune Theatre was the world’s southernmost professional theatre company and its closure leaves The Court Theatre as the only professional theatre company remaining in the South Island. [More]]
Editor posted 2 May 2018, 10:35 AM
ODT Update – including:
The trust that runs the theatre said the model under which it worked was no longer financially viable.
However, a new model may rise from the rubble of the old.
Arts, Culture and Heritage Associate Minister Grant Robertson said yesterday he understood Creative New Zealand was meeting the Dunedin City Council as early as next week to consider the issue.
There is also a possibility of the theatre being part of a wider collaborative arts space at the former Sammy’s venue in Crawford St.
dean parker posted 2 May 2018, 09:12 PM / edited 4 May 2018, 12:55 PM
I work in three areas of theatre. I have a feature coming up on TV later in the year. I have a one-man play coming up at BATS in September. And I did have a play coming up at the Fortune, in Dunedin next month (why am I so ill-fated in the South Island?) There’s a fourth area I’ve not ventured into: podcasts and web series, which I know nothing about; I’m not even on Facebook. (I did write for radio drama, but those days seem gone. Years ago I argued in the Writers’ Guild that we should give away repeat rights and go for a bigger up-front payment. We did. What an idiot! What there is of cut-back radio drama now just seems to be repeats.)
Television, really, is the place to be. That’s where the mass audience is. That’s where most people get their entertainment and information. That’s also where there are people who know how drama works. I’ve seen commissioned plays on our main stages which, had they been a TV script, would have been shown the door. Promptly. Rightfully. There was a period when the best local drama by far was that on television. But local television drama is extremely expensive, so not a lot of it is done. And while it is much more of a writer’s medium than movies, there are layers of control over what you write and how you say it and currently it’s more programmer-friendly than writer-friendly; we haven’t caught up with the US. So while you try to break in, you also look elsewhere.
Theatres like BATS and The Basement are the life-blood of theatre. New talent is constantly emerging, new debates are raised and a predominantly young audience identifies with it all. Standards vary (I presume — I don’t go to many productions, but I skim reviews). The audiences seem pretty niche: white and hip. For the writer there’s a financial drawback. It’s great that ticket prices are kept competitive with the movies, but the writer’s standard 10% of the box means you get five-eighths of one-third of fuckall. But what you want to say you get out there. And it is a lot easier to get a play on at these venues (easier in Wellington than Auckland, I might add). And you can tailor shows for their small stages and make your living elsewhere selling drugs.
Which brings me to the big theatres, ATC, Silo, Centrepoint, Circa, The Court, Fortune. Here people are (or were) making a living: one or two writers, a few directors, some actors, administrators. Here the writer can do large plays — plays with bigger casts, bigger staging, bigger themes; plays that will capture attention, that will be talked about. But like television, largish sums of money are at stake and Boards and Councils and Artistic Directors are cautious about programming. The loyal and thinning audiences are older versions of BATS/The Basement, white and middle class but not as curious; curiosity wears off with age. The tickets are hideously expensive but this is part of the appeal of theatre to a wealthy audience with disposable income. This sort of theatre allows its audience to demonstrate its support of the arts, keeps it on trend with what’s fashionable overseas and gives it the occasional diversity credit.
I don’t know the circumstances of the Fortune’s collapse or the model that’s being talked about and blamed. I do know that 11 people have lost their jobs and I know that the bigger NZ theatres will now retreat further into caution. I do think Jonty was doing his best in turning the Fortune round but it might have come too late.
If I ran a theatre I’d be so interested in reading what playwrights were making of the things that were going on. How did they see our society? How did they treat their vision? A half-decent play about New Zealand is better by far than a good Chekhov or a radical Ibsen. By far. Better for the theatre, better for the audience, better for the writer — better for the box office. I say better for the box office because if it’s merely entertainment the theatre is selling — which is increasingly the norm — there are other more comfortable and far cheaper ways for an audience to pass a couple of hours. Theatre should be alive to what’s going on beyond the stage door and current New Zealand theatre isn’t and this is why it has such a bad name. If you wanted to know what was happening in this country, what the undercurrents were, you wouldn’t go to the theatre. Theatre’s not really alive in the sense of being part of the national conversation. And yet that’s how theatre emerged. But you’d never hear anyone on New Zealand talkback radio or on social media getting furious over something they’d seen or heard in a play. And that’s what’s striking about our theatre. Its irrelevance.
Renee Liang posted 2 May 2018, 09:41 PM
“Theatre should be alive to what’s going on beyond the stage door and current New Zealand theatre isn’t and this is why it has such a bad name. If you wanted to know what was happening in this country, what the undercurrents were, you wouldn’t go to the theatre. ” Oh come on Dean. Maybe if you actually came to The Basement, BATS, any of the urgent NZ works commissioned by Auckland Arts Festival, The NZ Festival, and the works being put on in found spaces and mixed use spaces like TAPAC and Mangere Arts Centre, you’d know that theatre is responsive, divisive and very much keeping up with the conversation about who we are as NZers. And that the audience is incredibly diverse (I’m not young, white or hip and I don’t see that many of that type at my shows.) I agree that the mainstream companies are stuck in their own funding model (=get subscribers and corporate sponsors – do not piss off subscribers and sponsors). And who cares about what’s talked about on talkback radio. They’re a bunch of dicks.
Theatre has always existed at the edges, at the fault lines, starting the conversation. It’s not useful to please the biggest group of people or to try to make the most money. As you have said, it’s a way to get ideas out quickly, to test them with an audience, to get the audience thinking, to catch thoughts in mid flight. It doesn’t need a multimillion dollar budget from ten different sources (all with an opinion) and usually there’s one writer not ten. That allows it to be agile and non apologetic.
Let’s go with what you have established, that the ‘please everyone’ model does not work for theatre; it led to the demise of the Downstage and now Fortune. As many have already said, this is an opportunity to develop something new, something that preserves the vital function of theatre while also being sustainable for the people who make theatre. I don’t know what that is but we could start by looking at some of the successful models both here and overseas.
John Smythe posted 3 May 2018, 03:52 PM
Thank you for your comprehensive observations, Dean.
Renee, I think the quote you critique from Dean relates specifically to the mainstream state-funded theatres. They are simply not geared to getting new writing into production in a timely fashion, let alone commission work where it is needed. Consider, for example, how much of David Hare’s politically urgent work has arisen from commissions.
Your suggestion that we look for new models should certainly include Hare’s ‘My Ideal Theatre article, which includes the following:
“The primary purpose of the Playhouse will be to do new plays, and these plays will represent and reflect the society they are performed in. There will be no need for gender or racial quotas, either on stage or off, because, by definition, if the artistic director follows this governing policy, then everything good will follow. More than half the plays will be by women, women will gloriously people the stage, and the vibrant multiculturalism of the society we inhabit will be in front of you in its variety and abundance.”
Susan Traherne posted 3 May 2018, 06:35 PM
Dean, I don’t think you get the right to say what New Zealand theatre is saying about New Zealand if you don’t go to many productions and only skim reviews. That’s a narrow-minded view of theatres, New Zealand and audiences.
Editor posted 17 May 2018, 10:36 PM
ODT Thursday, 17 May 2018
Council pledges funding for professional theatre
By Tim Miller
Despite the closure of the Fortune Theatre earlier this month, the city council is still committed its support of professional theatre in Dunedin.
During deliberations on the Dunedin Council’s 10-year plan yesterday, Cr Aaron Hawkins moved a motion to set aside $95,000 a year for the next three years for professional theatre in the city from the council’s civic grant budget. [more]
Editor posted 21 May 2018, 04:39 PM
CHANGE OF FORTUNES Lessons from the Death of a Theatre
By Kate Prior
The Pantograph Punch
Three weeks ago, in the middle of a thriving 2018 season, Dunedin’s 44-year-old Fortune Theatre closed its doors. In Part One of this two-part article, Kate Prior analyses the conditions around its closure. In Part Two, practitioners and community share their memories of a formidable southern feature of the theatre landscape. [More]
Ron Wilson posted 7 Jun 2018, 06:00 PM
While I hate to see any theatre fold I disagree with Deans comments in the sense that Theatre is alive and well and flourishing. But it is in the Community Theatre that we now see many challenging and thinking plays. And of course the entrance fee is much cheaper when Talent is working for nothing. I dont have a solution for commercial theatre I stopped going to ATC some time ago as the plays seemed more designed to attract the Corporate dollar than challenge an audience. It did not help when a well known actor screamed at the audience because someone was eating a sweet. Actor stormed off and that was end of show. Drama indeed. We saw about 10 minutes of the production. But that aside I do like Basement and Silo though I long for the days when Silo was in the Basement. Somehow the shows seemed more alive and raw. However most of the commercial productions price thenselves off the market. Our household are avid theatre goers but we could not afford to see more than one or two commercial play a month. Community Theatre offers us all the pleasures of live theatre and at a more reasonable price.
There still are some commercial theatre productions that offer great work We went to The Dunning’s production of The Illiad in April and loved the whole concept and the actors were great. Good production cost $15.00.
And just to show what we get theatrewise, tonight we are off to Ruth Mayo’s House of Angels tonight, tomorrow we get to see McDonagh’s The Pillowman and Saturday Sarah Ruhls Dead Mans Cellphone. What more could any theatre goes want.
Editor posted 10 Jun 2018, 04:49 PM
This is from a postscript to Terry MacTavish’s review of J K Baxter’s The Devil and Mr Mulcahy at Dunedin’s Globe Theatre.
Still in shock as we are from the abrupt and deeply distressing closure of the Fortune, it is comforting to reflect on the number of times the Globe (not to mention the Mayfair, the Regent, the Playhouse, the Athenaeum…) has been saved at the last minute, because we had warning in time, and because we in Dunedin actually do want theatre, we need theatre.
Baxter himself identified the two elements needed for a permanent and effective theatre centre in any New Zealand town: “The first is the existence of a group of dedicated people with the dramatic experience, insight and intellectual calibre necessary to go on producing good plays while audiences fluctuate.” Yes, Jim, we have it! Under the banner of Stage South, that is what Dunedin’s professional theatre community has formed, with strong links to the university and established amateur theatre.
Baxter’s second requirement, a building to stage the plays, is what faces us now. I earnestly hope the present warm spirit of co-operation can be maintained; that we remember how the theatre groups of Dunedin have always shared spaces; that despite some wranglings over grants, the Southern Comedy Players and the Globe often combined resources; that WoW! Productions has experimented with many different venues; that enthusiastic young companies from Counterpoint to Suitcase perform anywhere and everywhere.
In fact our first production for the Fortune, The Philanthropist, was right here in the Globe in 1973, directed by Huntly Elliot but generously supported by Patric Carey, as we attempted to see if we could mount a show in the three weeks demanded by professional theatre, and of course the Fortune’s home for many years was the Athenaeum, with the Regent used for larger productions. I am cautiously confident that as long as we continue to support each other, professional theatre will continue to flourish in the spirit of the Careys and the Fortune founders.
James Levy posted 21 Jun 2018, 04:37 PM
All chattels from the Fortune coming up for auction in a week. Everything and anything must go. Haywards Auction House. That’s it folks, no return.
John Smythe posted 23 Jun 2018, 10:14 AM / edited 23 Jun 2018, 10:21 AM
The notice and link for the Fortune Theatre auction is below.
There has been much concern and upset expressed on social media. What I want to know is:
As a publicly funded organisation, who ‘owned’ the Fortune Theatre (the production entity, not the building)?
Who currently owns the assets of Fortune Theatre?
Is Fortune Theatre in receivership or in the hands of a liquidator?
Has the closure of Fortune Theatre left creditors out of pocket?
Is the Board of Fortune Theatre and/or the Receiver/Liquidator legally obliged to sell the assets in order to pay off debts?
If not,
– what will the proceeds of the auction be used for?
– why is the Theatre not able to pass the items on to whatever takes its place in Dunedin?
The Hayward’s Auction House notice:
Fortune Theater [sic] Clearance Auction
We are now ready for customers to view our catalogue for the Fortune Theatre Clearance Auction. The auction will be held at the Fortune Theatre on Saturday 30th June, 231 Stuart Street Dunedin start at 10:00am. Click on the [link below] to view some of the items in this auction. Viewing for this auction will be Thursday 28th June, 2pm – 6pm and Friday 29th June, 10am – 5 pm. All enquires can be directed to Haywards.
https://www.haywards.co.nz/gallery/album/173/Fortune-Theater-Clearance-Auction
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