Location | 31 Albany Street, Dunedin |
---|---|
Operator | Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society (1876–1960) Southern Comedy Players (1961–1969) Southern Theatre Trust (1969) Dunedin Repertory Society (1969–present) |
Capacity | 130-seat |
Website | |
https://www.playhousetheatre.co.nz/ |
The PlayhouseTheatre is a theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was converted from a lodge into a 100-seat theatre by the Southern Comedy Players in 1962. Since the late 1960s it has been home to the Dunedin Repertory Society, who regularly perform youth productions for children.
The building, at 31 Albany Street, dates from 1876, and was converted from the Foresters' Lodge Hall in 1962 by William Menlove and Bernard Esquilant for theatre company Southern Comedy Players. [1] [2] When opened the theatre had 100 seats, and the "Stage Set" cafe and a craft exhibition space on the top floor. [1]
The repertoire for the Southern Comedy Players included contemporary West End comedy, musicals, classics and dramas. [3] The Southern Comedy Players became the Southern Theatre Trust which folded in 1970. [4]
The Playhouse is home to the Dunedin Repertory Society, which was formed in 1931 but has been based at The Playhouse since the late 1960s. [5] [6] The Society currently specialises in youth productions, and regularly performs youth productions for children in the school holidays. Recent productions have included The Hunting of the Snark , adapted from Lewis Carroll by Diane Dupres, in April 2021, [7] and Treasure Island; Sleeping Beauty is an up-coming production for July 2021. [8] The Playhouse also hosts an annual adult production, past productions have included a professional production of Aristophanes' The Clouds , directed by Harry Love in 2019, and Never the Sinner, by John Logan, directed by Lewis Ablett-Kerr. [6] [9] [10]
During 2020 the society had to move productions to Logan Park High School due to a leaking roof. The roof was subsequently replaced using a grant from the Dunedin Heritage Fund, which was the first renovation work since the conversion in the 1960s. [2] In April 2021, the Society's President Jemma Adams called for public input into the future of the building, which is in need of significant further renovation. [11]
Some of Dunedin Operatic Inc.'s early productions [now Musical Theatre Dunedin] were staged in the Playhouse Theatre. [12]
Ryan O'Kane began his acting career performing with Playhouse Theatre, aged 5. [13]
At the 2019 Dunedin Theatre Awards, the Playhouse was awarded Outstanding Contribution to Children's Theatre. [14]
New Zealand's Fortune Theatre laid claim to being the world's southernmost professional theatre company and sole year round professional theatre group in Dunedin, 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.
Globe Theatre is a theatre located in Dunedin, New Zealand, and the amateur theatre company that runs it. The theatre was built in 1961 by Patric and Rosalie Carey as an extension of their house. The building to which it is attached, at 104 London Street, was designed by architect William Mason as his own house and built in 1864. Ralph Hotere designed both sets and costumes for the theatre productions. The foyer area was also used for exhibitions, notably the Waterfall paintings of Colin McCahon, paintings by Michael Smither, and pots by Barry Brickell, Len Castle, and Doreen Blumhardt.
Stephen Sinclair is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the co-author of stage comedy Ladies Night. In 2001, the French version won the Molière Award for stage comedy of the year. Other plays include The Bellbird and The Bach, both of which are prescribed texts for Drama Studies in New Zealand secondary schools.
The Southern Comedy Players, later the Southern Players and the Southern Theatre Trust, were a New Zealand theatre company, active between 1957 and 1971. They were founded by William Menlove and Bernard Esquilant, and based in Dunedin.
The Dunedin Fringe Festival, or Dunedin Fringe, is an 11-day fringe arts festival held each March in Dunedin, New Zealand. Initiated in the year 2000, Dunedin Fringe aims to bring experimental contemporary art to a wider audience and to support the work of emerging artists, attracting artists from throughout New Zealand and overseas.
Emily Tess Duncan is a New Zealand playwright. She is co-founder of Prospect Park Productions, an organisation aiming “to create and produce original New Zealand theatre and collaborative projects that reach into other art forms." Duncan held the 2019 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She lives in Dunedin.
Terry Isobel MacTavish is an actor and teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand.
Rosalie Louise Carey was a New Zealand actor, playwright, director and author who founded the Globe Theatre in Dunedin, the first purpose-built theatre for professional repertory in New Zealand, with then-husband Patric Carey. In 2010 Carey was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the theatre. The New Zealand Society of Authors made Carey an honorary life member.
Kila Kokonut Krew is a theatre company and music producer in Auckland, New Zealand. They have produced 12 music albums, a web series, a TV skit series as well as theatre productions.
The Dunedin Theatre Awards are annual theatre awards in Dunedin, New Zealand. The awards were established in 2010 by director and actor Patrick Davies, and the winners are selected by a panel of theatre reviewers. The winners are selected by the Dunedin Reviewers Collective.
Allen Hall, also known as the Allen Hall Theatre, is a building at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is named after James Allen, Vice-Chancellor and then Chancellor of the university, who was instrumental in raising funds for building the hall. Originally the student association building, opened in 1914, the hall now operates as a theatre. Allen Hall is known for the series of Lunchtime Theatre performances. The hall and archway are registered as a Category I historic place by Heritage New Zealand.
Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington 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 Achievement Award in the Dunedin Theatre Awards, and was three times winner of a New Zealand Listener Best Director award, including one for Tom Scott's The Daylight Atheist.
Hilary Halba is a New Zealand actor, theatre director and academic. She is the head of the performing arts programme at the University of Otago.
Hilary Norris is a New Zealand stage, film and television actress.
Louise Durant Petherbridge was a New Zealand actor, director, deviser, producer and lecturer.
Wow! Productions is a professional theatre co-operative based in Dunedin, New Zealand. It performs in non-theatre spaces, described by one reviewer as "weird and wonderful venues".
Richard Huber is a playwright, actor and director based in Dunedin, New Zealand.
John Campbell Thomas was a New Zealand theatre director, designer and artist. He worked in the United States, primarily at the Dallas Theater Center in Texas, from 1964 to 1984, before returning to New Zealand where he was artistic director at the Fortune Theatre, Dunedin, between 1985 and 1999.
Jan Patricia Bolwell is a Wellington-based New Zealand playwright, choreographer, director, dancer and teacher of dance. She established the Crows Feet Dance Collective in 1999 and remains its director.
David John O'Donnell is a New Zealand theatre director, actor, and academic based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has taught at Victoria University of Wellington since 1999, and is as of 2021 a full professor.